Michael Cathcart Michael Cathcart i(A29297 works by) (a.k.a. Michael John Cathcart)
Born: Established: 1956 ;
Gender: Male
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 Taking on an Iconic Australian Horror — Solo on Stage Michael Cathcart (presenter), Canberra : ABC Radio National , 2020 19731313 2020 single work podcast

'Stage performer Zahra Newman (The Mountaintop, The Book of Mormon, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) took a fairly straight route from drama school to the mainstage, Helpmann Award nominations and broad acclaim. With her highly charged one-woman retelling of Kenneth Cook's Wake in Fright (Malthouse, Sydney Opera House), co-created with Declan Greene, she's cemented her reputation as one of Australia's most compelling actors. The 1971 film Wake in Fright is streaming now on ABC iView.

'The megahit Broadway musical Hamilton won't hit the Australian stage until 2021, but a filmed version of the Broadway production is now streaming on Disney+. Claire Nichols from RN's The Book Show saw the production on stage and has now gathered her family together to watch it on TV.

'For the ABC's Your Mental Health initiative, voice and dialect coach and Stage Show regular Leith McPherson runs us through some exercises that help us to manage anxiety on and off stage.' (Introduction)

1 Grandeur of Australian Theatre's Glory Days Revealed in Rediscovered J.C. Williamson's 'scene Books' Michael Cathcart , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2018;

'If you were planning a big night out in the 1920s, there's a good chance you'd head off to a show.' 

1 Tara June Winch and Tony Birch Speak about Their Latest Works Michael Cathcart (interviewer), 2014 single work interview
— Appears in: Radio National ABC 2014;

'Tony Birch and Tara June Winch are leading voices in the swelling chorus of Australian Indigenous writing.

'Their latest novels are potent stories of survival and hope, which, along the way, reveal the transformative power of Indigenous languages.

'These are major new works from two of Australia's most beguiling writers.

'They are speaking with Michael Cathcart.' (Introduction)

1 Book Bite : Starvation in a Land of Plenty Michael Cathcart , 2013 extract diary (Starvation in a Land of Plenty : Wills' Diary of the Fateful Burke and Wills Expedition)
— Appears in: Good Reading , November 2013; (p. 72-73)
1 2 y separately published work icon Starvation in a Land of Plenty : Wills' Diary of the Fateful Burke and Wills Expedition William John Wills , Michael Cathcart , Canberra : National Library of Australia , 2013 8091332 2013 single work diary

'When Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills set out on their fateful journey with the Victorian Exploring Expedition, Wills brought with him a diary in which to record his experiences. His entries would go on to help historians understand the circumstances that led to the tragic end of the expedition. Today, the diary is held by the National Library of Australia and forms the foundation of Starvation in a Land of Plenty.

'Between 23 April and 28 June 1861, Wills documented the torments and disappointments that led to his and Burke’s destruction. Surprising to many, though, Wills was not the second-in-command but, rather, the party’s ‘surveyor, astronomical and meteorological observer’. His resulting misfortune and the words he left behind have transformed the young English surveyor into both an Australian martyr and hero. Combined with images from the Library’s collection, this poignant and telling publication draws on Wills’ at times matter-of-fact account of his fatal weeks, revealing him to have been a man of great dignity and bravery. ' (Publication summary)

1 Thirst for Adventure Michael Cathcart , 2009 extract prose (The Water Dreamers : The Remarkable History of Our Dry Continent)
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22-23 August 2009; (p. 12-13)
1 Bullets at the Billabong Michael Cathcart , 2009 extract prose (The Water Dreamers : The Remarkable History of Our Dry Continent)
— Appears in: The Age , 25 July 2009; (p. 19)
1 12 y separately published work icon The Water Dreamers : The Remarkable History of Our Dry Continent Michael Cathcart , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2009 Z1608208 2009 single work prose

'The Water Dreamers is the story of the settlement of Australia: of the scarcity of water and the need to fill an imagined silence with the sounds of civilisation. From the moment the First Fleeters stepped ashore, water determined progress. The Tank Stream that flowed through what is now the Sydney CBD provided fresh water until settlers and their livestock fouled it. Then water from a nearby swamp was piped into the growing settlement. When it ran dry sights were set further afield.

'The Water Dreamers is an illuminating account of the ways people have imagined and interpreted Australia while struggling to understand this continent and striving to conquer its obstacles. It's an environmental history and a cultural history with an unmistakable sense of how, today, we are part of that continuing story.' (From the publisher's website.)

1 Lemuria and Australian Dreams of an Inland Sea Michael Cathcart , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Lemuria , Winter vol. 1 no. 1 2006; (p. 32-47)
Cathcart reads a range of 'Lemurian novels,' examining their 'uncomplicated optimism about the future of White Australia, their trust that the key to that future lay beneath the earth, in the Great Australian Basin, and their attempts to grapple with the deadly impact of colonisation on the Aborigines who resisted' (44).
1 1 y separately published work icon Stirring Australian Speeches : The Definitive Collection, from Botany to Bali Michael Cathcart (editor), Kate Darian-Smith (editor), Carlton : Melbourne University Press , 2004 Z1721119 2004 anthology poetry
1 Water Michael Cathcart , 2003 single work essay
— Appears in: The Age , 18 January 2003; (p. 1, 6)
1 1 Uluru Michael Cathcart , 2002 single work essay
— Appears in: Words for Country : Landscape and Language in Australia 2002; (p. 207-221)
1 Sand Paintings Michael Cathcart , 1999 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian's Review of Books , April vol. 4 no. 3 1999; (p. 6,27)

— Review of Seeking the Centre : The Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film Roslynn D. Haynes , 1998 single work criticism
1 Water into Desert Michael Cathcart , 1998 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 200 1998; (p. 44-45)

— Review of The Drowner Robert Drewe , 1996 single work novel
1 Travellers's Rest Michael Cathcart , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 March 1997; (p. 10)

— Review of The Oxford Book of Australian Travel Writing 1996 anthology prose extract
1 Desert Drowning Michael Cathcart , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 185 1996; (p. 9-10)

— Review of The Drowner Robert Drewe , 1996 single work novel
1 Michael Cathcart Reviews "Men Love Sex' Michael Cathcart , 1995 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January (1995-1996) no. 178 1995; (p. 32)

— Review of Men Love Sex 1995 anthology short story prose biography
1 The Geography of Silence Michael Cathcart , 1995 single work short story
— Appears in: Republica , no. 3 1995; (p. 178-188)
1 Fantastic Obsessions Michael Cathcart , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Editions , January-February no. 19 1994; (p. 3-4)

— Review of Writers Defiled : Security Surveillance of Australian Authors and Intellectuals 1920-1960 Fiona Capp , 1993 single work criticism
1 I Forget the Future : In Which the Historian Undertakes Research into the Millennium Only to Find that He Loses a Past and a Future in the Process Michael Cathcart , 1991 single work short story
— Appears in: Millennium : Time-Pieces by Australian Writers 1991; (p. 36-41)
X