The document summarizes four unexpected treasures in the National Library of Australia's collection that were not fully recognized until many years after their acquisition. 1) A rare 1162 printed volume of a major Chinese Buddhist text that is one of the oldest printed books in the world. 2) A pair of rare 17th century Chinese silk world maps created by a Flemish Jesuit that combined Western and Chinese cartographic traditions. 3) An unusual 1766 Korean text on filial piety that blended Confucian and Buddhist ideas. 4) A small 19th century Persian Qur'an manuscript in floral lacquer covers, highlighting the Library's collection of Islamic sacred texts.

1. march 2009
June 2011 nat iona l libr a ry of austr a li a
libRary
naTional
magazine
magazine
scary australian stories budgerigars abroad shipwrecked
on wreck reef precious gems from the east and much more …

2. treasures
national library of australia treasures gallery a new destination
Nora Heysen (1911–2003) Self portrait c.1932 (detail) oil on canvas 65.5 x 51.5 cm Pictures Collection, nla.pic-vn4179750
The National Library of Australia is building a permanent state-of-the-art treasures gallery.
You will be able to view some of our finest national treasures — rare hand-drawn maps, rich holdings of personal papers,
manuscripts and oral histories, publications in all forms, from the earliest hand-printed books to archived websites and
pictures ranging from significant colonial paintings to striking photographs.
To make a donation to the treasures gallery
please contact the Development Office on (02) 62621141 or development@nla.gov.au

3. volume 3 Number 2
june 2011
the national library magazine
the aim of the quarterly The National
Library Magazine is to inform the Australian co N t eN t s
community about the National library of
Australia’s collections and services, and
its role as the information resource for the
nation. copies are distributed through the
Australian library network to state, public and
community libraries and most libraries within
Unexpected
tertiary-education institutions. copies are also
made available to the library’s international Treasures from Asia
associates, and state and federal government
departments and parliamentarians. Additional Andrew Gosling presents some of the
copies of the magazine may be obtained by
libraries, public institutions and educational Library’s most precious gems from China,
authorities. Individuals may receive copies by
mail by becoming a member of the Friends of
Korea and Persia
the National library of Australia.
For further information about becoming a
Friend, contact Friends of the National library
8 12
of Australia. tel: (02) 6262 1698;
email: friends@nla.gov.au or go to
www.nla.gov.au/friends/.
For further information about supporting the
library, please contact the Development office,
National library of Australia, canberra Act
2600. tel: (02) 6262 1141;
email: development@nla.gov.au.
to find out more about the library and its
collections and services, go to www.nla.gov.au or A Picture Asks a Nature’s Businessman:
phone (02) 6262 1111. Thousand Questions Shrewd or Stoic?
NatioNal library of australia CouNCil marie-louise Ayres wonders roslyn russell reassesses
Chair: The Hon. James Spigelman whether a drawing of a John Gould’s reputation for
Deputy Chair: Prof. John Hay squatter reprisal in 1843 is
Members: Ms Jane Hemstritch, ruthless ambition
Ms Mary Kostakidis, Mr Brian Long, an eyewitness account
Mr Kevin McCann am, Dr Nonja Peters,
Ms Deborah Thomas, Senator Russell Trood
18 22
Director-General and Executive Member:
Anne-Marie Schwirtlich
seNior exeCutive staff
Director-General: Anne-Marie Schwirtlich
Assistant Directors-General, by Division:
Innovation and Resource Sharing: Warwick Cathro
Collections Management: Pam Gatenby
Australian Collections and Reader Services:
Margy Burn
Information Technology: Mark Corbould The Flight of the Australian Ghost
Public Programs and Executive Support:
Budgerigar Stories
Jasmine Cameron
Corporate Services: Gerry Linehan Penny olsen takes a look James Doig looks for
editorial/produCtioN at the humble budgie and Australian supernatural
Commissioning Editor: Susan Hall uncovers the world’s most fiction authors and
Editor: Tina Mattei successfully marketed pet unearths their curious lives
Photographers: Sam Cooper, Craig Mackenzie
25
and Greg Power
28
Picture Researcher: Felicity Harmey
Designer: Kathryn Wright
Printed by Blue Star Print, Canberra
© 2011 National Library of Australia and
individual contributors
ISSN 1836-6147
PP237008/00012
Send magazine submission queries or
proposals to: shall@nla.gov.au
unless otherwise acknowledged, the photographs ‘Breakers ahead!’ Knowing the Past:
in this magazine were taken by Digitisation and
William Westall’s Record Interviews with
Photography, National library of Australia. the views
expressed in The National Library Magazine are those of a Reef Wreck Australian Historians
of the individual contributors and do not necessarily
richard Westall looks at susan marsden delves
reflect the views of the editors or the publisher. every
firsthand depictions of an early into the lives of recent
reasonable effort has been made to contact relevant
copyright holders for illustrative material in this
Australian shipwreck Australian historians
magazine. Where this has not proved possible, the
copyright holders are invited to contact the publisher.
regulars collections feature An Enduring Gift 16
friends 31 support us 32

4. 2::

5. Unexpected
Treasures
O
ccasionally, the significance
of items in the National Library of
Australia’s collection is unrealised
Andrew Gosling presents some of the Library’s
most precious gems from China, Korea and Persia
from AsiA
devoted the rest of his life to translating them.
While the name Xuanzang may be unfamiliar
to most Australians, he is known here and
opposite
Persian Qur’an, c.1850–1899
manuscripts collection
ms 4949
after their acquisition, only to be discovered around the world as a leading character in a
decades later. This article concentrates on four famous Chinese novel which has been filmed below
大般若波羅蜜多經 / 玄奘奉詔譯
such unexpected treasures: an ancient book and televised. In Monkey or Journey to the West, Da Ban Ruo Bo Luo Mi Duo
from China, twin silk maps of the world, also he became the monk Tripitaka, accompanied Jing (Greater Sutra of the
Perfection of Transcendent
in Chinese, an illustrated Korean text and an to India by his faithful companions Monkey, Wisdom), vol. 42, translated by
illuminated Persian manuscript. Pigsy and Sandy. Xuanzang, 1162
In 2008, respected scholars confirmed the The Library’s copy of the Greater Sutra Asian collection
ocrb 1818 4343
authenticity of a Chinese volume dated 1162, dates from the Song dynasty (960–1279), one
which made it by far the oldest printed book of China’s greatest literary and artistic eras,
held by the Library. The experts included the and a golden age for publishing, especially
late Professor Liu Ts’un-yan of the Australian of Buddhist texts. This particular version of
National University, Professor Lee Cheuk Yin the Buddhist canon was produced in
from the National University of Singapore and Fuzhou, a major
rare book specialists from the National Library publishing centre
of China. The text is a rare volume from a on the south-east
major 600-tome woodblock-printed set of the coast of China,
Buddhist scriptures. Its Chinese title, Da Ban opposite the
Ruo Bo Luo Mi Duo Jing, may be translated as island of
Greater Sutra of the Perfection of Transcendent Taiwan.
Wisdom. The Library holds volume 42.
Another surviving volume of this
1162 edition is known to exist at the
University of California, Los Angeles.
The original Indian text in Sanskrit
was translated into Chinese by the famous
Tang dynasty pilgrim monk Xuanzang.
Between 629 and 645, he journeyed through
Central Asia to India, bringing back hundreds
of Buddhist works, including this one. He
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 3

6. Fang spent most of his adult life in the United
States, but worked in Canberra as Curator
of the Oriental Collection at the Australian
National University from 1961 to 1963.
In 1921 the Australian architect, artist and
writer William Hardy Wilson (1881–1955)
spent several months in China, where he
took photographs, produced sketches of
traditional buildings and sought bargains
from antique dealers. He visited Beijing,
Hangzhou, Guangzhou (Canton) and
Macao. His purchases included a twin-scroll
map representing the eastern and western
hemispheres. Each was about 1.6 metres
in diameter and produced by woodblock
printing on silk. They were badly cracked
and dirty, with silk panels peeling from
their paper backing. Wilson presented them
to the Library in 1949. The gift was clearly
significant, although at the time neither he
nor the Library realised its true value. In
1970 the Library sent the scrolls to Japan,
where Shinkichi Endo, a renowned restorer of
national treasures, spent several years carefully
lifting thousands of tiny silk fragments from
the original paper backing and remounting
them on new stiffened silk panels. His efforts
are thought to have extended the map’s life by
about 400 years.
Meanwhile, experts from the Australian
National University and overseas confirmed
that it was a rare 1674 world map created
in China by the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand
Verbiest (1623–1688). This brilliant
astronomer, mathematician and inventor
spent 30 years in China. He rose to become a
high official and close adviser to the Kangxi
emperor, who ruled from 1661 to 1722. This
above Earlier Chinese imprints, such as the Diamond was one of the most brilliant eras in the Qing,
大般若波羅蜜多經 / 玄奘奉詔譯 Sutra (868), the oldest dated printed book to or Manchu, dynasty (1644–1911). While
Da Ban Ruo Bo Luo Mi Duo
Jing (Greater Sutra of the survive anywhere in the world, were rolled up several black and white copies of Verbiest’s
Perfection of Transcendent as scrolls. The Fuzhou edition was the first to 1674 map have survived, the original edition
Wisdom), vol. 42, translated by
Xuanzang, 1162
adopt sutra binding, in which the scroll was in colour is extremely rare. Apart from the one
Asian collection folded like a concertina for easy access to the held by the Library, a coloured version is also
ocrb 1818 4343 text. This format was later employed widely for held in Kobe, Japan, and another in Seoul.
the Buddhist scriptures. Verbiest’s work combined Chinese and
The book is in fair condition for its great age, Western notions of cartography. The shape
although it is incomplete, with parts of some of the continents was based on European
pages missing. How it survived for 800 years mapping of the time, notably the Dutch
remains a mystery. It was eventually found by cartographers Blaeu and Ortelius. Australia
the distinguished historian and bibliographer was depicted with the islands of New Guinea
Chaoying Fang (1908–1985), whose Chinese seal and Tasmania attached to it. Verbiest’s map
appears in red ink at the beginning and end of was the first in China to show the newly
the text. The Library acquired this extraordinary charted coasts of Australia and New Zealand.
treasure in 1962 together with the rest of Verbiest clearly aimed to impress a local
Fang’s major book collection. Born in China, audience, possibly the emperor himself or
4::

7. his court. In line with Chinese thinking, left
China was placed at the centre of the map, Harold cazneaux (1878–1953)
William Hardy Wilson at
symbolising its position as the political and Purulia, Warrawee, New South
cultural heart of the world, surrounded by Wales (4) 1921
b&w photograph; 12.7 x 10.1 cm
tributary states. Geographical information Pictures collection
in Chinese was contained within text panels. nla.pic-vn4398044
Foreign placenames were all in Chinese,
combining translated and phonetic elements. below
Ferdinand verbiest
For instance, New Guinea was identified by (1623–1688)
the Chinese for ‘New’ followed by Chinese World Map c.1674
handpainted woodblock on
characters representing the sounds for silk; 176.0 x 263.0 cm (each
‘Guinea’. Hand-coloured pictures depicted scroll)
animals and birds considered exotic in China. Hardy Wilson collection
maps collection
Some of the illustrations were fanciful, such nla.map-rm3499
as the blue giraffe in Antarctica and a bird of
paradise placed in the middle of Australia.
Among the rare titles acquired in Korea by
the Australian missionary, translator and book
collector Jessie McLaren (1883–1968) there is
an extremely unusual and possibly unique 1766
edition of an intriguing work. In Korean it is
˘ ˘ ˘
known as Puls˘ Taebo Pumo Unjunggyong Onhae
ol texts in China, as well as in other parts of East
or Sutra on the Profound Kindness of Parents. Asia, such as Korea.
From its title the book appears to be a In fact, the book is not wholly Buddhist.
Buddhist text about honouring parents. This It combines Confucian and Buddhist ideals
is true but is not the whole story. Even though of filial piety. The importance of honouring
it purports to use Buddha’s words, the book and respecting parents, especially fathers,
does not originate from India but appears lay at the core of Confucianism. In Chinese
to have been compiled in seventh-century Buddhist texts, such as this one, sons were
Tang dynasty China. It is, therefore, called urged to feel indebted to both parents for the
an apocryphal Buddhist sutra. Nevertheless many kindnesses received in childhood and to
it became one of the most famous religious repay such debts by being good Buddhists. The
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 5

