image of person or book cover 2403838588250159098.jpg
A cover for The Bulletin from 1917
The Automatic Barmaid single work   short story   humour  
Issue Details: First known date: 1917... 1917 The Automatic Barmaid
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Gwennie, the barmaid automaton, seems to be working perfectly, until a voluble journalist with no respect for barmaids grasps her arm to tell her an off-colour story.

Exhibitions

10701526
10689169

Notes

  • Steampunk note : This story fits the category of 'proto-steampunk' in that it utilises the trope of the mechanical automaton, a common steampunk element, in a story written well before steampunk emerged as a distinct style. The story also makes use of anachronistic technology to fill a contemporary social need.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Bulletin vol. 38 no. 1954 26 July 1917 Z619678 1917 periodical issue 1917 pg. 47-48
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Stories by 'Kodak' Kodak , Sydney : Endeavour Press , 1933 Z507885 1933 selected work short story humour Sydney : Endeavour Press , 1933 pg. 33 - 38

Works about this Work

Australian Writers Have Been Envisioning AI for a Century. Here Are 5 Stories to Read as We Grapple with Rapid Change Leah Henrickson , Catriona Mills , David Tang , Maggie Nolan , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 4 April 2024;

'Australians are nervous about AI. Efforts are underway to put their minds at ease: advisory committees, consultations and regulations. But these actions have tended to be reactive instead of proactive. We need to imagine potential scenarios before they happen.' (Introduction)

No Stairs in the Bush? Disability and Australian Steampunk Catriona Mills , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , vol. 36 no. 1 2023; (p. 34-48)

'With a combination of fantastical and anachronistic technologies and neo-Victorian settings, steampunk emerged from a niche genre to a widespread phenomenon. But this, in turn, raised urgent questions about the "punk"-ness of steampunk and the extent to which it can critique, avoid, and repurpose the Victorian trappings that it adopts. This article examines one such query: whether steampunk can interrogate its ableist underpinnings and, particularly, whether Australian steampunk writers do so in a way that is distinctly Australian. Beginning with a brief overview of Australian steampunk and the genre's conflicted approach to disability aesthetics and roleplaying, the author examines three case studies: the invisibility of disability in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century proto-steampunk stories, prosthetics as a vehicle for imperial trauma, and the recurrent motif of the clockwork heart. As Australian steampunk exists outside the genre's mainstream, so too is it able to speak to the marginal elements, such as underlying ableism, that the mainstream too often ignores.' (Publication abstract)

No Stairs in the Bush? Disability and Australian Steampunk Catriona Mills , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , vol. 36 no. 1 2023; (p. 34-48)

'With a combination of fantastical and anachronistic technologies and neo-Victorian settings, steampunk emerged from a niche genre to a widespread phenomenon. But this, in turn, raised urgent questions about the "punk"-ness of steampunk and the extent to which it can critique, avoid, and repurpose the Victorian trappings that it adopts. This article examines one such query: whether steampunk can interrogate its ableist underpinnings and, particularly, whether Australian steampunk writers do so in a way that is distinctly Australian. Beginning with a brief overview of Australian steampunk and the genre's conflicted approach to disability aesthetics and roleplaying, the author examines three case studies: the invisibility of disability in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century proto-steampunk stories, prosthetics as a vehicle for imperial trauma, and the recurrent motif of the clockwork heart. As Australian steampunk exists outside the genre's mainstream, so too is it able to speak to the marginal elements, such as underlying ableism, that the mainstream too often ignores.' (Publication abstract)

Australian Writers Have Been Envisioning AI for a Century. Here Are 5 Stories to Read as We Grapple with Rapid Change Leah Henrickson , Catriona Mills , David Tang , Maggie Nolan , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 4 April 2024;

'Australians are nervous about AI. Efforts are underway to put their minds at ease: advisory committees, consultations and regulations. But these actions have tended to be reactive instead of proactive. We need to imagine potential scenarios before they happen.' (Introduction)

Last amended 7 Feb 2024 10:53:30
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