y separately published work icon Australian Fairy Tales selected work   children's fiction   children's   fantasy  
Issue Details: First known date: 1897... 1897 Australian Fairy Tales
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Notes

  • Content indexing in process.

Contents

* Contents derived from the London,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe,
:
Ward, Lock , 1897 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Golden Cloud : A Christmas Story for Young People, Atha Westbury , single work novella fantasy

On Christmas Eve, Sampson the Nugget, guarding the gold-mine until his mates return the next day, is unexpectedly confronted by a strange creature calling itself Grapple, who takes him to the land of Golden Cloud.

(p. 9-47)
Twilight, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction fantasy

An impoverished barber in Melbourne receives an unexpected visitor: Baron Thimble of Faydell Twilight, a vast kingdom in the centre of Australia, to which no Anglo-Saxon has ever penetrated. There, if he can perform a signal service, he will receive reward enough to enable him to shut up shop for good.

(p. 48-72)
Tim, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction fantasy

A young boy, tramping in search of work, comes across a farm owned by a bad-tempered but good-hearted farmer: with the aid of a fairy parrot, he successfully milks a cantankerous cow, and wins the farmer's approval, the hand of his daughter, and the farm.

(p. 73-81)
Three Sparrows, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction fantasy

Toby Grumbleton (Toby the Growler) is the laziest boy in any gold mine in Ballarat, until the day a dwarf takes him to visit the Land of the Three Sparrows: Test, Try, and Cure.

(p. 82-90)
King Dunce, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction fantasy
Noel Biffin, son of a tinsmith, wants to be a king, and neglects his schoolwork in daydreams. But one evening, when he has been kept back in school again and the usher is snoozing, a small figure in full armour appears through the school window, claiming to be one of Noel's subjects.
(p. 91-97)
'I Don't Know', Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction fantasy
Careless Harry's toys and the characters from his favourite books resolve to teach him a lesson for the careless way in which he uses and damages them.
(p. 98-105)
The Bank Cat, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction fantasy
Toney Buck, a young orphan who works as a messenger for the town bank, is surprised one night to be woken by the bank's cat, Tabby, who tells him that the bank will be robbed that very night.
(p. 106-114)
Gumtree Hollow, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction
When a poor widow is forced to leave the farm on which the bank has foreclosed, her eldest son's chance meeting with a leprechaun is the only thing that stands between them and disaster.
(p. 115-122)
Whiskerkiss, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 123-130)
A Crooked Sixpence, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 131-138)
The Ball in the Dell, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 148-154)
Elsie, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 155-161)
The Wishing-Cap, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 162-175)
Two Giants, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 176-183)
Mothland, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 184-196)
Moonland, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 197-220)
Sailor, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 221-227)
Nellie, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 228-242)
In the Clouds, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 243-250)
Wonderland, Atha Westbury , single work children's fiction (p. 251-258)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Fantasising the Nation for Child Readers in Early Australian Fairy Tales Michelle J. Smith , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 11 December vol. 37 no. 3 2022;

'This article examines three collections of Australian fairy tales published between 1897 and 1925 and considers the ways in which they contributed to nation-building efforts. Atha Westbury’s Australian Fairy Tales (1897), J. M. Whitfeld’s The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales (1898), and Hume Cook’s Australian Fairy Tales (1925) fantasise a nation into being through the fairy-tale genre. The associations of the European fairy-tale tradition with a distant past (‘once upon a time’) are mobilised to create a ‘ready-made’ set of traditions and cultural explanations through which the implied Australian child can understand a nation that was only federated in 1901. This ranged from creating origin stories for natural landmarks like J. M. Whitfeld, through to imagining well-developed fairy cities in the most isolated parts of Australia, far from the eyes of white settlers, as in Atha Westbury and Hume Cook’s collections. Stories by Cook and Westbury blur the distinction between fairy-tale characters and First Nations people, at once yoking imported traditions to the enduring history of First Nations peoples and replacing them in the cultural imaginary with mythical characters who have never existed.' (Publication abstract)

How Early Australian Fairy Tales Displaced Aboriginal People with Mythical Creatures and Fantasies of Empty Land Michelle Smith , 2022 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 July 2022;

'Most of us grew up reading fairy tales adapted from the European tradition: stories of kings, queens and princesses set in palaces and forests, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast. But what about the history of Australian fairy tales?'(Introduction)

Magical Migrations : Australian Fairy Tale Traditions and Practices Nike Sulway , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature 2020; (p. 374-383)

'This chapter explores the shifts between historical and contemporary fairy tale writing and editing. In first considering colonial-era publications, the chapter describes the ways that narratives appropriated from Indigenous culture were framed within a colonial and Western European concept of fairy tale collecting, how experiences of migration were reflected in colonial-era fairy tales, and how early white storytellers attempted to use fairy tales to create an always-already-colonised history of the Australian continent. The chapter then explores how these early traditions have shifted in the (post)colonial context of contemporary writing and publishing, with a move away from editing and publishing Indigenous narratives within a fairy tale context, a more complex approach to using fairy tale characters and stories to explore experiences of migration, and a strong growth in feminist revisionist fairy tales. The chapter argues, finally, that while few works have taken up Donald Haase’s challenge to decolonise fairy tale studies and practice, those that have offer a vision of a uniquely and startlingly Australian mode of transcultural textual production.'