8. above importance of the mother’s role was stressed only wanted good books and that she could
彿說大報父母恩重經諺解 much more than in Confucianism. drive a hard bargain.
Puls˘ l Taebo Pumo
o
˘ o ˘
Unjunggy˘ ng Onhae (Sutra The work was popular in Korea throughout Another treasure that the staff of the
on the Profound Kindness of the Choson dynasty (1392–1910). While some Library’s Manuscripts Collection drew to my
Parents), vol. 42, 1766
mclaren–Human collection
editions were published solely in the classical attention was a small handwritten Persian
Asian collection Chinese used by the ruling elite, others such as Qur’an (Koran), bound in floral-patterned
oKm No. 9 this one also contained text in Korean script to lacquer covers. The Qur’an is Islam’s holy
make them accessible to a wider public. Lively book. Muslims believe that Allah’s word
woodblock illustrations were also included was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
to attract attention. The book was translated (c.570–c.632), the founder of Islam, over a
and re-translated into Korean throughout period of 20 years. The sacred words were later
the country over several centuries, with recorded in Arabic as the Qur’an. It contains
illustrations and variations in the text. passages on the worship of one god, Allah, on
In 1984 Jessie McLaren’s daughter, Rachel death and the afterlife, on earlier messengers
Human (1923–2007), presented the sutra of God, such as Moses and Jesus, and on other
and her mother’s other Korean books to the religious regulations.
Library. The sutra’s extreme rarity was only The Persian manuscript of the Qur’an
recognised in 2006, when Dr Ross King, an was acquired by the Library in 1975. It had
expert on Korean language, established that belonged to Carl Georg von Brandenstein
it is the only known example of this title (1909–2005). As a young scholar, this German
produced in Hoeryong, in the far north-east aristocrat had studied the Hittites of ancient
of Korea, close to the Chinese border. This Turkey. In 1941 he and his family were in
was a remote backwater, where little printing Persia, now known as Iran. Taken captive by
occurred. The book contains distinct regional the British, he was sent to internment camps
characteristics of the type of Korean spoken in in South Australia and later in Victoria. After
the border region. Whoever carved its wooden the war much of his life was spent in Western
printing blocks seems to have been only semi- Australia, where he carried out pioneering
literate in Korean and made odd errors in research on Indigenous languages.
carving the script. The British Library was consulted to find
We do not know how McLaren discovered out more about this Qur’an. This revealed that
this particular gem. In March 2007 her the manuscript was probably created during
daughter revealed that Jessie bought many old the mid- to late Qajar dynasty, which ruled
Korean publications from travelling salesmen, Persia from 1794 to 1925. The work combines
who, aware of her collecting interests, visited Arabic calligraphy, opening pages illuminated
her home in Seoul. They soon learned that she in blue and gold, and a colour portrait. Its style
6::

9. is thought to have been influenced by fine
examples of Ottoman Turkish calligraphy.
As is generally the case with such works,
the writer’s name is unknown. The
manuscript contains the complete Qur’an
in Arabic. On the final page there is a
prayer for piety, health and wellbeing.
The experts commented that it is
the colour painting which makes this
work special. It shows Ali and his sons,
Hasan and Husayn, who are revered
by Shia Muslims as the first three
Imams in the line of succession from
the Prophet Muhammad. Ali was the
Prophet’s cousin and husband of his this page
daughter Fatima. Succession through Persian Qur’an, c.1850–1899
manuscripts collection
the Prophet’s family lies at the heart of ms 4949
the Shia tradition. While they constitute
a minority within Islam as a whole,
Shia Muslims are predominant in Iran
and Iraq. The figures shown on
the back of the image are Ali’s
father, Abu Talib, and Bilal,
the Ethiopian, one of the first
Muslim converts and a close
companion of the Prophet.
Paintings of this kind became
popular during the Qajar
dynasty but it is rare, if not
unique, for a Qur’an to contain
an image of Ali and
his sons.
These four examples, and
other works in the Asian
Collection, reveal the breadth
and beauty of the Library’s
resources on the region’s writing
cultures. The Library houses Australia’s
strongest documentary collections about
Asia, in particular the countries of East
and South-East Asia. The main focus of
collecting has been the modern period but
earlier history and traditional cultures have by
no means been neglected.
ANDreW GoslING, the library’s former chief
librarian, Asian collection, is the author of a
recent library publication, Asian Treasures: Gems of
the Written Word, which describes 40 of the most
precious pieces in the collection, selected on the
theme of Asian writing, books and printing
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 7

10. A Picture Asks a Thousand Questions
Marie-Louise Ayres wonders whether a drawing of a squatter
reprisal in 1843 is an eyewitness account
I
background f a picture tells a thousand words, early life but can assume it was comfortable.
thomas John Domville taylor then it can also raise a thousand questions. He probably grew up in the ancestral home,
(c.1817–1889)
The Blacks who Robbed the Drays And when the picture in question has Lymm Hall in Lymm, Cheshire, built by the
on the Main Range of Mountains been tucked away inside an innocent looking Domvilles in the early seventeenth century at
(detail) 1843
pencil; 10.5 x 29.2 cm
nineteenth-century woman’s scrapbook, the the centre of a wealthy estate.
Pictures collection gap between what we know and what we can We do not know exactly when Domville
nla.pic-vn4970952 only surmise is tantalising indeed. Taylor came to Australia or why. By the early
below In October 2010, the National Library of 1840s, when he would have been in his early
thomas John Domville taylor Australia acquired through an Australian twenties, he was the co-owner (with a Dr
(c.1817–1889) auction house a small and miscellaneous John Rolland) of Tummaville (an obvious
Tummaville on the Condamine
River, Darling Downs, Queensland collection of family documents. The collection corruption of ‘Domville’) station in the
1844 includes an album containing more than 100 Darling Downs, Queensland. Among the
pencil; 12.5 x 19.4 cm
nineteenth-century carte-de-visite photographs six little drawings in Ffoulkes’ book are two
Pictures collection
nla.pic-vn4970907 of an obviously well-to-do English family, and charming scenes of Tummaville. The first,
a scrapbook belonging to Patty Ffoulkes. The inscribed ‘Tummaville—Darling Downs,
latter item is a ‘commonplace’ book kept by a A New South Wales Squatter’s first arrival
young lady in the first half of the 1800s, filled on his Station after a journey of 3 mos’ is
with copies of flowery poems and pictures cut undated but we know that Domville Taylor
from books and journals. Pasted in the album lived at Tummaville as early as October 1841.
are six small pencil drawings by Ffoulkes’ There is a tent, a couple of bark huts, a pot
stepson, Thomas John Domville Taylor. cooking on a stove, several sets of drawers
Domville Taylor was born in Cheshire or trousers hanging from a line and two
around 1817, the son of Reverend Mascie European figures (are they Domville Taylor
Domville Taylor. His mother died in 1826, and Dr Rolland?) sitting on logs, smoking and
after which Domville Taylor’s father remarried. reading. Mountains loom in the background.
We know very little of Domville Taylor’s The second drawing, dated 1844 and inscribed
‘Tummaville Station
on the Condamine
River, Darling Downs,
N.S. Wales’, shows
a scene transformed.
There are now four
houses, with verandahs,
smoking chimneys
and neat fences. The
looming mountains
have disappeared and a
flowing river and lush
grass suggest bucolic
prosperity.
Advertisements in
The Sydney Morning
Herald record that
8::

11. Domville Taylor and Rolland dissolved their have estimated that several hundred
business partnership in September 1844. Aboriginal people may have died
Domville Taylor stayed in the Downs for in the region during the 1840s to
at least another year. He departed from the 1860s.
nearby Jimbour Station in August 1845, From late 1842, The Sydney
returning there in late September with a party Morning Herald regularly reports
searching for the doomed explorer Ludwig on how ‘troublesome’ the ‘blacks’
Leichhardt. Domville Taylor’s journal of the on the Downs are and how unsafe
trip, including a sketch map of the party’s it is to travel unless in company
route and descriptions of encounters with and well armed. By August 1843,
Indigenous people, is held in private hands but the Herald ’s correspondent reports
was microfilmed by the State Library of New that another white shepherd has
South Wales’ Mitchell Library in the 1970s. been murdered and that ‘the whole
It seems likely that Domville Taylor of the settlers on the Downs are
returned to Britain shortly after the death of in a complete state of excitement,
his father in 1845. We know little about his compelled to keep their servants
life after his return, except that it seems to constantly armed and on the alert
have been prosperous. He died in Brighton for fear of an attack, so daring
in September 1889, leaving a considerable have the blacks become’.
personal estate of just over £19 000. His name That ‘state of excitement’ reflects a systematic above
remains inscribed on the Australian landscape. attempt to harry the white settlers of the southwell brothers,
Photographers royal
The small town of Tummaville is built on the Downs by more than 100 Barunggahm, Portrait of Thomas Domville
site of his original station, on the banks of the Jarowair, Giabal and Keinjan men who banded Taylor 1862
carte-de-visite mount; 8.5 x 5.5 cm
Condamine River. Mount Domville, named together under the leadership of Multuggerah. Pictures collection
by C.P. Hodgson, the leader of the Leichhardt In effect, the group declared war on the nla.pic-vn4982302
search party, is 50 kilometres south-west of Europeans, using intermediary ‘Tinker’
below
the town. Campbell to deliver a warning that they ‘News from the Interior—
Domville Taylor arrived in the Downs at planned to attack stations and supply routes, moreton bay’, The Sydney
a critical moment in the history of European harassing several settled properties in the Morning Herald, 6 July 1843
Newspapers and microforms
and Aboriginal contact. Allan Cunningham middle months of 1843. By August, they had collection
reached the Downs in 1827, the first European developed a strategic and logical plan to block
to do so, and most historians agree that the main supply route from Moreton
local Aboriginal people did not immediately Bay to the Downs. By blocking
perceive the small number of white visitors supply, they believed, they could force
as a major threat. However, European the white settlers to quit the area.
settlement began in earnest in 1840 and, by Multuggerah’s plan was initially
1841, when Domville Taylor was certainly in successful. On 12 September, his men
residence at Tummaville, the area’s original ambushed three drays, attended by 18
inhabitants found that their access to food men, on the only road from Moreton
and water was severely affected by pastoral Bay to the Downs. At the ambush
activity. From 1842 to 1843, tension built site on the Helidon Run (some
between Aboriginal people and European 20 kilometres east of the modern
settlers. Aboriginal attacks on white settlers Toowoomba, then named ‘Drayton’,
increased, with around two dozen white and 100 kilometres north-east of
deaths, including the murder of an infant girl, Tummaville), the road was barely
recorded by the press and in personal accounts. wide enough for bullocks and drays
There are no press records of Aboriginal to pass. Confronted by a determined
deaths but, consulting diaries and letters, and organised group of Multuggerah’s
specialist historians of the Darling Downs warriors, the Europeans retreated to
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 9

