AustLit

'Mateship is so central to the traditional view of Australia that John Howard wanted it written into the preamble of the Constitution. But Brenda Niall asserts in Friends & Rivals, a fine account of four female writers, that “mateship is the antithesis of individualism. When women question or confront their destiny, cracks appear.” Half a beat behind The Bulletin writers — rhapsodising about mateship in “the real Australia” — there were several women who ignored it, worked their way around it and, in one case, challenged it directly.' (Introduction)