y separately published work icon Biggles in Australia single work   children's fiction   children's   adventure  
Issue Details: First known date: 1955... 1955 Biggles in Australia
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'What is Erich von Stalhein doing in Australia? Surely not, as appearances would suggest, doing research on marine life in tropical waters with a group of harmless scientists! Once again Biggles and his Air Police find peril, adventure, and final success in foiling a Communist plot.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • With illustrations by Studio Stead

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Armada ,
      1970 .
      Extent: 126p.
      ISBN: 0006918689 (pbk)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sydney, New South Wales,: Angus and Robertson ,
      1981 .
      Extent: 216p.
      Description: illus.
      ISBN: 0207145938

Works about this Work

Uncivil Aviation : Biggles Down Under Adam Nicol , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Inside Story , August 2014;

'W.E. Johns’s failure to adapt to the postwar era left Biggles a shadow of his wartime self, writes Adam Nicol'

Biggles Sees Red : Saving Australia from the Communist Menace Erin Ihde , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Journal of Popular Culture , vol. 2 no. 3 2013; (p. 363-380)
'James Bigglesworth, known as 'Biggles', is a children's fictional character created by the English author Captain W.E. Johns in the 1930s. The 'Biggles' books became some of the most popular children's titles of the twentieth century. Biggles had adventures worldwide, but after World War II his adversaries were often communists. These stories reflect Cold War tensions, and many explore issues that are directly pertinent to Australian readers, including Korea, China and even a story set in Australia itself - where Biggles was particularly popular - in which Biggles thwarts a planned communist uprising involving Aborigines. This article explores the extent to which the books were influential in shaping Cold War attitudes during the 1950s and 1960s, in light of Johns' expressed intentions when writing the books. ' (Author's abstract)
Uncivil Aviation Adam Nicol , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 168-173)
Action, Adventure and Thrills Galore! Biggles in Australia : Radio and Comics Erin Ihde , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Folklore , November no. 27 2012; (p. 191-206)

'Biggles, the hero of a series of children's books by Captain W.E. Johns, was massively popular in the mid-twentieth century, with Australia being one of the major markets. In Australia there was also a radio serial that in the early 1950s, as well as a series of comics, at times with the same story available in three different modes. Many stories had a Cold War background, imparting important messages to an impressionable age group.' (Publication abstract)

When Australia Calls: The English Immigrant in Australian Children's Literature Sharyn Pearce , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Old Neighbours, New Visions 1997; Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , August vol. 9 no. 2 1999; (p. 5-12)

Pearce's article examines the types of messages that were being disseminated to readers about Australian identity in children's texts in the 1950's, during what she describes as a 'highly complex and interactive process of cultural negotiations regarding a definitive Australian literary tradition and a growing sense of 'Australianness' in wider society (7). Pearce is interested in how the American and British ideology of the time is incorporated into narratives about national identity and looks closely at the W.E Johns novel Biggles in Australia which she argues, 'verifies an image of Australia as deferential colonial offspring needing the manpower of the Mother Country to get it out of nasty scrapes' (7). Pearce reads Allan Aldous' novel The New Australians as indicative of the prevailing masculine ideology which underpins any representation of Australian identity and fundamentally reinforces patriarchal gender roles by connecting men and boys with an idealized British migrant past, while women and undesirable men are associated negatively with an Americanized future (11). Pearce concludes that novels for children were at this time, 'overwhelmingly nationalistic and assimilationist' and that essentially, '[t]he message emanating from children's books of this decade appears to be that real or true Australians are males living in the Bush' (11).

Biggles Sees Red : Saving Australia from the Communist Menace Erin Ihde , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Journal of Popular Culture , vol. 2 no. 3 2013; (p. 363-380)
'James Bigglesworth, known as 'Biggles', is a children's fictional character created by the English author Captain W.E. Johns in the 1930s. The 'Biggles' books became some of the most popular children's titles of the twentieth century. Biggles had adventures worldwide, but after World War II his adversaries were often communists. These stories reflect Cold War tensions, and many explore issues that are directly pertinent to Australian readers, including Korea, China and even a story set in Australia itself - where Biggles was particularly popular - in which Biggles thwarts a planned communist uprising involving Aborigines. This article explores the extent to which the books were influential in shaping Cold War attitudes during the 1950s and 1960s, in light of Johns' expressed intentions when writing the books. ' (Author's abstract)
Cold War, Hot Books : An Analysis of Boys' Adventure Books Published During the 1950s. Stella Lees , June Senyard , 1983 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , November no. 13 1983; (p. 3-17)
Examines the world of 1950s boys' adventure stories. Attention is given to the developing nature of Australia's loyalties (with a slight shift in emphasis from England to the USA), the representation of Russians (epitomising the Communist threat to Australia) and narrative elements of secrecy, violence and technology.
When Australia Calls: The English Immigrant in Australian Children's Literature Sharyn Pearce , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Old Neighbours, New Visions 1997; Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , August vol. 9 no. 2 1999; (p. 5-12)

Pearce's article examines the types of messages that were being disseminated to readers about Australian identity in children's texts in the 1950's, during what she describes as a 'highly complex and interactive process of cultural negotiations regarding a definitive Australian literary tradition and a growing sense of 'Australianness' in wider society (7). Pearce is interested in how the American and British ideology of the time is incorporated into narratives about national identity and looks closely at the W.E Johns novel Biggles in Australia which she argues, 'verifies an image of Australia as deferential colonial offspring needing the manpower of the Mother Country to get it out of nasty scrapes' (7). Pearce reads Allan Aldous' novel The New Australians as indicative of the prevailing masculine ideology which underpins any representation of Australian identity and fundamentally reinforces patriarchal gender roles by connecting men and boys with an idealized British migrant past, while women and undesirable men are associated negatively with an Americanized future (11). Pearce concludes that novels for children were at this time, 'overwhelmingly nationalistic and assimilationist' and that essentially, '[t]he message emanating from children's books of this decade appears to be that real or true Australians are males living in the Bush' (11).

Uncivil Aviation Adam Nicol , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 168-173)
Action, Adventure and Thrills Galore! Biggles in Australia : Radio and Comics Erin Ihde , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Folklore , November no. 27 2012; (p. 191-206)

'Biggles, the hero of a series of children's books by Captain W.E. Johns, was massively popular in the mid-twentieth century, with Australia being one of the major markets. In Australia there was also a radio serial that in the early 1950s, as well as a series of comics, at times with the same story available in three different modes. Many stories had a Cold War background, imparting important messages to an impressionable age group.' (Publication abstract)

Last amended 2 Jul 2014 10:13:59
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