12. above find that the Commissioner for Crown Lands, of Foot reached the area. We cannot be sure
thomas John Domville taylor Dr Stephen Simpson, his police and a group whether Domville Taylor witnessed the attack,
(c.1817–1889)
The Blacks who Robbed the Drays of some 20 squatters had gathered nearby to participated in it or drew the scene after hearing
on the Main Range of Mountains discuss their response to the repeated attacks of it from other squatters. There are, however,
(detail) 1843
pencil; 10.5 x 29.2 cm
on their stations by organised groups of strong stylistic hints that suggest the immediacy
Pictures collection Aboriginal men. This combined party was also of a ‘there and then’ sketch, and other written
nla.pic-vn4970952 repulsed by Multuggerah’s group, with serious records indicate that he was involved in at least
injuries but no deaths among the squatters, in one other, slightly earlier conflict with a large
what is known as the Battle of One Tree Hill. group of Aboriginal people.
Following this defeat, Commissioner In the drawing, 11 European men fire on
Simpson rode to Brisbane to seek assistance, a group of 25 Aboriginal men, women and
returning on 19 September with a group of children. Three of the Aboriginal people
12 men from the 99th Regiment of Foot. appear to have been shot. The drawing has a
The regiment was dispatched to deal with great sense of immediacy and movement, with
the retreating Aboriginal people, who guns firing, people running and the unlucky
were eventually cornered in a camp in the victims of gunshots falling or flying through
Rosewood Scrub on 10 October. At least the air. Everything is focused on the action.
two of the Aboriginal men, believed to have There is no sky, scrub is merely sketched in
murdered the young white girl some months the background and the foreground contains
earlier, were killed. nothing but firing squatters, fleeing Aboriginal
The squatters did not leave their protection people, a humpy and a tree. And yet there
solely in the hands of the regiment. Letters is fine detail. One man carries two spears,
and diaries from the period suggest that small another carries a boomerang. To the left of the
parties of squatters independently hunted and drawing, a mother flees with one baby on her
attacked Aboriginal groups from the time of back, while a small child runs behind.
‘One Tree Hill’ to at least the end of 1843. Close examination shows that most of the
Conflict continued for another decade, albeit figures have been sketched in from postural
at a lower volume. stick figures, with dots indicating the
One incident in this troubled history is location of the heads, joints, hands and feet
depicted in a small but compelling drawing of the fleeing figures. Many of the dots and
inscribed ‘The Blacks who robbed the drays sketched limbs are drawn with considerable
on the Main Range of Mountains—attacked force, suggesting some urgency on the part
by a party of Darling Downs Squatters after of the artist. This use of postural dots is also
following them for a week. D.T. 1843’. The apparent in Domville Taylor’s rough sketches
drawing depicts a squatter reprisal around 19 of Boombiburra, his ‘Aboriginal servant in
September 1843, following the Battle of One Australia’, and Mount Domville, the latter
Tree Hill, the same time the 99th Regiment presumably drawn in the field during the
10::

13. 1845 search for Leichhardt. His much more Aboriginal men of south-west Queensland—
‘finished’ drawing of a night corroboree, which can be confidently identified as being an
Domville Taylor inscribes as having been eyewitness account.
‘taken from life’, shows that these postural The Domville Taylor drawing is distinct
dots were used to indicate the positions of the from these examples, which all dramatise the
hands, arms and knees of the moving dancers. moments of tension before guns are fired or
They are still visible despite later shading to spears are thrown. In Hodgkinson’s work,
convey the impression of firelight flickering a large group of Aboriginal men advances
on bodies. These stylistic similarities strongly on a small group of Europeans behind a
suggest that Domville Taylor used postural palisade, but the battle has not yet begun.
dots and quick lines to sketch ‘from life’. The other images highlight the sense of threat
They are not apparent in his more complete to Europeans by showing quite large groups
Tummaville landscapes, presumably drawn at of Aboriginal warriors armed with spears
some leisure. against smaller groups of white settlers armed
It is hard to imagine any scenario in which with guns. The Domville Taylor drawing, by
Domville Taylor heard a tale of such an attack contrast, depicts the moments after firing has
(or an amalgam of tales) and then proceeded commenced. While the Aboriginal group of
to draw a visual record of the story. It is 25 is much larger than the European group of
harder still to imagine him including the 11, numbers are no defence against guns.
detail of a mother and children fleeing from At this stage, with no helpful explanatory
bullets, unless he witnessed the scene himself. letters or diaries from Domville Taylor, it
Domville Taylor’s documented presence in is impossible to prove beyond doubt that
the Darling Downs during these troubled the drawing is a unique eyewitness account
years, his role as a squatter, together with of a specific event or to know where the
the liveliness, detail and ‘presence’ of the attack occurred, who was involved or how
drawing strongly suggests that it is indeed an many finally fell to the gun. Even with these
eyewitness account. silences, the drawing speaks with great power
The issue of whether the drawing is an and poignancy of the inevitable tragedy of
eyewitness account is important. Only a few dispossession unfolding across the Downs.
visual images of conflict between Europeans
and Aboriginal people are held in Australian
libraries and only one of these—the Library’s Dr mArIe-louIse Ayres is the senior curator of
William Oswald Hodgkinson watercolour of Pictures and manuscripts at the National library
a conflict at ‘Bulla’ between members of the of Australia
Burke and Wills expedition’s supply party and
left
William oswald Hodgkinson
(1835–1900)
Bulla, Queensland 1861
in ‘Album of miss eliza
younghusband, south Australia,
1856–1865’
watercolour; 21.8 x 13.4 cm
Pictures collection
nla.pic-vn4189024-s46
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 11

14. Nature’s
BusiNessmaN
Shrewd or Stoic?
Roslyn Russell reassesses John Gould’s
reputation for ruthless ambition
J ohn gould was born in lyme regis,
Devon, on 14 September 1804, the
son of a gardener and his wife. From
this humble beginning, he embarked on a
remarkable career in ornithology, and natural
science generally, achieving enduring renown
as the ‘father of Australian ornithology’.
Gould’s identification of finches from
the Galapagos Islands provided Charles
Darwin with a key to unlocking the mystery
of the origin of species. In 1838 Gould
and his talented wife, Elizabeth, travelled
to the far-flung colony of Van Diemen’s
Land; from there, he and his natural
history collectors travelled around mainland
Australia, several of them paying with their
lives for their commitment to collecting
and exploration. Gould’s artists depicted in
exquisite lithographs, accompanied by Gould’s
expert commentary, the birds (including
the budgerigar, see following article) and
mammals of Australia and of other parts of
the world.
Gould’s ability as a highly capable
coordinator of the process of producing
ornithological prints and the accompanying
expert commentary, coupled with his
taxidermy business, made him a rich man
and elevated him far above the social setting
into which he was born. The story of his
remarkable life, his practical skills, his driving
energy and shrewd business judgment, his
12::

15. conspicuous talent for determining and and undermine his reputation for callous
describing the characteristics of birds and indifference.
animals, his travels to locate, classify and That Gould was a driven man, though,
illustrate new species, and his interactions with is clear. In common with many self-made
those with whom he worked and did business men, he had scant patience with those who
have been told many times. were less focused on achievement. One of
Yet, John Gould has not always had a good the first people to complain of Gould’s curt
press. While he has had effective champions, manner and single-mindedness was Edward
such as Gordon Sauer, who collected and Lear, one of his earliest illustrators.
published all his correspondence, Ann Lear, better known as the author
Datta, who collaborated with Sauer on the of nonsense verse, was epileptic and
Gould letters and has also written of Gould’s depressive, the polar opposite of the bluff,
Australian experience, and his own great- energetic Gould. Born to a bankrupted
great-granddaughter Maureen Lambourne, London stockbroker, Lear was the opposite page top
unknown photographer
the liveliest biography of Gould, Isabella twentieth child in a family of 21. Forced to
Portrait of Ornithologist
Tree’s The Bird Man: The Extraordinary Story of earn his living in his mid-teens, Lear turned John Gould c.1850
John Gould (1991), is critical of aspects of his to his talent for illustration and, at the age of b&w photograph; 15.0 x 12.2 cm
Pictures collection
personality and treatment of other people. only 18, embarked on an ambitious project—to nla.pic-vn3800026
The Business of Nature: John Gould and illustrate all the species of the parrot family,
Australia, published by the National Library of the Psittacidae. Not unexpectedly, given his opposite page bottom
calyptorhynchus macrorhynchus
Australia, takes account of these viewpoints on youth and temperament, Lear was a poor (Great-billed Black Cockatoo) in
Gould—the man and the businessman—and businessman. His first two published folios in The Birds of Australia, vol. 5, by
shows that contemporary verdicts on Gould’s November 1830, nevertheless, brought him John Gould, 1848
Australian rare books collection
personality, proffered as evidence that he instant recognition as an ornithological artist http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-f4773-
ignored the physical and emotional needs of and he was nominated as an associate to the 5-s21
others, may have done him a disservice. Gould Linnean Society.
might not have appeared to possess much Producing fine works of natural history above
capacity for empathy but there is evidence illustration required the assistance of a unknown artist
Edward Lear 1830s
that what seemed to be emotional indifference number of other people and trades, and silhouette on paper
was in fact a stoic response to adversity and the coordinating skills to keep the process courtesy National Portrait
Gallery, london
tragedy by a man of the Victorian age. Gould on track. Lear found that extracting from
was not a demonstrative character but some subscribers the money needed to publish the below left
of his written words convey his warmer side next set of plates was so difficult that he was John Gould (1804–1881)
euphema splendida 1846
pencil and crayon on paper
53.0 x 37.5 cm
Pictures collection
nla.pic-an9994496
below right
euphema splendida (Splendid
Grass Parakeet) in The Birds of
Australia, vol. 5, by John Gould,
1848
Australian rare books collection
http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-f4773-
5-s90
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 13

16. forced to find paying Anyone who has toiled over a letter (or more
work elsewhere. In 1831 likely these days, an email) in an attempt to
he began to work with maintain a relationship or to share views with
John and Elizabeth another person and who has received one line
Gould on The Birds in reply, will sympathise with Lear. But Gould
of Europe, and taught was a busy man and not a natural writer
Elizabeth the finer outside his area of specialisation.
points of lithographic Thirty years after he worked with Gould,
illustration. Lear delivered a verdict that clearly stemmed
Lear found Gould a from his disappointment that their relationship
relentless taskmaster had not survived time and distance, and which
and, when the has contributed to Gould’s reputation as an
opportunity arose in unsympathetic character: ‘A more singularly
1832 to take another offensive mannered man than G. hardly can
position, he did so. be: but the queer fellow means well, tho’s more
He nevertheless of an Egotist than can be described’. After
finished his quota for Gould’s death Lear called him
The Birds of Europe
and, in 1833, agreed a harsh and violent man … ever the same
to work on another persevering hardworking toiler in his own
Gould ornithological (ornithological) line—but ever as unfeeling
publication, contributing for those about him. In the earliest phase of
ten plates to Monograph his bird drawing he owed everything to his
of the Ramphistidae, or excellent wife, & to myself—without whose
Family of Toucans. help in drawing he had done nothing.
above Lear’s artistic interests then took a different
edward lear (1812–1888) turn: he travelled to Ireland in 1835 and This is one view of Gould that has endured
Palaeornis novae-hollandiae,
New Holland Parrakeet, in the discovered the satisfaction of landscape but other voices tell a different story. It is
Possession of the Right Hon. the painting. A year later, his eyesight began difficult to imagine that, had Gould been as
Countess of Mountcharles 1830s
lithograph; 52.7 x 36.6 cm
to fail, ruling out the close work required unattractive a personality as Lear suggested,
Pictures collection for natural history illustration. He tried to he could have achieved so much. The complex
nla.pic-an11135255 maintain his relationship with Gould by process of maintaining the uninterrupted
below letter but was always disappointed by Gould’s flow of lithographs and text to subscribers
cygnus atratus (Black Swan) in perfunctory responses to his effusive missives. required not only the ability to coordinate his
The Birds of Australia, vol. 7, by
John Gould, 1848
Australian rare books collection
http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-f4773-7-s17
14::

