NLA image of person
Miles Franklin Miles Franklin i(A2487 works by) (birth name: Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin) (a.k.a. Stella Franklin)
Also writes as: Brent of Bin Bin ; Mr and Mrs Ogniblat L'Artsau ; William Blake ; S M S ; Stella Lampe ; Vernacular ; Sarah Mills ; Sarah Miles ; An Old Bachelor ; The Glowworm ; Field Hospital Orderly
Born: Established: 14 Oct 1879 Talbingo, Tumut - Tumbarumba area, Southeastern NSW, New South Wales, ; Died: Ceased: 19 Sep 1954 Drummoyne, Drummoyne - Concord area, Sydney Inner West, Sydney, New South Wales,
Gender: Female
Departed from Australia: 1906
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 y separately published work icon Trapped Miles Franklin , (Manuscript version)x400313 Z851314 single work drama
1 y separately published work icon The Love Machine Miles Franklin , (Manuscript version)x400311 Z851308 single work drama
1 Henry Lawson Lighted Lamps for Us in a Vast and Lonely Habitat … Miles Franklin , Ken Gelder , Rachael Weaver , 2017 selected work biography essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 76 no. 3 2017; (p. 134-135)

'Miles Franklin’s 1942 homage to Henry Lawson was the twentieth annual commemorative speech to this revered Australian author. Each year after his death admirers, family members and friends of Lawson would get together in Melbourne and Sydney to give speeches and celebrate his legacy. But the question of where to commentate him needed to be resolved. In 1927 the renowned local artist George W. Lambert submitted a model for a bronze statue of the author to the Henry Lawson Memorial Committee. Money was raised and the statue was commissioned: it shows a lithe Lawson in baggy trousers and rolled-up sleeves, possibly reciting to an audience, with a swagman sitting on one side and a sheep dog on the other.' (Introduction)

1 My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin , 2012 extract novel (My Brilliant Career)
— Appears in: The Invisible Thread : One Hundred Years of Words 2012; (p. 163-164)
1 Overture Miles Franklin , 2012 extract novel (My Brilliant Career)
— Appears in: The Words That Made Australia : How a Nation Came to Know Itself 2012; (p. 1-2)
1 Settlers and Snakes Miles Franklin , 2011 extract autobiography (Childhood at Brindabella : My First Ten Years)
— Appears in: The Penguin Book of Australian Bush Writing 2011; (p. 318-320) The Australian , 29 December 2011; (p. 10)
1 A Great Gift from a Greatly Gifted Man Miles Franklin , 2009 single work prose
— Appears in: Great Australian Speeches : Landmark Speeches That Defined and Shaped Our Nation 2009; (p. 116-120)
1 From : My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin , 2009 extract novel (My Brilliant Career)
— Appears in: Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature 2009; (p. 343-351)
1 Idylls of Youth Miles Franklin , 2008 extract novel (My Brilliant Career)
— Appears in: The Penguin Book of the Road 2008; (p. 189-197)
1 Once Upon a Time, When the Days Were Long and Hot Miles Franklin , 2004 extract novel (My Brilliant Career)
— Appears in: Australia Literature : Themes & Selected Readings 2004; (p. 35-49)
1 Miles, Frankly Miles Franklin , 2004 extract diary (The Diaries of Miles Franklin)
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 28 February 2004; (p. 34-42)
1 13 y separately published work icon The Diaries of Miles Franklin Miles Franklin , Paul Brunton (editor), Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2004 Z1101267 2004 selected work diary
1 14 y separately published work icon Yarn Spinners : A Story in Letters : Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin Dymphna Cusack , Miles Franklin , Florence James , Marilla North (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2001 Z899867 2001 anthology correspondence biography 'From the correspondence between Cusack, James and Franklin across the years 1928 to the death of Franklin in 1954, Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters has been shaped by a process of selection, editing, weaving and providing narrative links in order to develop a continuous narrative of the friendship, collaborations and inter-related lives of these three Australian women writers. The Prologue gives a biographical overview of each of their lives. Each of the five narrative Parts is briefly prefaced with its socio-historical context.

'Part I:1928-1935 sets up the Cusack-James relationship as they write to each other as young women graduates: Cusack is teaching in remote rural NSW schools whilst James does the Grand Tour of Europe, finally settling down in London where she marries in 1933.

