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The Last Lemurian : A Westralian Romance single work   novel   science fiction   adventure   horror  
Issue Details: First known date: 1896... 1896 The Last Lemurian : A Westralian Romance
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

This volume is a romance set against the backdrop of the wilds of Australia. Dick Halwood meets up with the Hatter, who tells the story of a strange land in the Australian desert where an odd yellow woman lives, ruling a band of aged pygmies. Tor Ymmothe, the yellow woman, is the last Queen of Lemuria. She has been condemned to live alone for thousands of years in the caves, paying the price for the arrogance of her race which was destroyed. She guards the body of a young princess, who has lain in a comatose state for thousands of years, waiting for her own true love to appear. Halwood discovers where the princess' body lies. Upon seeing her face, he learns she is the woman who had appeared to him in a vision. Join Halwood in his adventurous quest for true love.

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Notes

  • 'In Firth Scott's work, the narrator Dick Halwood discovers the remains of the fabled Lemuria (a civilisation said to have preceded Atlantis) somewhere in the Australian desert. Lemuria was once a place of magnificent palaces, populated by "a race which was on a higher plane of civilisation and culture than our own". It had since, however, fallen into stunning decline' (Melissa Bellanta, 'Fabulating the Australian Desert,' n. pag.).

    In The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, Everett Bleiler writes: 'Exuberant, somewhat ludicrous semi-juvenile adventure romance ... Motifs include a lost race of Lemurians who live around an extinct volcano; a bunyip - a monster with a human head, crocodile body, and assorted appendages; a sleeping beauty who awakens but later crumbles into dust; a curse laid on the land by a mistreated missionary; semi-vampirism and bondage; alchemical gold; and a ghost' (p. 1450).


  • Further Reference:



Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Tor Ymmothe, Queen of Lemuria
Notes:

Abridged. Includes seven illustrations.

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Golden Penny Christmas Extra 1896 Z1874814 1896 periodical issue 1896
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Arno Press ,       1978 .
      Extent: viii, 339p.p.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Lost Worlds Australia : Early Australian Science Fiction Lost Worlds Australia : 13 Classic Tales; Lost Worlds Australia : 16 Classic Tales London : Roh Press , 2018 15827253 2018 anthology short story science fiction

    'There has been a lot of speculative fiction written about Australia, even before colonization. The first ‘home-grown’ lost civilization story set in Australia was Oo-A-Deen, or, The Mysteries of the Interior Unveiled, published by an unknown author in the Corio Chronicle and Western Districts Advertiser, in 1847. It tells the story of an explorer who discovers a lost utopian society and falls in love with the daughter of the High Priest. With the rise in popularity of the genre thanks to such novels as Haggard’s She and King Solomon’s Mines many imitators soon followed. Thanks to the imagination of many a writer, the unexplored Australian Outback was soon populated by Atlantaeans, Lemurians, Toltecs, Classical Greeks, Ant Men, Bat People, and even the descendants of Alexander the Great’s mighty army.

    'This Early Australian Science Fiction anthology is a collection of 13 tales considered to be among the most influential Australian works in the lost world genre. They are the works most referred to by researchers and academics when they evaluate Australian colonial science fiction. Some have been made available for Kindle for the very first time and are exclusive to ROH Press.'

    Source: Publisher's blurb (2018 ed.)

         London : Roh Press , 2018
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Lost Worlds Australia : Early Australian Science Fiction Lost Worlds Australia : 13 Classic Tales; Lost Worlds Australia : 16 Classic Tales London : Roh Press , 2018 15827253 2018 anthology short story science fiction

    'There has been a lot of speculative fiction written about Australia, even before colonization. The first ‘home-grown’ lost civilization story set in Australia was Oo-A-Deen, or, The Mysteries of the Interior Unveiled, published by an unknown author in the Corio Chronicle and Western Districts Advertiser, in 1847. It tells the story of an explorer who discovers a lost utopian society and falls in love with the daughter of the High Priest. With the rise in popularity of the genre thanks to such novels as Haggard’s She and King Solomon’s Mines many imitators soon followed. Thanks to the imagination of many a writer, the unexplored Australian Outback was soon populated by Atlantaeans, Lemurians, Toltecs, Classical Greeks, Ant Men, Bat People, and even the descendants of Alexander the Great’s mighty army.

    'This Early Australian Science Fiction anthology is a collection of 13 tales considered to be among the most influential Australian works in the lost world genre. They are the works most referred to by researchers and academics when they evaluate Australian colonial science fiction. Some have been made available for Kindle for the very first time and are exclusive to ROH Press.'

    Source: Publisher's blurb (2018 ed.)