17. business affairs but also to inspire loyalty in feelings when he asked for a comment
his assistants. He was clearly a man who was from a subscriber on Elizabeth’s
able to motivate others with his vision, starting contribution to Part 5 of The
with his wife. Birds of Australia, showing his
Elizabeth Gould was the next person keen desire to have her work
that Gould was thought to have treated less praised: ‘I shall be glad of
than considerately. Born Elizabeth Coxen at a line saying how you like
Ramsgate in the same year as her husband, the present part; almost
she was rescued by marriage from the the last of the work of
isolation and indeterminate social status of a my Dear and never to be
governess. After she married John Gould in forgotten partner’.
January 1829, Elizabeth found that, despite Three years later, when
her married status and frequent childbearing, Part 15 of The Birds of
she was expected to work, albeit at an Australia was published,
occupation that did not violate the code of Gould paid Elizabeth the
gentility—drawing birds on lithographic stone highest tribute when he
to her husband’s directions, a task to which named the multicoloured
she brought considerable skill and dedication. Gouldian Finch after her.
Instead of enduring soul-destroying boredom, He wrote:
she travelled with her husband to Europe and
to Australia and met with a wide range of It is therefore with feelings of
people and situations. She and John appeared no ordinary nature that I have
to the outside world to be ‘soulmates’, as they ventured to dedicate this new
worked together in their business and raised a and lovely bird to the memory of
growing family. her, who in addition to being a most
Gould has been accused of insufficiently affectionate wife, for a number of years
acknowledging Elizabeth’s contribution to laboured so hard and so zealously assisted
his early success in ornithological illustration. me with her pencil in my various works, above
His restrained comments to correspondents but who, after having made a circuit of the tanysiptera sylvia (White-tailed
Tanysiptera) in The Birds of
after Elizabeth’s untimely death in 1841 globe with me, and braved many dangers Australia, supplement, by John
have been interpreted as signifying his lack with a courage only equalled by her virtues, Gould, 1869
Australian rare books collection
of emotion. Nevertheless, he did express his and while cheerfully engaged in illustrating
http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-f4773-
the present work, was by the Divine will 5-s21
of her Maker suddenly called from this to a
left
brighter and better world; and I feel assured Mrs John Gould
in dedicating this bird to the memory of from The Emu, vol. 60, 1960
Mrs. Gould, I shall have the full sanction b&w reproduction
19.4 x 14.0 cm
of all who were personally acquainted with Pictures collection
her, as well as those who only know her by nla.pic-vn3799791
her delicate works as an artist.
Gould may have been a difficult man to deal
with at times but few have left behind so
eloquent and abiding a tribute. It is fitting
that the badge of the Gould League, which
today celebrates the lives of both John and
Elizabeth Gould, should feature a Gouldian
Finch, the last gesture of gratitude from a
husband to his wife.
roslyN russell is a canberra historian and
author of The Business of Nature: John Gould and
Australia, published by the National library of
Australia in April 2011
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 15

18. An
enduring
gift
by iaN WardeN
O
n 6 August 1856, just before she sailed from album mark the exciting arrival of photography, with its
san Francisco to Hong Kong aboard the elegant special power to record the truth. ‘I hate cameras. they
and built-for-speed extreme clipper Young America, are so much more sure about everything than I am,’ John
five-year-old Nellie babcock was given a farewell present. steinbeck thought. Woodbury’s camera, much more sure
It was a handsome black and gilt Gift Album, which the of everything than s.t. Gill and his paintbrushes could
National library of Australia recently acquired from an have been, has left us images full of factual detail about
antiquarian dealer in the united states. the goldfields. For example, to take a magnifying glass to
the album was, of course, empty when Nellie received it. the small image Gold Digging In Australia, 1856 is to find a
today it contains photographs of great rarity and importance wealth of detail about the posed miners—their clothes, their
that were added during the voyage. they are 11 albumen tools, their methods and the dry, bare bush that they are
prints by the young english photographer Walter Woodbury turning into a landscape of shafts and heaps.
which capture places and people at and around the victorian How did it come to pass that in August 1856 Nellie
gold diggings near beechworth. the collection includes what babcock, a young child, went to live onboard a ship during
may be the first close-up photograph of men at work on the a long, long voyage? the explanation lies with her father,
victorian goldfields. David shearman babcock, the captain of the dashing and
there is an abundance of drawn and painted pictures of expensive clipper, who liked to take his family with him on
the victorian goldfields of the 1850s, such as the library’s his voyages.
many works by s.t. Gill. the 1856 photographs in Nellie’s Finished in 1853, the Young America had cost $140 000
to build and went on to set many speed
records. Pausing at Hong Kong and then
at some other exotic destinations, the
ship eventually sprinted to melbourne,
arriving on 11 April 1857. on 27 April
she bustled away from melbourne and
skimmed off towards batavia (Jakarta),
with cargo and just two paying
passengers. one of the passengers was
the 22-year-old english photographer,
Woodbury. At some point in the
voyage and getting along famously
with the seafaring family of babcocks
(in a letter to his mother, Woodbury
observed: ‘the captain, who has his
wife and family on board, is a very
gentlemanly person and his wife a
16::

19. C o l l e C t i o N s f e at u r e
left
Album of Photographs of
Australian Goldfields by Walter
Woodbury, Compiled by Nellie
Babcock 1856–1861
album; 23.7 x 19.7 x 2.3 cm
Pictures collection
nla.pic-vn4777768
below left
Walter Woodbury (1834–1885)
Five Unidentified Men Working
a Gold Mine near Beechworth,
Victoria 1856
sepia-toned print; 8.6 x 10.8 cm
Pictures collection
nla.pic-vn4777768-s11
right
Walter Woodbury (1834–1885)
Carts in Front of the Star
Hotel, Ford Street, Beechworth,
Victoria 1856
sepia-toned print; 8.4 x 12.8 cm
Pictures collection
nla.pic-vn4777768-s8
very pleasant lady’), he seems to have given Nellie the nothing quite compares with holding the exquisite, history
photographs that now adorn the album. impregnated album in one’s cotton-gloved hands and
Woodbury had been lured from england to Australia thinking of the little hands that first held it. turning the
by gold fever but, when he arrived in victoria in october pages one finds, as well as the photographs, some poignant
1852, the search for gold was in the doldrums. And so surprises, such as some ancient pressed autumn leaves.
he turned his hobby of photography into a profession, then there is the declaration, written by an admirer while
leaving melbourne in 1856 to set up his own studios the Young America, this greyhound of the sea, was anchored
in beechworth. He was there for about a year, always in Hong Kong on 11 January 1857:
struggling perhaps because of business competitors To Nellie
who had arrived in beechworth just two days after him. More than my eyes I love thee,
Woodbury’s photography involved portraiture but also But I love my eyes still more
gold-mining scenes, street scenes, landscapes and at Because with them I saw thee. •
least one backyardscape with washing flapping on clothes
lines. He tried to differentiate himself
from his beechworth competitors
(they produced daguerreotypes)
by specialising in the use
of collodion wet plate glass
negatives and albumen prints.
this process, which carried the photographic
image in a layer of albumen made from
eggwhites, and Woodbury’s pioneering use of
it gives the already valuable images in the album
some added rarity and novelty. Woodbury, only in
Australia for five years, went on to become a world-
famous and famously innovative photographer. He
lodged 20 patents, one of them for the intrepid
taking of photographs from hot-
air balloons.
everyone can look at the
album’s contents online but
:: 17

20. T he F light of the
Budgerigar
Penny Olsen takes a look at the
humble budgie and uncovers
the world’s most successfully
marketed pet
T
ebenezer edward Gostelow he drying of lake eyre
(1866–1944) in 2009 produced more
The Warbling Grass Parrot, Shell
Budgerigar (melopsittacus
than the airborne dust that
undulatus) 1928 carpeted the eastern seaboard
watercolour; 43.0 x 22.0 cm and drifted as far as New
Pictures collection
nla.pic-an3829066 Zealand. In October, clouds
of budgerigars burst from the
Red Centre where, nine months
before, rivers flowed through the hit the ‘skyroad’ and headed to better-watered,
drought-parched landscape, partially filling the more coastal parts.
sprawling lake. It was following one such event that English
The arrival of water triggered mass-breeding ornithologist John Gould (see previous article)
events among several denizens of the inland, stumbled upon budgerigars breeding in 1839
plus avian visitors from more coastal areas, on the Liverpool Plains, just west of the
keen to take advantage of the ephemeral Great Divide, in New South Wales. He had
flush in food. The budgerigars had raised been gathering material for his great work,
several broods during the good months. the multi-volume, lavishly illustrated treatise
Busy colonies nested around billabongs, The Birds of Australia. In it, he explains his
every tree hole supporting a pair or more. encounter with the ‘Betcherrygah’ of the
The youngsters contributed, raising young ‘Natives of the Liverpool Plains’:
when they themselves were but months old.
Great chattering flocks of tens of thousands in the beginning of December, I found
built up and streamed straight across the sky, myself surrounded by numbers, breeding in
wings whirring. The squadrons maintained all the hollow spouts of the large Eucalypti
formation, wheeling in unison to dodge the bordering the Mokai; and on crossing the
avian predators that intercepted the flow, plains between that river and the Peel,
flashing first green, then gold. They alighted to in the direction of the Turi Mountain,
crowd the limbs of creekside gum trees like so I saw them in flocks of many hundreds
much extra foliage and quietly sat out the heat feeding upon the grass-seeds that were there
of the day or cautiously made their way down abundant.
for a hasty drink.
Life was often short: if they were not fodder Later, in Handbook to the Birds of Australia,
for the raptors that were also taking advantage Gould revised his estimate: ‘I saw them in
of the flush, they perished in soaring flocks of many thousands’. Gould understood
temperatures. The survivors, still relatively that the birds might be eruptive, prone to
plentiful, soon found the landscape returning ‘periodic exodus’, writing in 1866 to egg-
to its usual sunburnt reds. True nomads, they collector Edward Ramsay, future Curator of
18::

