'Two of Graham Seal's bestselling collections of stories from around Australia, now in one volume.
''Aussies know how to spin a good yarn, and Graham Seal knows how to tell them.' - Weekly Times
'Graham Seal is one of Australia's master storytellers. This bumper collection of yarns from the bush gathers some of our best stories since colonial times, retold in Graham's warm style.
'It takes a certain character to make a living in the Australian bush. In the most difficult situations, laughter often comes to the rescue. Here are pioneers and battlers, convicts and settler's children, and a land that tests them with fire, flood and drought, in stories resonant with Australia's distinctive wry humour.
'Originally published as two bestselling collections: Great Australian Stories and Larrikins, Bush Tales and Other Great Australian Stories.' (Publication summary)
Great Australian Stories : Legends, Yarns and Tall Tales
Graham Seal
(editor),
Crows Nest
:
Allen and Unwin
,
2009
Z1659727
2009
anthology
poetry
'From pioneer tales to urban myths, folklore expert Graham Seal has gathered some of the best Australian stories from around the country. Tall tales and true, these are the stories we tell ourselves over and over again. Australia has a rich tradition of story telling that reflects our unique history and experience. Great Australian Stories gathers some of the best of our stories from colonial times to the present, with bush yarns, tall stories, urban myths, and tales of the mysterious and downright weird. This is an Australia of down-to-earth realism, tragedy, and heroism, dry humor, an unexpectedly wide supernatural streak, and a strong sense of place. Stories feature cocky farmers, numbskulls like the drongo, bunyips, famous tricksters like Jacky Bindi-I and the world's greatest whinger, as well as larger than life real characters like the sad Eliza Donnithorne. With favorite yarns from around the country, Great Australian Stories is the most representative collection available of the stories we tell about ourselves. Graham Seal explains where the stories come from, and why even the outright lies reveal a truth of sorts.' (Publication summary)
Larrikins, Bush Tales and Other Great Australian Stories
Crows Nest
:
Allen and Unwin
,
2015
8192305
2015
selected work
short story
prose
'From one of our master storytellers, author of the bestselling Great Australian Stories, comes another collection of yarns, tall tales, bush legends and colourful characters. Taking us from the deep outback to the glistening sea, they go to the heart of what makes us distinctively Australian.
'Yarns, legends, myths, jokes and anecdotes are our national lifeblood. The home-grown and borrowed tales, told and re-told over generations, offer an insight into the larger national story of which every Australian has a part.
'Was Breaker Morant the Gatton murderer? What happened to Sniffling Jimmy and Black Mary? We revisit some of the most colourful characters in Australia's past, and the stories that have grown around them. We go looking for the real illywhacker and find out what happened after the execution of our most famous outlaw, Ned Kelly.
'It takes a certain character to make a living in the Australian bush. In the most difficult situations, laughter often comes to the rescue. Here are pioneers and battlers, convicts and settler's children, and a land that tests them with fire, flood and drought, all in stories resonant with Australia's distinctive wry humour. Dip into Larrikins, Bush Tales and Other Great Australian Stories for a taste of Australia's rich history and traditions.' (Publication summary)