'Part II :1938-39 establishes the friendship of Cusack and Franklin which develops during their collaboration on the scandalous sesqui-centennial satire Pioneers on Parade. In Part III:1945-47, Cusack and James, both burnt out at the end of WWII, set up a writing retreat in the Blue Mountains and collaborate on their prizewinning bestseller expose of wartime Sydney, Come In Spinner.

In Part IV: 1947-49, James returns to London and Cusack follows through the revisions demanded by the Daily Telegraph before they will award the thousand pounds prize money. Cusack is also researching her "tuberculosis novel" Say No To Death. All That Swagger is published by Angus & Robertson whilst Franklin endures her nephew's war neurosis and makes her final Will, providing for an annual [Miles] Franklin Award. In mid-1949 Cusack leaves for Europe.

'In Part V:1950-55 the Cusack-Franklin-James friendships are now essentially carried through their correspondence; Come In Spinner is published to press acclaim in London, with Cusack's Say No To Death, Southern Steel and Caddie following in quick succession. Angus & Robertson finally began publishing the "Brent of Bin Bin" series. James, now divorced, rearing two daughters, begins work with London publisher Constable & Co as a reader and talent scout for Australian writers. Franklin and Cusack's friendship provides the emotional fulcrum for this final Part.

'The Chronology (1879-2001) provides the facts of the lives and works; the Biographical Notes provide an inventory of most of the cast of characters who appear in the letters.'(Publication summary)

1 7 y separately published work icon A Gregarious Culture : Topical Writings of Miles Franklin Miles Franklin , Jill Roe , Margaret Bettison , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2001 Z893898 2001 selected work column correspondence prose review criticism autobiography interview A selection from Franklin's considerable output of "topical writings" - "occasional pieces, mostly published in newspapers and magazines" in Australia, England and the USA, addressing a wide variety of subjects including feminism, nationalism, war, culture and literature. The writings are presented in six sections, "one for each of the four main periods of her life, and a further two encompassing the later years."
1 1 y separately published work icon Models for Molly: A Play in Three Acts Miles Franklin , 1999 (Manuscript version)x400308 Z851297 1999 single work drama
1 Letter to Katharine Susannah Prichard Miles Franklin , 1996 single work correspondence
— Appears in: As Good as a Yarn with You : Letters Between Miles Franklin, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Jean Devanny, Marjorie Barnard, Flora Eldershaw and Eleanor Dark 1996; Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature 2009; (p. 351-354)
1 My Brilliant Career : Introduction Miles Franklin , 1996-1901 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literatures in English 1996; (p. 179)
1 My Brilliant Career - Chapter Twenty Miles Franklin , 1995 extract novel (My Brilliant Career)
— Appears in: An Anthology of Australian Literature 1995; (p. 56-64)
2 12 y separately published work icon My Congenials : Miles Franklin and Friends in Letters Miles Franklin , Jill Roe (editor), Pymble : Angus and Robertson State Library of New South Wales , 1993 Z9140 1993 anthology correspondence biography

'Miles Franklin wrote the first of these letters at Brindabella in 1887, over a decade before she started My Brilliant Career, the novel that famously propelled her out of the bush and on to Sydney and the world. The correspondence follows her to the Women′s Trade Union League in Chicago, to war work in the Balkans, to a return to writing in London, and finally home in the 1930s.

'After her nearly thirty years away, the letters now more than ever allowed Miles to share with "her congenials" - friends in England, Europe, the USA and Australia - experiences, memories and, above all, her commitment to Australian literature. The last letter in this collection was written only sixteen days before her death.

'As well as Miles Franklin′s own witty and provocative correspondence, the selection includes letters from her life-long friends, such as Alice Henry and Vida Goldstein, Katharine Susannah Pritchard, Dymphna Cusack and Beatrice Davis.

'Selected and edited by Jill Roe, the letters crackle with the surprises of a life richly lived.' (From the publisher's website, second edition.)

1 A Woman of Letters (from My Congenials : Miles Franklin and Friends in Letters) Miles Franklin , 1993 extract correspondence (My Congenials : Miles Franklin and Friends in Letters)
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 October 1993; (p. C2)
X