Cirrus@Austlit

This series was published in the Free-Lance in 1896. It is clearly satirical in nature and was advertised in the weeks preceding publication with half-page advertisements beginning in the following way: 'The Proprietors of this Widely Circulated Journal will Commence a Series of Thrilling, Throbbing, Thirsty, Weird, Wild, and Woolly Articles, entitled "Deeds That Won the Empire", Specially Written for This Paper, at Enormous Expense, by the Well-known and Somewhat Brainy Litterateur, The Very Rev. Werry Holey Stretchit, B.A.R.' (1.18 (22 August 1896): 13)

The series was a satirical response to the identically-titled columns written by The Rev. William Henry Fitchett. The publishing history of Fitchett's columns is described in the following way by the Australian Dictionary of Biography: 'Sir Cyprian Bridge, commander of the Australian Station in 1896, asked Fitchett to write commemorative sketches on anniversaries of notable events in British history. These became an Argus Saturday feature running for sixteen months under the pen name "Vedette". The articles were pirated in India, republished in a London weekly, published in shilling form in Australia and finally, as Deeds that Won the Empire (1897).'

Sources: Free-Lance (1.18 (22 August 1896): 13) and Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/
Sighted: 01/07/2010