Source: Abstract

Curious Creatures and Bushland Beasts : Inspiration from the Children’s Book Collection Stephanie Holm , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: The La Trobe Journal , March no. 104 2020; (p. 88-95)
'How did the early European settlers talk to their children about Australia’s unique and unfamiliar landscape? What types of stories and images did they create to characterise and make sense of its strange fauna and flora? As a natural history illustrator, writer and avid reader I wanted to explore how the Australian environment, filled with new and unfamiliar species, was characterised in text and illustrations in children’s books in the 19th century and into the 20th century. ‘From curious creatures to bushland beasts: a graphic novel exploring representations of Australian fauna and flora in early Australian children’s book publishing’ was the title I proposed for my Children’s Literature Fellowship, undertaken at State Library Victoria in 2016–17. My aim was to view a selection of Australian children’s books, to discover how Australian fauna and flora were portrayed in both text and illustrations, and then to develop a creative response in the form of a graphic novel. My research method was to be autoethnographic: I would note and sketch my responses to the works I viewed.' 

 (Introduction)

Australia's Fairy Tales Illustrated in Print : Instances of Indigeneity, Colonization, and Suburbanization Rebecca Do Rozario , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Marvels & Tales , vol. 25 no. 1 2011; (p. 13-32)
Australian fairy tale could be following a new direction, evident in the recent work of Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan. From a historical point of view, this article examines the disparity of early attempts to capture indigenous storytelling as fairy tale for white children and the invasion of the native landscape with English fairy creatures. It shows how this disparity has matured into a rediscovery of the underlying strangeness of the migratory infrastructures of Australian suburbs that are evident in such tales as those presented in Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008) (Author's abstract).
Australian Fairy Tales 1897 single work review
— Appears in: The Otago Witness , 11 November vol. 11 no. 2280 1897; (p. 60)

— Review of Australian Fairy Tales Atha Westbury , 1897 selected work children's fiction
New Books 1897 single work review
— Appears in: The Evening Post , 11 December vol. 54 no. 141 1897; (p. 2)

— Review of Australian Fairy Tales Atha Westbury , 1897 selected work children's fiction
Australian Fairy Tales 1897 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 13 November vol. 55 no. 1449 1897; (p. 43)

— Review of Australian Fairy Tales Atha Westbury , 1897 selected work children's fiction
Australia's Fairy Tales Illustrated in Print : Instances of Indigeneity, Colonization, and Suburbanization Rebecca Do Rozario , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Marvels & Tales , vol. 25 no. 1 2011; (p. 13-32)
Australian fairy tale could be following a new direction, evident in the recent work of Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan. From a historical point of view, this article examines the disparity of early attempts to capture indigenous storytelling as fairy tale for white children and the invasion of the native landscape with English fairy creatures. It shows how this disparity has matured into a rediscovery of the underlying strangeness of the migratory infrastructures of Australian suburbs that are evident in such tales as those presented in Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008) (Author's abstract).
Fairytales of the 1890s Peter Pierce , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Country of Lost Children : An Australian Anxiety 1999; (p. 60-64)
Curious Creatures and Bushland Beasts : Inspiration from the Children’s Book Collection Stephanie Holm , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: The La Trobe Journal , March no. 104 2020; (p. 88-95)
'How did the early European settlers talk to their children about Australia’s unique and unfamiliar landscape? What types of stories and images did they create to characterise and make sense of its strange fauna and flora? As a natural history illustrator, writer and avid reader I wanted to explore how the Australian environment, filled with new and unfamiliar species, was characterised in text and illustrations in children’s books in the 19th century and into the 20th century. ‘From curious creatures to bushland beasts: a graphic novel exploring representations of Australian fauna and flora in early Australian children’s book publishing’ was the title I proposed for my Children’s Literature Fellowship, undertaken at State Library Victoria in 2016–17. My aim was to view a selection of Australian children’s books, to discover how Australian fauna and flora were portrayed in both text and illustrations, and then to develop a creative response in the form of a graphic novel. My research method was to be autoethnographic: I would note and sketch my responses to the works I viewed.' 

 (Introduction)

How Early Australian Fairy Tales Displaced Aboriginal People with Mythical Creatures and Fantasies of Empty Land Michelle Smith , 2022 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 July 2022;

'Most of us grew up reading fairy tales adapted from the European tradition: stories of kings, queens and princesses set in palaces and forests, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast. But what about the history of Australian fairy tales?'(Introduction)

Fantasising the Nation for Child Readers in Early Australian Fairy Tales Michelle J. Smith , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 11 December vol. 37 no. 3 2022;

'This article examines three collections of Australian fairy tales published between 1897 and 1925 and considers the ways in which they contributed to nation-building efforts. Atha Westbury’s Australian Fairy Tales (1897), J. M. Whitfeld’s The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales (1898), and Hume Cook’s Australian Fairy Tales (1925) fantasise a nation into being through the fairy-tale genre. The associations of the European fairy-tale tradition with a distant past (‘once upon a time’) are mobilised to create a ‘ready-made’ set of traditions and cultural explanations through which the implied Australian child can understand a nation that was only federated in 1901. This ranged from creating origin stories for natural landmarks like J. M. Whitfeld, through to imagining well-developed fairy cities in the most isolated parts of Australia, far from the eyes of white settlers, as in Atha Westbury and Hume Cook’s collections. Stories by Cook and Westbury blur the distinction between fairy-tale characters and First Nations people, at once yoking imported traditions to the enduring history of First Nations peoples and replacing them in the cultural imaginary with mythical characters who have never existed.' (Publication abstract)

Last amended 16 Jun 2023 14:38:41
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