y separately published work icon In Tasmania single work   prose  
Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 In Tasmania
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Shakespeare weaves his personal history and that of his forebears with the history of Tasmania from the time of European settlement onwards.

Notes

  • Dedication: To Max and Benedict, two Tasmanian devils.
  • Epigraph: The same sky covers us, the same sun and all the stars revolve about us, and light us in turn. Comenius (1592-1671), quoted by Julian Sorrell Huxley in We Europeans.
  • Epigraph: 'What would you do, Father, if you had to be present at the birth of a monster with two heads?' I would baptise it, of course. What an absurd question.' Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Harvill Press ,       2004 .
      Extent: 374p.
      ISBN: 1843431572
    • Milsons Point, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Vintage Australia , 2005 .
      Extent: 374p.
      Description: illus., maps on end papers
      Note/s:
      • Includes index and bibliography.
      ISBN: 1740513312 (pbk.)
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

Oyster Bay Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 extract prose (In Tasmania)
— Appears in: Island , Spring no. 98 2004; (p. 46-55)
The Devil Made Me Do It Nicholas Shakespeare , 2005 extract prose (In Tasmania)
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11-12 June 2005; (p. 5)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (2)

Works about this Work

Rumblings from Australia's Deep South : Tasmanian Gothic On-Screen Emily Bullock , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , 6 April vol. 5 no. 1 2011; (p. 71-80) 'This article examines the current cinematic attention to Tasmania and its stories, with particular attention paid to the Gothic mode. 'Tasmanian Gothic' has become a by-word for the unsettling combination of Tasmania's colonial histories and its harsh landscapes in literature, but its cinematic counterpart has virtually been ignored. It is suggested that Tasmania is experiencing a renaissance on the big screen and it is the Gothic that appears to be the most dominant mode through which it is pictured. The article then charts a history of local Tasmanian Gothic cinematic production, a hybrid vision that tends towards a combination of stylistic, thematic, historical and geographic elements. Tasmanian Gothic cinema refers not simply to productions by Tasmanian film-makers, but to the broader on-screen representation of the island, its culture and histories by a range of local, interstate and international crews. As this article suggests, Gothic cinematic representations of Tasmania are yoked by a number of persistent concerns that act in dialogue with the unique cultural and geographic positioning of Australia's only island state.' (Author's abstract)
George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator': Colonial Celebrity and Its Postcolonial Aftermath Anna Johnston , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Studies , vol. 12 no. 2 2009; (p. 153-172) Author's abstract: George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator', conducted one of the most high profile and subsequently notorious experiments with indigenous people in the nineteenth-century British Empire. His 'removal' of Tasmanian Aborigines from the settler-dominated main island was well known at the time: celebrated by many as the most efficacious resolution to frontier conflict, even as it was criticized by (some) liberal commentators. Robinson was acutely aware of himself as an actor on the imperial stage, boasting in his diary on 3 September 1832 that, 'By taking the whole [group of Aborigines] I gain not only the reward but also celebrity' (Friendly Mission). As Patrick Brantlinger argues, colonial, American, European and British commentators were acutely interested in the fate of indigenous peoples when they encountered white, Western civilization: the Tasmanian genocide (as it was known) 'offered a moral and political lesson in how the progress of empire and civilization could be badly botched'. Ideas about Robinson and his 'mission' to the Tasmanian Aborigines have circulated in popular culture and art since the 1830s. A variety of mechanisms have kept Robinson in the popular imagination. Benjamin Duterrau's portrait of Robinson in 'The Conciliation' memorably pictures a soft-faced Briton surrounded by his Aboriginal 'charges', but colonial and imperial commentators positioned Robinson equally often within the racial science of high imperialism. Alongside such representations, Robinson and the Tasmanian Aborigines were envisioned by popular newspapers, pamphleteers and writers in the Victorian economy's commodification of Empire. These imaginings of Robinson were as vigorous in the imperial centres as in the colonies, and have continued to be so. Twentieth-century authors - from Robert Drewe, to Mudrooroo, to Matthew Kneale, to Stephen Scheding and Nicholas Shakespeare - seem compelled to re-imagine Robinson's story. This paper examines Robinson's colonial celebrity and its postcolonial aftermath through theories of mass media and celebrity.
