image of person or book cover 3556442545042535462.jpg
This image has been sourced from online
y separately published work icon The Fire in the Stone single work   children's fiction   children's  
Issue Details: First known date: 1973... 1973 The Fire in the Stone
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.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

When his precious cache of opals is stolen, fourteen-year-old Ernie, who lives with his alcoholic father in the harsh and lawless opal fields of inland Australia, sets out with a friend determined to find the thief.

Exhibitions

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Fire in the Stone Roger Dunn , Graeme Koetsveld , ( dir. Gary Conway ) Adelaide : South Australian Film Corporation , 1983 Z1342606 1983 single work film/TV

Ernie is a fourteen year old who lives with his alcoholic father in the harsh and lawless opal fields of inland Australia. When his precious cache of opals is stolen, Ernie determinedly sets out with a friend to find the thief.

Notes

  • Dedication: To my wife, my companion in the opal country.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Adelaide, South Australia,: Rigby , 1973 .
      image of person or book cover 3556442545042535462.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online
      Extent: 203p.
      ISBN: 085179548X
      Series: Rigby Opal Books Rigby (publisher), series - publisher
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Harper and Row ,
      1974 .
      image of person or book cover 8555425705583371905.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Alternative title: Fire in the Stone
      Extent: 305p.
      Edition info: 1st American ed.
      ISBN: 060261021
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Puffin , 1981 .
      image of person or book cover 6200964338025827816.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online
      Extent: 227p.
      Reprinted: 1986
      ISBN: 0140313605
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2000 .
      ISBN: 0141306580
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Untapped , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 8843205862522487500.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      ISBN: 9781922749185
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Brio Books ; Untapped , 2022 .
      image of person or book cover 6458341750213318991.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 220p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 30 August 2022.
      ISBN: 9781761280870
Alternative title: Stenen Brinner
Language: Swedish
    • Stockholm,
      c
      Sweden,
      c
      Scandinavia, Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sjostrands ,
      1988 .
      Extent: 214p.
      ISBN: 9175741911

Works about this Work

The Regional Novel in Australia Emily Potter , Brigid Magner , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
y separately published work icon Black and White on Black : Whiteness and Masculinity in the Works of Three Australian Writers Thomas Keneally, Colin Thiele, and Patrick White Matthew Israel Byrge , Tennessee : 2010 Z1891564 2010 single work thesis 'White depictions of Aborigines in literature have generally been culturally biased. In this study I explore four depictions of Indigenous Australians by white Australian writers. Thomas Keneally's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972) depicts a half-caste Aborigine's attempt to enter white society in a racially-antipathetic world that precipitates his ruin. Children's author Colin Thiele develops friendships between white and Aboriginal children in frightening and dangerous landscapes in both Storm Boy (1963) and Fire in the Stone (1973). Nobel laureate Patrick White sets A Fringe of Leaves (1976) in a world in which Ellen Roxburgh's quest for freedom comes only through her captivity by the Aborigines. I use whiteness and masculinity studies as theoretical frameworks in my analysis of these depictions. As invisibility and ordinariness are endemic to white and masculine actions, interrogating these ideological constructions aids in facilitating a better awareness of the racialized stereotypes that exist in Indigenous representations.' (Author's abstract)
The Outback: In Fear of the Bush John Foster , E. J. Finnis , Maureen Nimon , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Children's Literature : An Exploration of Genre and Theme 1995; (p. 71-86)
Colin Thiele: from Sun to Shadow Rosemary Wighton , 1978 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time: The Official Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , January no. 66 1978; (p. 2-9)
Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards : Judges' Report : 1974 1974 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Official Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , July no. 52 1974; (p. 3-5)
Untitled Eve Pownall , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : New Books for Boys and Girls , October no. 49 1973; (p. 39-40)

— Review of The Fire in the Stone Colin Thiele , 1973 single work children's fiction
y separately published work icon Black and White on Black : Whiteness and Masculinity in the Works of Three Australian Writers Thomas Keneally, Colin Thiele, and Patrick White Matthew Israel Byrge , Tennessee : 2010 Z1891564 2010 single work thesis 'White depictions of Aborigines in literature have generally been culturally biased. In this study I explore four depictions of Indigenous Australians by white Australian writers. Thomas Keneally's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972) depicts a half-caste Aborigine's attempt to enter white society in a racially-antipathetic world that precipitates his ruin. Children's author Colin Thiele develops friendships between white and Aboriginal children in frightening and dangerous landscapes in both Storm Boy (1963) and Fire in the Stone (1973). Nobel laureate Patrick White sets A Fringe of Leaves (1976) in a world in which Ellen Roxburgh's quest for freedom comes only through her captivity by the Aborigines. I use whiteness and masculinity studies as theoretical frameworks in my analysis of these depictions. As invisibility and ordinariness are endemic to white and masculine actions, interrogating these ideological constructions aids in facilitating a better awareness of the racialized stereotypes that exist in Indigenous representations.' (Author's abstract)
The Outback: In Fear of the Bush John Foster , E. J. Finnis , Maureen Nimon , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Children's Literature : An Exploration of Genre and Theme 1995; (p. 71-86)
Colin Thiele: from Sun to Shadow Rosemary Wighton , 1978 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time: The Official Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , January no. 66 1978; (p. 2-9)
Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards : Judges' Report : 1974 1974 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Official Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , July no. 52 1974; (p. 3-5)
The Regional Novel in Australia Emily Potter , Brigid Magner , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
Last amended 20 May 2024 15:03:14
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X