Early Australian fairy tales

A garden always has a point .  ―  Elizabeth Hoyt (The Raven Prince)  The garden influences the type of fairy tales, folk tales, myths that are seeded in it. What is the point of the garden, the bush, the landscape in folktales? With my colleagues, and friends, Christine, Phillippa we took our audience down a wonderland ‘rabbit hole’ as we explored the impact of transplanting traditional tales into new natural environments: the garden, the bush, the island. With the aid of illustrations we presented a dialogue (trialogue?) that challenged and questioned if, how and why, various natural settings have impacted on the mannerisms, behaviours and appearance of characters in retold/ adapted fairy tales and mythologies.  ·         What is an ‘authentic' fairy garden? ·         Does the oral tradition of fairy tale gardens and forests preclude all other variations? ·         How do socio-cultural factors impact on the portrayal of the natural setting? Reilly McCarron's

Congratulations to editors Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, Nike Sulway and Belinda Calderone.  I appreciate their editorial expertise. Into the Bush: Australasian Fairy Tales  is an intriguing and enchanting read for those researchers and lovers of fairy tales. Robyn Floyd: Fairies in the bush: The emergence of a national identity in Australian fairy tales

Explore TROVE and read fairy tales that are set in the Australian environment. Lady Wilde*, (1877), The Fairy Dance: The Legend of Shark Island, in  Advocate,  29 December,  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170438157 . *generally attributed to F.M., (1880) Meeahnota, a fairy tale, in   The Sydney and New South Wales Advertiser,   10 July p. 59   http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/161914049 Cameron, D., (1878),  Ooroomoolia : An Australian Fairy Story , in  The Darling Downs Advertiser ,  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/75743791 Moth, (1879),  Australian Fairy Tales : The Tale of the Mountain Moss, in The Australian Town and Country Journal , 23 August, p. 364. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70972171 Moth, (1879), Australian Fairy Tales : The Tale of the Sarsparilla, in The Australian Town and Country Journal, 16 th August, p.28   http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70971935 Moth, (1879), A

Illustrations of Ernst’s assertive female characters by Dorothy Ashley do not offer the same perspective. Fang (1996) suggested that “whether intended or not, illustrations sometimes tell a slightly different or even contradictory story than the text” (p. 134). Many of the illustrations in  Fairy tales from the land of the wattle  by Ashley exemplify female figures in maternal, spiritual, or nurturing roles.Suggesting that illustrations are also cultural symbols that transmit meaning as effectively as written symbols, Meganck (2010) researched the portrayal of female images in children’s literature between 2000 and 2010 and applied the categories devised by Goffman (1978) in his analysis of non-verbal images of women in advertising to her study of picture book illustrations. These categories included relative size (in relation to the male), the feminine touch (caressing, nurturing), ranking and subordination.  This suggests that the illustration may communicate more about the artist

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