21. the Australian Museum: ‘The Black Fellows Gould confided that he was expecting to fend
of the Upper Hunter told me that the little off royalty:
Melopsittacus undulatus had come to meet me,
for they had never seen the bird in that district I met Prince Albert at the last Soc.
until the year I arrived’. Meeting, the little pets were … of course
In 1840 Gould returned to London with introduced. The Prince was very much
a vast collection of specimen skins, nests pleased with them and I am any day
and eggs. He arrived bearing ‘presents for a expecting a Command from the Queen
few private friends’—a collection of parrots, requesting they should be submitted to her.
including a galah and several eastern and
crimson rosellas, the only animals in his Gould’s birds may not have been a pair, for
menagerie to survive the four-month voyage apparently they never bred. Derby, however,
from Port Jackson to London. eventually obtained some live birds for his
Gould’s sponsor Lord Derby soon expressed extensive private zoo and is credited with
a keen interest in the budgerigars, asking ‘How breeding the first budgies in captivity. Early in
many of these are now in Life?’ and adding February 1848 he wrote to Gould:
‘I suppose you have heard that Wh[?] has
three of them for which he has the modesty I have pleasure to tell you that we have
to ask 20£ each’, a fortune at the time. Gould been most pleased here by the fact of a Pair
replied that he had left the colony with 19 live of the Melopsittacus undulatus breeding
budgerigars but only two had survived: … We do not yet know anything more than
she certainly has hatched, for we can hear
melopsittacus undulatus
At one time I had fifteen of Nanodes the young, but how many we can not even (Warbling Grass-Parrakeet) in
undulatus alive, all of which died on our guess. This is curious & I believe it is the The Birds of Australia, vol. 5, by
leaving the country, however Mrs Gould’s 1st instance. I trust they may go well, but John Gould, 1848
Australian rare books collection
brother presented her with four other living can not help further more than hoping. http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-f4773-5-s94
specimens of this beautiful bird—two of
these also died, the others arrived in safety
and are especial pets of Mrs Gould.
Excusing his failure to forward them to
his patron, Gould pleaded sentimental
association: ‘Had they not been given to
[Elizabeth] by her brother they would have
been at once forwarded to your Lordship’. To
make amends he offered ‘a pair of Platycercus
barnardii [Australian ringnecks] as a slight
token of respect of one who is ever sensible
of the many favors he has received at your
Lordship’s hands’.
The following April, Gould reported back
to the Australian-based donor of their petite
parrots, his brother-in-law Stephen Coxen.
Gould’s collecting trip had enhanced his
reputation and given him access to high
society. The two budgerigars, ‘the most
animated cheerful little creatures you can
possibly imagine’, were a boon:
They are looked upon by every one with
great interest and I can take them out with
me not only to the Scientific Meetings of
the Society but to some of the large homes
of the Nobility who discuss my return from
Australia.
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 19

22. Australia added to numbers in Britain, where
2000 budgies at a time crowded London
dealers’ bird rooms. The peak of importation
was in the first six months of 1879, when
50 000 pairs were estimated to have been
shipped and dispersed across Europe, where,
by the 1880s, budgie ‘factories’ were producing
batches of 15 000 birds.
By the mid-nineteenth century the general
population was enjoying the fruits of the
industrial revolution. Many ordinary families
could afford a pet, even an exotic parrot, once
the preserve of nobility. The little budgerigar
was affordable, hardy, easy to keep, playful,
social, devoted and long-lived. Its happy
disposition and pleasant, conversational chatter
made it good company.
Books on cagebirds extolled the virtues of
the miniature parrot. One of the earliest was
Charles Gedney’s Foreign Cage Birds (1877),
which gushed:
Of all the parrakeet tribe this variety has
found the most favour in England, and
deservedly so, for not only is the plumage
exquisitely beautiful, but its gentle loving
disposition is sure to win the hearts of those
who keep it … Lately it has become the
fashion to call these birds budgerigars …
By whatever name they are called, these
graceful little creatures will ever hold a
foremost place in my estimation, and I
heartily recommend them to my bird-loving
readers.
Gedney’s manual also provided a remedy
Neville William cayley Derby’s pair hatched two chicks but they did to cure the birds of the diarrhoea that so
(1886–1950) not survive to fledging. About the third day of often accompanied the overcrowding of
Budgerigar (melopsittacus
undulatus) 1930s March, Derby informed Gould: ‘I am sorry to dealers’ rooms, a sober reminder of the many
watercolour; 54.0 x 36.5 cm tell you both my little Melopsittaci have died budgerigars that perished before they had a
Pictures collection
nla.pic-an7021891
but they are preserved in the Museum’. chance to find a place in someone’s heart.
Within a few years the Queen had her Although it was not immediately known,
budgies, as she does today. In 1845, Gould’s the budgerigar could also be individualised,
secretary commented to a correspondent adding to its appeal. More than any other
that ‘a fine pair are in the possession of Her animal, its colour could be manipulated,
Majesty’ and was dissuading further collection and new colours, shapes and sizes were
of budgerigar specimens by Gould’s Australian developed intermittently, which kept the
collectors because they were no longer new market fresh and profits high. Around 1870,
or rare. Writing in 1865, Gould reported a yellow budgie became available, developed
that the budgerigar was ‘bred here as readily from a natural but extremely rare variant.
as the Canary’. Contrary to what he had The coveted sky blue mutation was bred and
assured Derby in 1840, he added: ‘I believe lost in the late 1870s, before the variant was
I was one of the first who introduced living successfully stabilised four decades later.
examples to this country, having succeeded in When the blue budgie was exhibited in
bringing home several on my return in 1840’. London in 1910, it caused a sensation among
By this time, nearly every ship from southern aviculturists and the public.
20::

23. The cult of the budgerigar had taken Exhibition in Berlin caused a sensation
flight. There were societies, exhibitions and and confounded the sceptics:
standards of perfection. Within a few decades
the budgerigar was Europe’s most popular There … stood the [speaking budgerigar]
cagebird, before conquering the United … bodily before the eyes of the
States, Japan and beyond. Shortly after the unbelieving, and thousands of visitors
Second World War, bright red budgerigars to the exhibition could convince
were imported from India to England, South themselves that they were not the
Africa and Australia to great fanfare. When victims of deception.
the much-admired birds went through
their annual moult, the fraud was revealed. Back in their home country no one
They were white birds, dyed scarlet by some was interested in breeding budgies.
enterprising trader. To this day, the burgundy In season, in the early decades of
budgerigar remains a dream. the twentieth century, they could be
Some 30 primary colour mutations are now purchased by the dozen at the cost
recognised, making hundreds of variations of only a few shillings and
possible. Recognised colours range from they were still exported
violet to cobalt, anthracite and cinnamon, en masse. But by the late
and patterns from saddleback, clearbody and 1930s, Neville Cayley,
lacewing to pied. The standard English show well-known ornithologist
budgie is now a puffy headed giant nearly and author, lamented: ‘We
twice the weight of the original. Australians now realise
If the potential for ‘improvement’ on nature that great opportunities
was not enough, with an early start, the budgie were missed’, and the
also proved highly trainable: it could shake budgerigar, in its new
hands, ring bells, climb poles and pull small multi-coloured garb,
wagons on command. In the last decades available also in super-
of the nineteenth century, a few expatriate sized, crested and curly
budgerigars began new careers, performing feathered models, was
tricks in mini-circuses and, as the mediums imported at great expense.
of fortune tellers in the marketplace, selecting Gould’s humble budgies
scraps of paper bearing forecasts. Later still started a craze that
they made charming magicians’ accomplices. eventually spread around
But most amazing of all, the miniature the world. They remain
parrots could talk. More extraordinary still, common, much-loved
they could speak several languages! In 1880, household pets and coveted
a little speaking budgerigar in the Ornis show birds, more popular even than the top
canary. The budgerigar’s story stands as the unknown photographer
Johnny Hart—Young English Bird
most successful mass marketing of a pet in Magi c.1945–1993
history and an early example of Australians’ gelatin silver print; 10.0 x 8.0 cm
state library of victoria
perplexing propensity to export their nation’s P.293/No.981
‘raw’ natural resources so that others profit
from their development. below
unknown photographer
Sadly, many Australians are unaware that Gracie Fields with Two
the ubiquitous little cagebird is an Australian Budgerigars on Top of Her Head
native, found naturally wild nowhere else in 1945
b&w photograph; 20.3 x 15.2 cm
the world. Even its original colours are ‘true Pictures collection
blue’—Australia’s national colours of green nla.pic-vn3600628
and gold.
left
Cricket-playing Budgerigar in
The Advertiser (south Australia),
20 November 1953
PeNNy olseN, a former National library of Newspapers and microforms
Australia Harold White Fellow, was assisted in her collection
research on the social history of the budgerigar by
a literature Grant from the Australia council for
the Arts
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 21

24. Australian Ghost Stories
above James Doig looks for Australian supernatural fiction authors
unknown artist
Bunyip 1935 and unearths their curious lives
I
watercolour; 15.4 x 28.0 cm
Pictures collection have always been fascinated by ghost stories has not waned since 1764, when
nla.pic-an21971935
stories. I can still remember the lurid Horace Walpole ushered in the age of the
below covers of the Fontana Great Ghost Stories Gothic novel with The Castle of Otranto. Even
cover of a typical nineteenth- series and the rival Pan Ghost Book series the invention of the electric light globe, the
century penny dreadful, the
christmas issue of Young Men that I found on the bookshelves as a boy. They atomic bomb and the internet has not banished
of Great Britain, edited and sent an agreeable shiver up my spine, what spectres, bogeys and goblins from the dark
published by edwin J. brett, 1877 M.R. James, the distinguished Cambridge don recesses of the room. The appeal of the ghost
and greatest of ghost-story writers, story seems to be something very basic to
described as ‘a pleasing terror’. all of us—perhaps it goes back to the oral
From that time on I was tradition of storytelling that stretches back to
hooked. I hunted for similar the earliest literature and beyond, a tradition
anthologies and collections of which has given us Gilgamesh, Scylla, the
short stories in second-hand Witch of Endor and Grendel.
bookshops and school fêtes. Charles Dickens can be credited with
From modest beginnings, that reinvigorating the ghost story in the mid-
collection has grown to several nineteenth century by publishing ghostly tales
thousand volumes, ranging in the Christmas numbers of his journals,
from nineteenth-century penny Household Words and All the Year Round. But
bloods and penny dreadfuls to the heyday of the ghost story—the Golden
fine, limited-edition anthologies Age, if you like—was the period from 1880
from small publishing houses to 1910, when many of the seminal works in
that specialise in ghostly and the genre were published, including Dracula
supernatural fiction. (1897), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
It is a curious thing that (1886), The Turn of the Screw (1898), The Picture
the popular appeal of ghost of Dorian Gray (1890) and the great collections
22::

