Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 From “a Shrew from the Orkneys” to White Indigene : Re-inventions of Eliza Fraser
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Few episodes in postcolonial Australian history have shown so remarkable a capacity to generate ever-increasing cross-fertilisations between myth, history and memory than the narratives centred on Eliza Fraser. The archive of materials surrounding the shipwreck of this British woman and her brief sojourn among the indigenous people of the Badtjala community of Fraser Island in the nineteenth century continues to grow.

Kay Schaffer's impressive work overtook earlier studies of the phenomenon but concentrates mainly on the many European re-constructions of the episode .The fecundity of the materials is far from exhausted. This paper explores some of the Aboriginal reactions to the tale but its main focus is Patrick White's novel A Fringe of Leaves, which grew out of his own research and constructs a new myth with implications for the nation. It is a work with the potential for developing (in Jim Davidson's words) "a myth of reconciliation, and possibilities of growth." This paper shows White's melding of history, myth, memory and imagination in this novel is illustrative of the literary artist's contribution to "writing the nation." ' Source: Cynthia vanden Driesen.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Coolabah Perspectives: Myth, History and Memory no. 3 2009 Z1810124 2009 periodical issue 2009 pg. 35-42
Last amended 2 Mar 2017 10:57:32
35-42 http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/coolabah/article/view/15722/18837 From “a Shrew from the Orkneys” to White Indigene : Re-inventions of Eliza Frasersmall AustLit logo Coolabah
Subjects:
  • Fraser Island, Maryborough - Hervey Bay - Fraser Island area, Maryborough - Rockhampton area, Queensland,
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