Cirrus@Austlit

The Currawong Publishing Company was a war-time success, active from about 1942 to 1951. Currawong issued a wide variety of fiction - including mysteries, westerns, romances, and fantasies - under the slogan 'You can't go wrong with a Currawong'; with a few exceptions, Currawong's authors were Australian. Currawong also issued a series of 'Unpopular Pamphlets', advancing left-wing economic and socialist ideas for post-war reconstruction.

(Source: Sensational Tales: Australian Popular Publishing 1850s-1990s.)

Currawong described their publications as 'first' novels' by 'young Australian authors' who were chosen for three reasons:-

"(1) Each author has a story to tell, and tells it.

(2) Each author's style shows more than a promise of developing into a powerful literary instrument.

(3) Each author is Australian, either by birth or adoption."

They also invited readers to submit their stories: "An invitation to submit Mss. is extended by The Currawong Publishing Company to Australian authors who have not yet had a novel published either here or overseas. The setting of the plot of any novel submitted need not be Australian. Each author whose work is accepted will be placed under contract to The Currawong Publishing Company for his or her next three literary works". (Source: Publisher's Foreword A E Minnis' book And all the Trees are Green).