25. from the pens of M.R. James, Algernon housing thousands
Blackwood and Arthur Machen, among many of microfilms, the
others. Women also figured prominently room itself would
and ghost stories by Mary Braddon, Amelia make a great setting
Edwards, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Violet for a ghost story. And
Hunt and Vernon Lee are classics of their kind. it represents a true
But where are the Australian writers in this national treasure—a
great flowering of supernatural fiction? Go to near complete
any of the dozens of anthologies that sample set of Australian
the supernatural tales of the period and you periodicals, journals,
will be struggling to find a single story by an newspapers and
Australian author among them. This seems other ephemeral
a glaring omission. After all, it is not as if publications dating
the Australian landscape or the colonial back to the earliest
experience lacks the elements necessary for a colonial times.
good ghost story: Moreover, the microfilm readers allow stories above
and articles to be printed to paper or, even Ida rentoul (1888–1960)
Ghost in the Graveyard 1903
In the Australian forests no leaves fall. The better, digitised and downloaded. pen and ink; 16.3 x 22.5 cm
savage shout among the rock clefts. From Working my way through the periodicals, Pictures collection
nla.pic-an6621827
the melancholy gums strips of white bark I discovered a treasure trove of Australian
hang and rustle. The very animal life of popular fiction, including lots of examples of below left
these frowning hills is either grotesque Australian ghost stories and supernatural tales cover of Dead Men’s Tales by
charles Junor, 1898
or ghostly. Great grey kangaroos hop that had not been reprinted since their first Australian collection
noiselessly over the coarse grass. Flights publication. The Australian Journal (1865–1962) Nl A 823JuN
of white cockatoos stream out, shrieking was one of dozens of Australian periodicals
below right
like evil souls. The sun suddenly sinks, that included the occasional supernatural tale cover of The Shudder Show by
and the mopokes burst out into horrible in its pages. Others include The Australasian A.e. martin, c.1945
courtesy leigh blackmore
peals of semi-human laughter. The natives (1864–1946), The Australian Town and Country
aver that, when night comes, from out the Journal (1870–1919), The Queenslander (1866–
bottomless depth of some lagoon the Bunyip 1939), The Boomerang (1887–1892), The Bulletin
rises, and, in form like a monstrous sea-calf, (1880–2008) and The Lone Hand (1907–1921).
drags his loathsome length from out of the What became clear was that Australia was
ooze. From a corner of the silent forest rises just as rich a source of ghost stories as Great
a dismal chant, and around a fire dance Britain and the United States. Such tales
natives painted like skeletons. All is fear- formed part of the reading
inspiring and gloomy. public’s popular taste for
adventure, romance and
You would be wrong if you thought this is
the opening of an outback ghost
story. It is a passage from Marcus
Clarke’s introduction to the
works of Adam Lindsey Gordon,
published in 1879. The point
Clarke was making was that the
Australian outback has something
of the same ‘weird melancholy’ as
Edgar Allan Poe’s verse.
The fact is that Australian ghost
stories do exist—you just have to
know where to find them, and the
best place to look is the Newspapers
and Microforms Reading Room at
the National Library of Australia.
Located on Lower Ground Floor 1
and with rows of microfilm readers,
computer terminals and metal cabinets
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 23

26. right sensation, and Australian writers cashed in Australia’, Fortune was born in Belfast in 1833
elliot and Fry on their popularity. Greats, such as Marcus and came to Australia via Canada in 1855,
Mrs Campbell Praed c.1895
b&w photograph; 21.3 x 15.9 cm Clarke, Henry Lawson and Edward Dyson, leaving her husband behind in Quebec. Of
Pictures collection dabbled in the form, as did many her two sons, one died aged five on
nla.pic-an24793813
others who were once popular the Victorian goldfields, while
below but have now drifted into the other, George, became a
cover of Australian Ghost Stories, obscurity. criminal, spending 20 years
selected by James Doig, 2010
I have often found in in Victorian prisons.
literary research that Although deserving a
the lives of authors place in Australian
are in many ways literary history, such
more compelling and was the obscurity
fascinating than the into which Fortune
stories they wrote. fell that even the
Take James Francis year of her death
Dwyer, for instance, remains a mystery.
a popular writer of Another forgotten
adventure stories in Australian writer
the first half of the of ghost stories and
twentieth century. occult thrillers is Rosa
Born in Camden Park, Campbell Praed, born
New South Wales, in in 1851 in a slab hut on
1874, Dwyer spent seven a remote station in south-
years in Goulburn Gaol for east Queensland. Even as a
forgery. From the damp confines child she was acutely aware of
of his cell he was inspired to compose the strangeness and emotional impact
poetry which was published in The Bulletin. of the vast Australian continent. She turned
Dwyer left Australia in 1906 and travelled this to good effect in her writing, especially
widely in the United States, Asia and Africa the classic story The Bunyip, which combines
before settling in France. He became a prolific the traditional blood-curdling campfire tale
novelist and short-story writer, most of them with the all-too-real colonial horror of the
tales of mystery and adventure written for the death of a child lost in the outback. Her life
popular pulp magazines of the day. His short- was marred by extraordinary personal tragedy:
story collection, Breath of the Jungle (1915), not only was she tied to a loveless marriage
contains a number of supernatural tales related but also her daughter, deaf from birth, went
by Hochdorf, a German insane and was committed to an asylum, and
naturalist who has various her three sons predeceased her, one by suicide.
hair-raising adventures in Praed’s consolation was her partner of many
exotic locales. years, Nancy Harwood, a medium whom she
More remarkable is Mary believed to be the reincarnation of a Roman
Fortune (1833–c.1910), who slave girl. Praed died on 10 April 1935 in
wrote under the pseudonym Torquay, Devon, alone and forgotten.
Waif Wander or W.W. Writing was a precarious business: many
Fortune is best known as writers struggled to earn a living and died
the author of the longest- in poor circumstances. Much of the pleasure
running early detective in compiling anthologies of early Australian
serial anywhere in the popular fiction is rescuing the names and
world, The Detective’s Album, reputations of otherwise forgotten writers
which was published in from obscurity.
The Australian Journal
between 1868 and 1933.
Described in an 1898 JAmes DoIG is the editor of four anthologies
article as ‘probably the of Australian supernatural fiction, including
only truly Bohemian lady Australian Ghost Stories (2010)
writer who has ever earned
a living by her pen in
24::

27. ‘Breakers ahead!’
William Westall’s record of a reef wreck
Richard Westall looks at firsthand depictions of an early Australian shipwreck
I
n 1803, while matthew flinders was We were all assembled in the
exploring the Gulf of Carpentaria during Cabin, when I suddenly heard
his circumnavigation of New Holland the Crew in great confusion, and
(Australia), his ship HM Sloop Investigator hurrying on Deck, beheld Breakers
began to leak and was found to have major on our Larboard Bow. The Coral
rot problems. Unable to repair the ship at sea, Reef showed itself in a long line
Flinders sailed on to Port Jackson (Sydney), of Foam, seen indistinctly through
where the vessel was condemned. The captain Gloom of the approaching Night.
was offered the use of HMS Porpoise to When the Ship struck, one general
continue his survey but this vessel was also Groan resounded throughout, for
unsuitable for the task. The captain decided not a possibility appeared that any
to sail for England as a passenger on the one could be saved. The Night was
Porpoise to obtain another ship and return remarkably Dark.
to Australia.
William Westall, landscape artist on the John Aken, the ship’s master, was top
Investigator, was among the passengers when on lookout that night and described the scene: William Westall (1781–1850)
Wreck of the Porpoise, Flinders
the Porpoise left Port Jackson on 10 August Expedition 1803
1803. Two other ships accompanied the Suddenly rang out the warning, ‘Breakers watercolour; 31.2 x 46.0 cm
Pictures collection
Porpoise: the Bridgewater, under the command ahead!’ The helm was put down with a
nla.pic-an4910322
of Captain Palmer, and the Cato, commanded view of backing out of the danger; but the
by Captain John Park. Porpoise ... scarcely came up to the wind above
William Westall (1781–1850)
A week later, on 17 August, the Porpoise ... The Porpoise had gone right in upon a Self-portrait c.1820
struck a coral reef and heeled over. Westall coral reef, and had taken a fearful heel over oil on canvas; 24.1 x 21.5 cm
described the experience: on her larboard beam-ends. Pictures collection
nla.pic-an7692976
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 25

28. right
William Westall (1781–1850)
Shipwreck, Wreck Reef
pencil; 10.75 x 14.5 cm
courtesy Anthony spink
In her romantic history, My Love Must Wait: or cutters, which Westall recorded in his
The Story of Matthew Flinders (1941), Ernestine watercolour Wreck of the Porpoise, Flinders
Hill imagined the scene: Expedition, held by the National Library of
Australia. In the background, to the left,
‘Helm alee!’ Aken’s shout ... ‘Breakers the Cato is almost sunk and, to the right,
ahead!‘—the cry of the lookout ... ‘A reef! the Porpoise lies on its side. In another
Here we come!’ ... There was a rip and creak work, Shipwreck, Wreck Reef, the Porpoise
of straining timbers, and the ship leaned is viewed looking out from the reef and, in
over ... Rush of sailors from the fo’c’sle ... a the foreground, two figures on the right sit
paralysing shock as the ship heeled over ... next to an illustration, possibly another of
they were down in a welter of ghostly foam. Westall’s works.
The 80 survivors inhabited a stretch of land
Westall takes up the account: measuring less than 300 metres in length and
100 metres in width. They discovered that the
During this dreadful Scene, after the first Bridgewater had avoided the reef and it was
confusion had subsided, all was coolness and hoped it would come and assist the stranded
prompt Obedience. Many though drenched seamen. Hopes were soon dashed when the
with the Sea, and exhausted with Fatigue, Bridgewater sailed away without having made
would only accept with moderation the any effort to give assistance to the marooned
Spirits served out to recruit their strength. survivors. Flinders later reported: ‘The captain
of the ship presumed on slight evidence that
A fire broke out from a fallen candle and, all had drowned’. The group quickly set about
suddenly, burning to death became as much establishing a camp, which Westall recorded
a danger as drowning. ‘The Crew laboured in his watercolour, View of Wreck Reef Bank
incessantly’, wrote Westall. They eventually all Taken at Low Water, Terra Australis, also in the
fell asleep in the wreck of the vessel. Library’s collection. The coral reef is shown
The next morning the fate of the Cato in the foreground and several tents of varying
became clear: it was also a total wreck. Three sizes appear in the distance, huddled around a
boys were lost while trying to swim to safety distress flag.
but, fortunately, most of the castaways from Aken described the hilarity when the crew
both ships managed to make it to a dry of the Cato, who had little with them but their
sandbank in the middle of the reef. Some shirts, were provided with officers’ uniforms,
of the stragglers were rescued in lifeboats thus celebrating their unexpected ‘promotion’.
26::

29. Aken explained how ‘the provisions of the
Porpoise were distributed ... on a strict footing
of equality ... Officers and men shared exactly
alike ... supplies of coats and blankets from
the Porpoise [were] liberally divided’. Aken
went on to describe how a ‘new government’
was formed to establish ‘rigid equality of
distribution’.
Westall was able to save most of his
sketches. However, ‘young Franklin and his
fellow midshipmen, wishing to enliven the
dull monotony of their time after the wreck,
amused themselves by driving the remnant of
the live stock over the sketches whilst spread
out on the sand’. The artist also lost a silver pallet
that he had been awarded at 16 years of age in a
competition at the Society of Arts. This memento, told sailor and amateur artist Jorgen Jorgenson above
inscribed with his name, was later returned to about the shipwrecks. In 1804 Jorgenson William Westall (1781–1850)
View of Wreck Reef Bank Taken
an astonished Westall by a pawnbroker in completed his watercolour, Loss of His Majesty’s at Low Water, Terra Australis
London who had bought it from a seaman. Ship the Porpoise, being his notion of the event. c.1803
pencil and wash
Flinders decided to use the Porpoise’s cutter The Rolla arrived at Canton on 14 December 14.1 x 22.2 cm
to attempt to return to Port Jackson with 1803. Westall proposed to stay in China Pictures collection
Captain Park and 12 rowers. He organised for a while and then travel to India. While nla.pic-an4910283
the construction of another boat, which was in China, he went up river and ‘enriched below left
to be used by the remaining men should help his portfolio with many sketches of that William Westall (1781–1850)
not arrive within two months. Embarking on interesting country’. Some of the Chinese A View in China
Private collection
26 August, the group reached Port Jackson drawings later became watercolours, two
13 days later. There, the Cumberland was given illustrated here: one of a Hong Kong below right
William Westall (1781–1850)
to their disposal, with two other vessels, the merchant’s garden and the other of a scene
A Hong Kong Merchant’s
Rolla, bound for China, and the Francis. The near the garden. The garden painting was Garden
ships sailed on 21 September. exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, watercolour
courtesy martyn Gregory
On 7 October, six weeks after his departure, London, in 1814. Westall left China in early
Flinders returned to Wreck Reef. On February 1804.
11 October, 54 days after the wreck and the
day before Westall’s twenty-second birthday,
the stranded survivors left the reef. Westall rIcHArD J. WestAll is the great-great-grandson
was next bound for China aboard the Rolla. of William Westall, whose life he has been
A party returned to Port Jackson on the researching for 30 years. He has a blog
Francis and Flinders embarked for England on www.westallart.blogspot.com on both richard and
the Cumberland. Among those who returned to William Westall, where you can find references
Port Jackson, someone, possibly John Franklin, relating to this article
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 27

