The Big Five
1907-1908
Z919764
1907-1908
single work
novel
'Ambrose Pratt's novel, The Big Five (1911), was one of several 'invasion' narratives written by contributors to The Lone Hand. It begins at the 'centre' of Australian civility by invoking the discourse of mateship.
'Having fallen on hard times, a gang of mates known as the Big Five come together for a last drink at the Australia Hotel in Sydney when Sir Philip Trevor invites them to form an expedition to Arnhem Land. This trope is conventional in imperialist romance, recalling the meeting of Allan Quartermain, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good in King Solomon's Mines (1886). The expedition will rejuvenate a threatened masculinity, saving the Big Five from the unmanly fate of stewing in a city office.'
Source: Lawson, Alan and Chris Tiffin. De-Scribing Empire: Post-Colonialism and Textuality. Routledge, 1994. p. 135.
