Early Australian fairy tales

Should we reprint them? Or does their appeal remain fixed in the era they were written? Hart (1950) made the point that, ‘books flourish when they answer a need and die when they do not’ (285) and it is worth considering for example the fairytales of Tarella Quin whose fairy tale books were reprinted numerous times. Quin (aka Quin Daskein), published her first fairy tale,  Gum Tree Brownie  in 1907[1] with enlargements and variations appearing with regularity in 1918, 1925, 1934 and 1983. Her publisher was still publishing one hundred years after her first book which allowed the opportunity for re-publishing it.  It was believed that public taste indicated this book could become popular again. However, when Gum Tree Brownie was republished as  The Other Side of Nowhere: Fairy Stories of the Never Never  (1983) two stories that did not suit the current socio-cultural environment were omitted. Cruelty and death are not seen as suitable topics for children’s books today - or at least

Some children assert that there are no fairies in Australia. Wait until you read this story, and then you shall judge for yourself.  It was summer; there had been no rain for many months; hardly a blade of grass was to be seen; the little left was of the colour of stubble. The once full-flowing creek was a chain of water-holes, very muddy, and harrowed with hoof-prints. The cattle and horses made tracks through the puddles night and morning. These thirsty half-starved animals came long, weary marches over the plains to drink, plodding through the water to the other bank in their weary search for grass or anything to feed upon. The only water for miles around was the turbid and scanty supply in the creek-already fast drying up. Settlers brought their tanks on drays, sometimes a distance of ten or twelve miles, taking a whole day to travel thither and back. By day the sun was blazing, and sank to rest in the evening a fiery-red veiled in a smoky shroud. Even the moon when it shone at ni

Ein Kohl-Palmen-Hute und eine Peitsche als Zauberstab: Australische Märchen  Australian Folklore 12th Konferenz April 13 2017.  Diese Konferenz war eine große Chance für mich, meine Forschung zu präsentieren.  Frühe australische Märchen haben australische Tiere und australische Feen, die in 'The Bush' leben. Kolonialkinder wollten ihre eigenen Märchen. Gumsucker (Sarah Rowland): Sollte die Geschichte gerne durch die Leutenlein, für die geschrieben ist es gelesen werdenm Absicht ist zu veröffentlichen viele Geschichte, so dass die fröhlichen Kinder können Märchen schwelgen in Traumen ihrer.   (Ballarat, 1870) The Conference was organised by the Australian Folklore Network, the National Library of Australia, the National Folk Festival and the Australia-Asia-Pacific Institute, Curtin University.

Ein Kohl-Palmen Hüte und ein Peitsche (stockwhip) als Zauberstab: Australische Märchen. A cabbage tree hat and a stock whip wand. As my German is improving I have been working to translate the slides from my recent Australian fairy tale conference powerpoint into German. This is difficult when translating quotes as the language used is 'old'.  Here is an example: … should this story be favourable (sic) received by the little folks for whom it is written it is the Author’s intention to publish a series of Tales, so that the merry children of the fair South may revel in dreams of their own Fairy Lore.   Sarah Anne Charlotte Roland (pseud. Gumsucker*) 1870 Sollte die Geschichte gerne durch die Leutenlein für die sie geschrieben ist gelesen werden, Absicht ist zu veröffentlichen viele Geschichte, so dass die fröhlichen Kinder können Märchen schwelgen in Träumen ihrer.  * slang for a Victorian colonist

When I discovered this Australian fairy tale it brought back memories of my own childhood Christmases in the 60s and how accurately he had described my family Christmas afternoons. Game playing  for those who hadn't eaten too much , usually Rounders for we were a family of girls, my dad creeping off for an afternoon nap, and the heat of the day. We were always given a book for Christmas and I would find somewhere to curl up and read or perhaps we would watch a Christmas movie. Though celebrating the 'bush ethos' in the description of Harry Smith who has abandoned city life to become a farmer this narrative also recognises that his 'hard working wife' works equally hard and along side him contributing an equal share as they struggle to build a farm from the surrounding bush. His wife is not named but the acknowledgement of her contribution recognises that  t he Bush not only shaped the traits of the men who settled but expected the women who joined th

AND why not fairies in Australia? Why should not our innumerable ferny glades, romantic valleys, mountainous passes, and lonesome glens, be peopled with fays and elves? Why should not Robin Goodfellow be found sitting jauntily astride the gorgeous waratah, or chasing the laughing jackass from its favourite bough? But all in good time. In the generations yet to come, unless the State schools make the little ones too learned, we shall have Australian fairy tales, stories in which goblin, kangaroos and emus, graceful sprites, and bearded magicians, will be found on every Fairyland in Australia. (1880, December 18, Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturalist and Grazier, p. 3) Excerpts presented at The Australian Fairy Tales Society Conference, 2016 KING DUNCE. Australian Fairy Tales by Atha Westbury  https://archive.org/details/australianfairyt00westiala                               Noel Biffin, son of a tinsmith, wants to be a king , and neglects his schoolwor