30. Knowing the Past interviews with australian historians
Susan Marsden delves into
the lives of recent Australian
historians
S
right ince 2002 i have been recording
Greg Power (b.1974) a series of interviews with historians
Portrait of Alistair Thomson,
Canberra, 5 January 2009 for the National Library of Australia’s
digital photograph Oral History and Folklore collection. The
National library of Australia
aim of these interviews has been to explore
below the many different ways of knowing the
susan marsden interviewing past and the intersections between personal
stuart macIntyre, university of
melbourne, 14 February 2006 and professional histories. I have adopted a
courtesy the author similar approach to every interview, asking
participants to provide a brief biography and
then prompting a discussion of their lives
and observations as historians or ‘professional
observers of our own times’.
The request to speak about ‘your history’
elicited detailed family stories, throwing about rural life and farming families because
light on the experiences and aspirations of she worked really hard. And it was very much
generations of Australians, summarised by a family enterprise’. Alistair Thomson’s father
Alistair Thomson as ‘upwardly mobile through was a career soldier who moved frequently. As
the church and education’. Inga Clendinnen a teenager, Thomson discovered ‘a big sea chest
referred to her father’s ‘Mechanics Institute with all the letters that Mum had written,
tradition’—this ‘radical working-class from when she got married, to her parents’.
heritage has mattered to me a very great deal. Reading them was not simply a vivid memory.
I’m delighted that I come from the wrong His book, Moving Stories: British Women and
side of the tracks’. Bill Gammage spoke of the Postwar Australian Dream, is about four
‘Grandfather Gammage, also Bill’, a political British postwar migrant women and the letters
activist and reporter for Narrandera Argus: ‘He they wrote to their mothers in the 1950s, when
remained interested in politics all his life … his own mother was writing to her parents:
He spoke often of the conscription campaign
of World War One. He opposed conscription And it really became clear to me that a lot
but he had a brother in the AIF [Australian of my work’s been as an oral historian, but
Imperial Force] and there were all sorts of under the surface I've been interested in life
public and family tensions stories generally and the different ways that
over that’. people tell their lives. [I’ve been] drawn to
Family influences on letters, diaries, memoirs and people talking.
history writing are often Reading my mum’s letters was a very
significant. Marilyn Lake significant recognition of that.
recalled her mother’s work
in the family orchard in Asked why his writing drew so much upon
Tasmania as being an personal experience, Hugh Stretton replied:
experience that ‘certainly
did influence the sort of I felt strongly with social science that you’re
history I then wrote about dealing with human thought and behaviour
soldier settlement and of infinite complexity. You ought to keep
28::

31. anything you do close to detailed individual with their parents, handle them with
human experience because that’s what more tenderness and understanding.
ultimately it all has to enrich or impoverish
and answer to democratically. So you can Alan Powell was the only foundation
people it with real creatures. staff member of all four of Darwin’s
tertiary institutions (now Charles
The most surprising feature of these interviews Darwin University). He spent his first
is the variety in life experiences, further year at a half-built Darwin Community
enriched in recollection by the historians. Alan College. Travelling south on leave
Powell remarked wryly that the trajectory of in December 1974, he returned
his working life could be titled, ‘From Garbo to a city devastated by Cyclone
to Prof ’. Recalling service on a naval corvette Tracy. In his own flat, his patiently
during the Second World War, Stretton acquired books and PhD research
said, ‘I could claim—and have ever since, material formed ‘a pile of pulp on
boringly—to be probably the only man in the the floor’.
armed forces of any of the combatants in that Some historians introduced
war who has engaged an enemy torpedo with a radical new courses to universities.
Bren Gun.’ While a PhD student, Ann
The careers explored in the interviews date Curthoys helped set up two
from the 1940s, a period of great change women’s liberation newspapers,
for the profession both academically and in Mejane and Refractory Girl. ‘We’d
public history. Following an early academic been reading mainly American
career in New Zealand and England, texts and so in ’71 we were
Trevor Wilson took up a lectureship at the starting to develop our own stuff
University of Adelaide in the 1960s, a time … Then in 1973 … the journal Refractory Girl top
of ‘breathtaking’ expansion: ‘Menzies had got formed … bringing together the scholarly Damian mcDonald
Susan Marsden Interviewing
obviously been caught by the education bug side and the activist side.’ Her own articles Ann Curthoys (left), 28 November
and was developing the universities on a very on women’s liberation and historiography, 2002
digital photograph
wide scale, so this was the place you looked published in these newspapers and elsewhere, National library of Australia
to, to get a job’. were ‘the basis, I think, on which I got the
Some historians were founding members women’s studies job in ’76 at the Australian above
of staff at new universities, including National University. Some of her male cover of Refractory Girl: A
Womens Study Journal, vol. 1, 1972
Gammage at the University of Papua New colleagues were ‘very restive about women’s Australian collection
Guinea, Jill Roe at Macquarie University history, very unsettled by it’. N 301.41205 reF
and Inga Clendinnen at La Trobe University. Stuart Macintyre also explored the below
Clendinnen recalled of the 1960s and 1970s ‘a intersection of ideological activism—in his Damian mcDonald
whole heavy degree of student activity, which case, in the Communist Party—with his Inga Clendinnen at the
National Library of Australia,
the staff sometimes tried to suppress and research and teaching, noting: 30 October 2005
sometimes supported. It was a very dynamic digital photograph
time’. High immigration rates fuelled influxes I choose topics because I have an National library of Australia
of Greek, Turkish and other newcomers to the attachment to them but also because I
student body. She introduced the only full-year have a slightly ambiguous attachment
course on Aztecs, teaching her students in … And so, in the case of my doctoral
workshops: subject on Marxist working-class
education in the British labour
One of the fascinations for me teaching the movement up to the 1930s. It was …
way I did, with a fairly heavy emphasis extraordinary and admirable … and
on sociological and anthropological-type yet I was also struck by the fact that the
analyses was … that it really helped quite content of much of this education was
a lot of the first generation migrant kids very dogmatic. So, it was me trying
have a way of understanding what was to think more carefully about where I
happening in their relationship with their stand in relationship to something …
parents. They would start bringing their I've always thought of history as a way
experiences to the very open circumstances in which it's not simply constructing
of workshops and getting some distance on a past to suit yourself. It’s trying
them … then they could negotiate better to clarify your own understanding
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 29

32. and even your own attitude towards participated in all those changes in the
subjects. sixties and seventies and with maturity
in the eighties and nineties. I do joke
Some 1970s graduates became pioneer sometimes I’m spending the second half of
professional (public) historians who grappled my life writing about the first half. But I
with other modes of interpreting history. I think there’s something interesting about
was one of them and Margaret Anderson writing about stuff that you lived through
was another. She described moving in 1982 but now when you look back on it it’s really
from the Western Australian Museum to the quite different from what you thought at
History Trust of South Australia, becoming the time. There’s a double vision there …
the first director of the Migration Museum I think it’s been an interesting period to
at a time when there was very little published be a historian in and to be reflective about
about the immigration history of Australia. because the society changed so dramatically
The Trust was ‘at the absolute forefront in and yet some things are very persistent …
terms of the public interpretation of history in such as racism. On the gender front it really
Australia’. has changed dramatically … [T]hat’s been
Michelle (Mickey) Dewar discovered interesting to live through and to chronicle
few historical resources of any kind on the as a participant and eventually to write
Northern Territory on her arrival in the 1980s. about as a historian.
Historiography involved ‘a broad inclusive
approach’, encompassing heritage, publication
and oral history supported by the National Dr susAN mArsDeN is a professional historian
Trust and the Museum and Art Gallery of the who runs her own consultancy business based in
Northern Territory, where she worked. To the Adelaide. she has recorded 50 interviews for the
frequently asked question about Australia’s National library of Australia
recent ‘history wars’, she replied that her view
of contact history was similarly shaped by her
Northern Territory location.
The question of having a historical impact
of their own brought mixed responses. Bill
Gammage’s work on the First AIF fostered Susan Marsden has interviewed the following
the resurgence of Australian interest in the prominent Australian historians for the
Anzac experience. He was pleased that a National Library of Australia (except for her
distinction is now ‘commonly made between own interview, recorded by Roslyn Russell):
the experiences of soldiers, of citizens of war,
and the rhetoric of war itself. That … was Margaret Anderson (1952–) TRC 5320
a difference that was not being made in the David Carment (1949–) TRC 5084
sixties’. However: Inga Clendinnen (1934–) TRC 5038
Ann Curthoys (1945–) TRC 4911
I have an ambivalent view of Anzac Graeme Davison (1940–) TRC 4977
Day. It’s a very powerful tradition … Michelle ‘Mickey’ Dewar (1956–) TRC 5187
[but] Australians have never been able Bill Gammage (1942–) TRC 4912
to shake free of it. The terrible cost of war Marilyn Lake (1949–) TRC 5956
means that on Anzac Day we always look Janet McCalman (1948–) TRC 5546
backwards. Whereas, in the nineteenth Stuart Macintyre (1947–) TRC 5611
century, I think the Australian rhetoric was Susan Marsden (1952–) TRC 4952
to talk about … what this country might Alan Powell (1936–) TRC 5186
become … [Anzac] slowed down all those Marian Quartly (1942–) TRC 5545
radical movements. Jill Roe (1940–) TRC 5383
Mary Sheehan (1946–) TRC 5037
My last and largest question invited each Hugh Stretton (1924–) TRC 4895
historian to review the past in their lifetime. Alistair Thomson (1960–) TRC 6035
Ann Curthoys responded: Trevor Wilson (1928–) TRC 5957
I do feel like I’ve lived through huge The interviews, both audio and transcript, form
changes, given that I grew up in the fifties, part of the Library’s Oral History and Folklore
Collection. They can be searched through the
Library’s catalogue (www.nla.gov.au) using the
30:: above ‘TRC’ entries.

