y separately published work icon God's Own Country : An Appreciation of Australia single work   prose   travel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1914... 1914 God's Own Country : An Appreciation of Australia
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Possibly one of the most contentious evaluations of Australia and its people ever published, God's Own Country, raised an enormous amount of vitriolic ire both in Australia and overseas following its publication. A critic for Wairarapa Daily Times (New Zealand), for example, succinctly appraised the book and its supposed "appreciation" by suggesting that the subtitle must have been used derisively, 'as he sweepingly condemns Australia, and everything Australian is anathema to him." The writer goes to note:

While candid books on the Dominions are to be welcomed. There can be nothing but condemnation for the one in question. The author frequently lapses into unmerited abuse, and many of his statements will not bear examination. Mr Jacob lived six years in Australia, but nothing in the country pleased him. According to him, the men are ugly, the women waddle and are immoral, the food is bad, and the scenery is without beauty.... That a man should make such statements seems absolutely beyond the understanding of the average person and any colonial knows that they are utterly absurd (3 April 1914, p.4).

Not unsurprisingly, Jacomb came in for a significant amount of criticism from the people of Mildura. The local newspaper, the Mildura Cultivator summed up the townships feelings on the matter in an extended article published shortly after the book had made its way there:

Charles Jacomb utterly refused to be absorbed by Australia and that is the reason he did not absorb enough of the real Australia... In the name of Australia generally, and Mildura in particular, I give Charles E. Jacomb the lie direct when he attacks as he does Australian women... and slanders Australian manhood. The trouble with Mr Jacomb was, and probably will ever be, that being what he is in physique and temperament, he affects to despise everything in the man of coarser fibre (?) From first to last throughout the 20 chapters of his effusion, Jacomb of Harrow forgets that there are in this world of paradoxes coal-heavers with soul and so-called gentlemen without. I would remind him that aesthetic temperament, finicky disposition and intolerance of the ways of others do not as a rule represent soul superiority, but instead soul inferiority of the most deplorable kind. Manhood adapts itself to circumstances (14 March 1914, p.7).

The book was also discussed in parliament, with one senator suggesting that Jacomb's claims, especially those raised in relation to the State School system, be repudiated by the High Commissioner. The then minister for Defence, Mr Millen, argued, however, that while the matter had been give some consideration, 'the book bore on its face such evidence of exaggeration and untruthfulness [that] it would be giving it undue advertisement to take any action' ('Federal Parliament,' p. 17).

In his preface to the 1914 edition, Jacomb acknowledges the possibility that his book would not be looked on favourably, writing:

'It is a fact that customs and conditions vary the world over, and that a critical estimate of any one country can be formed only by comparing it, point by point, with surrounding lands. To make such a comparison is easy, to make it without offending is difficult. It is perhaps a difficulty that cannot be overcome' (n. pag.).

Notes

  • Dedication: To all English Public School and University Men, but especially to all Harrovians, past, present and future. I dedicate this book.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      M. Goschen ,
      1914 .
      Extent: 246p.

Works about this Work

An Attack on Australia : Produces Ugly Men and Habitual Swearers - Women Walk with a Waddle 1914 single work review
— Appears in: The Mail [Adelaide] , 21 February 1914; (p. 19)

— Review of God's Own Country : An Appreciation of Australia C. E. Jacomb , 1914 single work prose
Australia and Australians : Through English Spectacles - An Unflattering Picture 1914 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 14 March 1914; (p. 9)
Australia Libelled : Some Repudiations 1914 single work column
— Appears in: The Register , 13 April 1914; (p. 9)
Federal Parliament : Melbourne 8 May - The Senate 1914 single work column
— Appears in: The Register , 9 May 1914; (p. 17)
The Book of Jacomb: A Few Words of Criticism 'Steel Blayde' , 1914 single work review
— Appears in: Mildura Cultivator , 14 March 1914; (p. 7)

— Review of God's Own Country : An Appreciation of Australia C. E. Jacomb , 1914 single work prose
The Book of Jacomb: A Few Words of Criticism 'Steel Blayde' , 1914 single work review
— Appears in: Mildura Cultivator , 14 March 1914; (p. 7)

— Review of God's Own Country : An Appreciation of Australia C. E. Jacomb , 1914 single work prose
An Attack on Australia : Produces Ugly Men and Habitual Swearers - Women Walk with a Waddle 1914 single work review
— Appears in: The Mail [Adelaide] , 21 February 1914; (p. 19)

— Review of God's Own Country : An Appreciation of Australia C. E. Jacomb , 1914 single work prose
Australia Attacked 1914 single work review
— Appears in: The Wairarapa Daily Times , 3 April 1914; (p. 4)
Federal Parliament : Melbourne 8 May - The Senate 1914 single work column
— Appears in: The Register , 9 May 1914; (p. 17)
Australia Libelled : Some Repudiations 1914 single work column
— Appears in: The Register , 13 April 1914; (p. 9)
Australia and Australians : Through English Spectacles - An Unflattering Picture 1914 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 14 March 1914; (p. 9)
Last amended 7 Jun 2012 14:04:41
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    Australia,
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    Australia,
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