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
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