33. Friends of the National Library of Australia
BOOKINGS ARe ReQuIReD FOR ALL e veNTS, e xCeP T FILMS: 02 6262 1698 or friends@nla.gov.au
Dear Friends hours of sound recordings, is a treasure beCoMe a frieNd of tHe
of the library in its own right. recordings library
this year marks an exciting period in the from this collection will be displayed to As a Friend you can enjoy exclusive
history of the National library of Australia. visitors on the wall in the new central foyer behind-the-scenes visits, discover
After many years of fundraising and adjacent to the treasures Gallery. Five collections that reveal our unique heritage
planning, 2011 will see the completion of a sound chairs will play a curated program and experience one of the world’s great
purpose-built treasures Gallery, as well as of oral histories from the library’s libraries.
a new exhibition Gallery and entrance to collection, accompanied by images on a Friends of the library enjoy exclusive
the main reading room. screen. For the first time, this collection access to the Friends lounge, located on
the library’s treasures Gallery will will be given a prominent display space level 4. the lounge features seating areas,
give visitors the unique experience of with a program that will change every a dedicated eating space and panoramic
seeing many of the library’s most-prized six months. the Friends committee is views of lake burley Griffin.
items and will powerfully demonstrate very pleased to be able to support this other benefits include:
Australian history and culture. Items on installation. • discounts at the National library
display will range from the remarkable the treasures Gallery will open to the bookshop and other selected
and unexpected to the rare and the public on saturday 8 october. An exclusive booksellers
priceless, and will include the handwritten preview evening will be held for Friends • discounts at the library’s cafés,
Endeavour journal of James cook, edward prior to the public opening. Further bookplate and paperplate
Koiki mabo’s diary and manuscript details of this event will be available in • invitations to Friends-only events
maps, the original words and music for september. • quarterly mailing of the Friends’
Waltzing Matilda, art and maps from the newsletter, The National Library
First Fleet, a page from the Gutenberg sharyn o’brien Magazine and What’s On.
bible, Jørn utzon’s preliminary model for Friends executive officer
the shells of sydney opera House, tim Join by calling 02 6262 1698 or visit our
Winton’s manuscript for Cloudstreet and website www.nla.gov.au/friends/.
much, much more. the Gallery will be
Donald Friend (1915–1989) Shoppers at Night, Bondi (details), manuscripts collection, ms 5959, Item 2
open free of charge to the public and will
offer visitors the opportunity to view the
library’s treasures in a specially designed NatioNal library booksHop
space incorporating the highest standards speCial offer
of display, interpretation, new technology tim bonyhady’s great-grandparents were leading
and preservation. patrons of the arts in fin de siècle vienna: Gustav Klimt
painted his great-grandmother’s portrait and the family
the Friends of the library are proud
knew many of vienna’s leading cultural figures. In
to be a silver treasured Partner of the Good Living Street bonyhady follows the lives of three
treasures Gallery, having donated $52 000 generations of women in his family in an intimate
towards the new Gallery since 2001. account of fraught relationships, romance and business.
We are also delighted to announce an From high society in vienna to a small flat in sydney,
from patrons of the arts to refugees from the holocaust,
additional gift of $10 000 that will be
bonyhady tells an enthralling story spanning a century
made this year to support an oral of upheaval.
history display.
since the 1950s, the library Good Living Street: The Fortunes of
has been collecting and My Viennese Family by tim bonyhady
preserving an extensive sale Price $28 rrP $35
audio archive. the oral
this offer is available only to members of Friends of the National library of Australia. to order a copy, phone
History and Folklore
1800 800 100 or email nlshop@nla.gov.au, and quote your membership number. mail orders within Australia incur
collection, of over 40 000
a $5 postage and handling fee. oFFer eNDs 31 AuGust 2011 • oFFer Not eXteNDeD to oNlINe orDers •
No FurtHer DIscouNts APPly
the national library magazine :: june 2011 :: 31

34. support us
support us
supporting innovative technologies
and our amazing collections online
Help to expaNd our digital ColleCtioN
the end of the financial year and the start Already you can view more than 162 000
of a new one is a great time to consider collection items online and the library’s
giving to the National library of Australia trove discovery service provides access
Fund to help the continued expansion to even more Australian resources. these
of our digitisation program. Free and online resources are vitally important
direct access to the collections through to many. In its first year, trove attracted
digitisation opens the door to people 3.2 million unique users—over 1 million
across Australia and around the world, beyond anticipated usage. the library’s
allowing them to immerse themselves in a website attracted 2.5 billion visits in 2009,
wealth of resources, no matter where they giving a ranking for international cultural canberra business council guests enjoy the
collection items on view at the canberra connect
are located. institution website visitations second only
event hosted by the library in February
to the library of congress.
your gift to the National library of
Australia Fund will ensure we continue to CoNNeCtiNg WitH busiNess
increase access to information through At the library, we are always keen to
digitisation of collection material and engage people with our marvellous
through the groundbreaking technological collection and, as the canberra business
innovation which has been the hallmark of council learned first hand, the collection
our digitisation program. has something for everyone. In February,
guests of the canberra business
Senja Robey, Doug Hook and Alix Newbigin during the council and the Australia business Arts
Australian Women Pilots’ Association Reliability Trials 1954
b&w photograph; 15.7 x 20.9 cm Foundation joined the library for an
Pictures collection exclusive collection viewing and cocktails,
nla.pic-vn5015566
and enjoyed the exquisite new Friends
lounge on level 4, with its panoramic
views of lake burley Griffin.
The AuSTrALiAn WoMen’S WeekLy oNliNe the collections on display featured
support for our digitisation projects has journalists and academics were followed the beautiful, the iconic and the quirky
enabled the first 50 years of the nation’s by a vintage afternoon tea. cherry slice from the Asian, manuscripts, maps and
favourite magazine, The Australian Women’s and ‘pigs in blankets’ were prepared, using Pictures collections. the early canberra
Weekly, to be digitised and made available recipes from the Weekly. Frocks from the material was particularly appreciated and
online, giving free and searchable access to 1950s and 1960s, worn by a bevy of library the whole viewing experience pleased and
all those stories, recipes, ideas and unique staff, added to the vintage ambience. surprised our guests—some of whom
insights into Australia’s social fabric. hadn’t crossed our marble foyer since
A full complement of guests was their student days.
delighted by the celebratory and Participants discovered the many
entertaining launch of this project at the ways the library makes its collections
library in February. talks and shared accessible to all, including a hands-on
memories from current and former editors, demonstration of trove. they also learned
about opportunities for doing business
National library staff members wore vintage frocks from with the library and supporting our
the private collection of canberra resident lyn cummings
collections at a corporate level.
to Just What a Woman Wants, the official launch of
The Australian Women’s Weekly digitisation project
Help us to preserve Australia’s stories by giving to the National Library of Australia Fund. For further information about
any of the programs supporting the National Library of Australia, please go to www.nla.gov.au/supportus/. You can also call
the Development Office on (02) 6262 1441 or email development@nla.gov.au. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
32::

35. N At i o N A L L ib r A ry o f Aus t r A L i A
The Business of naTure: liBrary of dreams: Treasures
John Gould and ausTralia from The naTional liBrary of
By Roslyn Russell ausTralia
The Business of Nature provides a brief beautifully illustrated throughout,
sketch of the life of John Gould, whose Library of Dreams examines what makes
classic volumes, The Birds of Australia a national treasure and reflects on the
and The Mammals of Australia, have been importance of libraries as custodians of
admired by generations of Australians. the history, heritage and imagination. the
publication features over 130 colour plates publication interprets and celebrates a
of some of Australia’s favourite birds and mammals from Gould’s rich selection of items from the Library’s
works held by the National Library of Australia. collections, spanning the first sightings of Australia in the 1600s and
ISBN 978-0-642-27699-5 • 2011, hb, 284 x 233 mm, 228 pp the infamous mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, to the growth of the early
RRP $49.95 colonies in the 1800s, the federation of Australia in 1901 and the
landmark Mabo ruling in the early 1990s.
a BrillianT Touch: adam forsTer’s ISBN 978-0-642-27702-2 • 2011, hb, 250 x 220 mm, 132 pp
WildfloWer PainTinGs RRP $49.95
By Christobel Mattingley
Adam Forster (1848–1928) began life as liTTle Book of WeaTher
Carl Ludwig August Wiarda in East Friesland the latest addition to the National Library
(Germany). After serving in the Franco– of Australia’s Little books series reflects the
fascination Australians have with the weather
Prussian War, he spent many years as a
of their arid continent. Little Book of Weather
businessman in south Africa and, in 1891,
features the work of some of Australia’s much-
he migrated to sydney. A few years later,
loved poets, including Judith Wright, Les Murray,
forster was appointed registrar of the Pharmaceutical board, an
David Campbell and Dorothea Mackellar,
office he held for over 20 years until his retirement. along with beautiful images from the Library’s
the second and latest title in the Library’s Portfolio series, collection by Ellis Rowan, Harold Cazneaux, Peter Dombrovskis,
A Brilliant Touch focuses on forster’s passion for the flora of his olegas truchanas and others.
adopted country. Forster was a skilled, self-taught botanical artist ISBN 978-0-642-27719-0 • 2011, pb, 176 x 125 mm, 48 pp
whose goal was to paint 1000 species of Australian wildflowers. to rrP $15.95
this end, he travelled all over the sydney region and country New
south Wales to sketch and collect plant specimens, the stunning John alexander ferGuson:
results of which can be sampled in this book. PreservinG our PasT, insPirinG our
ISBN 978-0-642-27717-6 • 2011, hb, 198 x 154 mm, 180 pp fuTure By James Ferguson
rrP $29.95 For a period of over 30 years, John Alexander
ferguson transferred a wealth of material
for The love of naTure: from his private collection of Australiana to
e.e. GosTeloW’s Birds and the National Library of Australia. following
floWers By Christobel Mattingley his death in 1969, the Library purchased the
Ebenezer Edward Gostelow (1866–1944) remaining materials from ferguson’s estate,
spent much of his 50-year teaching career thus creating the ferguson Collection of some
in country schools across New south 34 000 items—the Library’s largest private collection.
Wales. Although not a trained artist, he this insightful biography by ferguson’s grandson James gives the
began to paint as many wildflowers as he reader access to a man of remarkable faith, integrity and strength
could find. After retirement, Gostelow gave himself the new challenge of character and to the singularity of purpose in his personal,
of depicting all the recorded species of Australian birds. professional and collecting life.
in For the Love of Nature, a short biography of Gostelow is followed ISBN 978-0-642-27718-3 • 2011, pb, 160 x 250 mm, 236 pp
by beautiful full-colour plates of his bird and flower watercolours, RRP $39.95
drawn from the Library’s collection. the publication is the first in the
Library’s Portfolio series.
ISBN 978-0-642-27696-4 • 2010, hb, 198 x 154 mm, 180 pp
rrP $29.95
To purchase: http://shop.nla.gov.au or 1800 800 100 (freecall) • Also available from the
National Library Bookshop and selected retail outlets • Enquiries: nlasales@nla.gov.au • ABN 28 346 858 075

36. Leaf from Illustrated Odes to the Forty
Scenes of the Garden of Perfect Brightness
by Qianlong (China: 2005)
Asian Collection
on the cover
T he NatioNal library of australia holds
many old, rare and beautiful Asian works.
They include Illustrated Odes to the Forty Scenes of
the Garden of Perfect Brightness, first published in
1745 on orders from China’s Qianlong emperor to
celebrate his main seat of government, the Garden of
Perfect Brightness. The book contains poems by the
emperor accompanied by paintings of his favourite
garden scenes.
Occasionally the importance of an item, such
as Illustrated Odes, is discovered decades after its
acquisition. Read about four other unexpected
treasures from the Library’s Asian Collection in the
article on page 2.
the national library magazine