         London : Roh Press , 2019
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

The Bunyip Dies G. Firth Scott , 1982 extract novel science fiction adventure (The Last Lemurian : A Westralian Romance)
— Appears in: Australian Science Fiction 1982; (p. 74-85)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

The World of The Last Lemurian: A Westralian Romance, by G Firth Scott Gillian Polack , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 150 2022;
The Last Lemurian : A Late Nineteenth-Century Fairy Tale in the Australian Outback Iva Polak , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Fantastic of the Fin de Siècle 2016; (p. 223-242)
Portals to a New World : H.P. Lovecraft Ventures to the Great Sandy Desert Peter Pierce , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 16-22)
An Apocalyptic Map : New Worlds and the Colonization of Australia Roslyn Weaver , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film : A Critical Study 2011; (p. 23-53) 'This chapter examines the map that preceded, and eventually superseded, the territory of Australia, in order to demonstrate that early maps of the south land established an apocalyptic tradition that still resonates in contemporary fictions. If one reinterprets Jean Baudrillard's comments in the context of colonization and Australia, it is possible to see how European imagination delineated an apocalyptic map of the country before explorers and settlers even arrived, a map that located Australia as a tabula rasa, a blank slate where heaven and hell might equally be feasible. This chapter surveys the dialectic emerging from these confliction visions.' (24)
Australian Science Fiction : In Search of the 'Feel' Dorotta Guttfeld , 2007-2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Zeitschrift fur Australienstudien , no. 21-22 2007-2008; (p. 65-72)
Lost and Found Cities and People : In Australia Graham Stone , 2001 single work review bibliography biography
— Appears in: Notes on Australian Science Fiction 2001; (p. 96-100)
— Review of The Lost Explorer : An Australian Story James Francis Hogan , 1890 single work novel ; The Savage Queen : A Romance of the Natives of Van Dieman's Land Hume Nisbet , 1891 single work novel ; The Golden Idol : A Tale of Adventures in Australia and New Zealand M. C. Walsh , 1891 single work novel ; The Golden Lake, or, The Marvellous History of a Journey Through the Great Lone Land of Australia Carlton Dawe , 1890 single work novel ; The Valley Council; Or, Leaves from the Journal of Thomas Bateman of Canbelego Station, N.S.W. Percy Clarke , 1891 single work novel ; The Secret of the Australian Desert Ernest Favenc , 1890 single work children's fiction ; The Fallen Race Austyn Granville , 1892 single work novel ; Mostyn Stayne Roderic Quinn , 1897 single work novel ; Marooned on Australia : Being the Narration by Diedrich Buys of His Discoveries and Exploits in Terra Australis Incognita about the Year 1630 Ernest Favenc , 1896 single work children's fiction ; Adventure of the Broad Arrow : An Australian Romance. Morley Roberts , 1897 single work novel ; An Australian Bush Track David Hennessey , 1896 single work novel ; The Treasure Cave of the Blue Mountains W. H. O. Smeaton , 1898 single work children's fiction ; The Last Lemurian : A Westralian Romance G. Firth Scott , 1896 single work novel ; Eureka Owen Hall , 1899 single work novel
'The Last Lemurian' Everett Franklin Bleiler , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: Science-Fiction : The Early Years 1990; (p. 660-661)
— Review of The Last Lemurian : A Westralian Romance G. Firth Scott , 1896 single work novel
Fabulating the Australian Desert : Australia's Lost Race Romances, 1890-1908 Melissa Bellanta , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Philament , April no. 3 2004;
y separately published work icon Mobilising Fictions or, Romancing the Australian Desert, 1890-1908 Melissa Bellanta , St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2009 Z1238252 2003 single work criticism 'This paper looks at Australia's "lost race romances", published between 1890 and 1908, so-called because they described the discovery of an unknown race in the middle of the Australian desert...' (Author's abstract)
Lemuria and Australian Dreams of an Inland Sea Michael Cathcart , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Lemuria , Winter vol. 1 no. 1 2006; (p. 32-47) Cathcart reads a range of 'Lemurian novels,' examining their 'uncomplicated optimism about the future of White Australia, their trust that the key to that future lay beneath the earth, in the Great Australian Basin, and their attempts to grapple with the deadly impact of colonisation on the Aborigines who resisted' (44).
Australian Science Fiction : In Search of the 'Feel' Dorotta Guttfeld , 2007-2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Zeitschrift fur Australienstudien , no. 21-22 2007-2008; (p. 65-72)
An Apocalyptic Map : New Worlds and the Colonization of Australia Roslyn Weaver , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film : A Critical Study 2011; (p. 23-53) 'This chapter examines the map that preceded, and eventually superseded, the territory of Australia, in order to demonstrate that early maps of the south land established an apocalyptic tradition that still resonates in contemporary fictions. If one reinterprets Jean Baudrillard's comments in the context of colonization and Australia, it is possible to see how European imagination delineated an apocalyptic map of the country before explorers and settlers even arrived, a map that located Australia as a tabula rasa, a blank slate where heaven and hell might equally be feasible. This chapter surveys the dialectic emerging from these confliction visions.' (24)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (15)
Last amended 13 Mar 2019 09:59:29
Subjects:
Settings:
  • North West South Australia, Far North South Australia, South Australia,
  • Desert,
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