Cirrus@Austlit

'This article offers the fullest discussion to date of the career, achievements and writing of Associate Professor Frederick Walter Robinson, one of the founders of the English program at the University of Queensland and a major figure in Brisbane and Queensland cultural life from the 1920s to the 1960s. Robinson's career is considered in the context of the development of English as a university and school discipline, the intellectual and cultural life of Brisbane and the University of Queensland, and national cultural developments during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Through his university teaching and vigorous participation in many cultural and educational groups within and outside the university, Robinson was a highly influential figure — particularly in his pioneering work in teaching, documenting and researching Australian literature, developing the Queensland school curriculum in English and championing the importance of Aboriginal anthropology. The article makes use of unpublished material in Robinson's extensive papers in the Fryer Library, and suggests that a true estimation of Robinson's achievements has been hindered by the fact that so much of his work remains unpublished.' (Publication abstract)