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y separately published work icon The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales selected work   children's fiction   children's  
Issue Details: First known date: 1898... 1898 The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales
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Notes

  • Dedication: To the memory of my mother and to the daughter who bears her name.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,:William Brooks , 1910-1914 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
The Spirit of the Bush Fire, J. M. Whitfeld , single work children's fiction children's (p. 1-9)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: William Brooks , ca. 1910-1914 .
      Alternative title: The Spirit of the Bush Fire Series
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Issued in 3 vols: Part I, II, III between circa 1910 and 1914. In these 3 vols. and vol. 4 appear the stories found in the one vol. first edition of 1898. The fourth volume was published by Edward Lee in 1916.

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)

Fairies in the Bush : The Emergence of a National Identity in Australian Fairy Tales Robyn Kellock Floyd , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 43 2017;

'The outpouring of national sentiment as the colonies moved towards Federation heralded a quest for the ‘Australianising’ of children’s books: fairy tales were no exception. European fairy folk were placed in, or perhaps transported to, bush settings as authors re-imagined the ways in which the emigrant old-world creatures could claim a place in the Australian environment. This paper explores efforts of the early writers to locate an Australian fairyland in the ‘bush’ and contribute to the transmission of national identity.' (Publication abstract)

y separately published work icon George Lambert as Book Illustrator Victor Crittenden , St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2009 Z1490168 2007 single work criticism Victor Crittenden discusses Lambert's early work illustrating books published by Angus & Robertson in Australia in the 1890s, including J. M. Whitfeld's The Spirit of the Bush Fire (1898).
Fairytales of the 1890s Peter Pierce , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Country of Lost Children : An Australian Anxiety 1999; (p. 60-64)
Australian Fairy Tales 1897 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 25 December vol. 55 no. 1455 1897; (p. 43)

— Review of The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales J. M. Whitfeld , 1898 selected work children's fiction
y separately published work icon George Lambert as Book Illustrator Victor Crittenden , St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2009 Z1490168 2007 single work criticism Victor Crittenden discusses Lambert's early work illustrating books published by Angus & Robertson in Australia in the 1890s, including J. M. Whitfeld's The Spirit of the Bush Fire (1898).
Fairytales of the 1890s Peter Pierce , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Country of Lost Children : An Australian Anxiety 1999; (p. 60-64)
Fairies in the Bush : The Emergence of a National Identity in Australian Fairy Tales Robyn Kellock Floyd , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 43 2017;

'The outpouring of national sentiment as the colonies moved towards Federation heralded a quest for the ‘Australianising’ of children’s books: fairy tales were no exception. European fairy folk were placed in, or perhaps transported to, bush settings as authors re-imagined the ways in which the emigrant old-world creatures could claim a place in the Australian environment. This paper explores efforts of the early writers to locate an Australian fairyland in the ‘bush’ and contribute to the transmission of national identity.' (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)

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 24 May 2024 13:27:37
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