Kindred Spirits Chloe Hooper , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: London Review of Books , 18 August vol. 27 no. 16 2005; (p. 17-18)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
Nonfiction Carmel Bird , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Island , Autumn no. 100 2005; (p. 124-126)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
The Shortlist Lee Beasley , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , April vol. 15 no. 3 2005; (p. 43)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
Sweeping Reflections Limit an Outside View Mark Thomas , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 6 November 2004; (p. 17)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
Outsider in Paradise Frank Campbell , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 November 2004; (p. 8-9)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
Trouble in Paradise A. P. Riemer , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13-14 November 2004; (p. 11)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
Heaven and Hell Mark Svendsen , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 13 November 2004; (p. 8)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
An Ideal Travel Companion Tony Baker , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 December 2004; (p. 13)
— Review of In Tasmania Nicholas Shakespeare , 2004 single work prose
George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator': Colonial Celebrity and Its Postcolonial Aftermath Anna Johnston , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Studies , vol. 12 no. 2 2009; (p. 153-172) Author's abstract: George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator', conducted one of the most high profile and subsequently notorious experiments with indigenous people in the nineteenth-century British Empire. His 'removal' of Tasmanian Aborigines from the settler-dominated main island was well known at the time: celebrated by many as the most efficacious resolution to frontier conflict, even as it was criticized by (some) liberal commentators. Robinson was acutely aware of himself as an actor on the imperial stage, boasting in his diary on 3 September 1832 that, 'By taking the whole [group of Aborigines] I gain not only the reward but also celebrity' (Friendly Mission). As Patrick Brantlinger argues, colonial, American, European and British commentators were acutely interested in the fate of indigenous peoples when they encountered white, Western civilization: the Tasmanian genocide (as it was known) 'offered a moral and political lesson in how the progress of empire and civilization could be badly botched'. Ideas about Robinson and his 'mission' to the Tasmanian Aborigines have circulated in popular culture and art since the 1830s. A variety of mechanisms have kept Robinson in the popular imagination. Benjamin Duterrau's portrait of Robinson in 'The Conciliation' memorably pictures a soft-faced Briton surrounded by his Aboriginal 'charges', but colonial and imperial commentators positioned Robinson equally often within the racial science of high imperialism. Alongside such representations, Robinson and the Tasmanian Aborigines were envisioned by popular newspapers, pamphleteers and writers in the Victorian economy's commodification of Empire. These imaginings of Robinson were as vigorous in the imperial centres as in the colonies, and have continued to be so. Twentieth-century authors - from Robert Drewe, to Mudrooroo, to Matthew Kneale, to Stephen Scheding and Nicholas Shakespeare - seem compelled to re-imagine Robinson's story. This paper examines Robinson's colonial celebrity and its postcolonial aftermath through theories of mass media and celebrity.
Rumblings from Australia's Deep South : Tasmanian Gothic On-Screen Emily Bullock , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , 6 April vol. 5 no. 1 2011; (p. 71-80) 'This article examines the current cinematic attention to Tasmania and its stories, with particular attention paid to the Gothic mode. 'Tasmanian Gothic' has become a by-word for the unsettling combination of Tasmania's colonial histories and its harsh landscapes in literature, but its cinematic counterpart has virtually been ignored. It is suggested that Tasmania is experiencing a renaissance on the big screen and it is the Gothic that appears to be the most dominant mode through which it is pictured. The article then charts a history of local Tasmanian Gothic cinematic production, a hybrid vision that tends towards a combination of stylistic, thematic, historical and geographic elements. Tasmanian Gothic cinema refers not simply to productions by Tasmanian film-makers, but to the broader on-screen representation of the island, its culture and histories by a range of local, interstate and international crews. As this article suggests, Gothic cinematic representations of Tasmania are yoked by a number of persistent concerns that act in dialogue with the unique cultural and geographic positioning of Australia's only island state.' (Author's abstract)
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Awards

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Last amended 15 Jan 2009 08:03:09
Subjects:
  • Tasmania,
  • 1800-1899
  • 1900-1999
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