AustLit logo

AustLit

NLA image of person
Arthur Groom Arthur Groom i(A12294 works by)
Also writes as: Poppa ; A. G.
Born: Established: 11 Dec 1904 St Kilda, Caulfield - St Kilda area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria, ; Died: Ceased: 14 Nov 1953 Melbourne, Victoria,
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Hungry Jeffries Arthur Groom , single work short story Hard-up rogues masquerade as buyers to trick broke station owner for food and supplies while 'looking over' his property, but he offers them stolen horses for further trip and has them arrested at border
1 Diary of a Desert Trek with Camels from Areyonga to the Olgas, 1947 Arthur Groom , 1994 single work diary
— Appears in: Camel Treks in the Outback 1994; (p. 72-80) Arthur Groom provides an entertaining account of his travels by camel through the Northern Territory.
2 2 y separately published work icon I Saw a Strange Land I Saw a Strange Land : Journeys in Central Australia Arthur Groom , Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1950 Z1665822 1950 single work life story

'While living in Central Australia Arthur Groom fell under the spell of our harsh and fascinating country, captivated by its limitless distances and unbelievable colour. Hermannsburg, the home of artist Albert Namatjira and of other well-known painters, became Groom’s headquarters, and from there he made numerous expeditions into wilder and more inaccessible regions.

'Travelling on foot with an Indigenous guide and a team of camels, Groom explored the Macdonnell and Krichauff ranges, the desert country past the salty Lake Amadeus, Uluru and the Olgas. Based on the notes and photographs he took as he travelled, I Saw a Strange Land is Groom’s wonderful record of his extensive journey through the heart of our continent—our ‘strange land.’' (Publication summary)
1 Repairing a Breakdown Arthur Groom , 1931 single work column
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 25 June 1931; (p. 4) Restoring flow from an artesian bore whose 350 feet deep pump-valve has broken.
1 O'Leary's Band Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story humour
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 4 June 1931; (p. 6) Travelling musicians are offered a job at a local dance in a town where a bullying drover is coming in, who wrecks bands in revenge for the dance organiser's stealing his girl. He breaks up the dance, but the band get lost going home, panic at finding themselves in the middle of the mob, and make his twelve hundred bullocks rush.
1 Nancy's Turn Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story humour
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 23 April 1931; (p. 6) Seven daughters of a migrant father who boomed and bust in Sydney are rescued by his grazier brother in North West Queensland and all but one married off in succession to the locals.
1 The Cook's Pet Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 2 April 1931; (p. 6)

The mystery of endemic theft of valuables on a station is solved when an eccentric, sometimes talking parrot, that arrives with a new station cook, encounters the cook's Aboriginal off-sider in a pantry accidentally left open overnight.
1 Night Thieves Arthur Groom , 1931 single work children's fiction children's A seventeen year old swaggie accepts a lift into Brisbane in a rain storm, slips into a boat to sleep and is abducted by a band of villains who prove to be major thieves. Taken to a secret cave behind Point Lookout he manages to escape via an underground passage in time to lead an approaching police raid, during which the chief villain falls in a deep hole and is taken by a giant octopus. The young man survives, earns rewards for the recovery of the loot and is offered a job as assistant by the man who first gave him a lift.
1 The Mailman Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 5 March 1931; (p. 6) A lonely bush girl isolated by an inhospitable father watches for a wave from the mailman every Thursday. When his car overturns near their gate and he is injured she rescues and then nurses him. He falls in love and proposes, but has to save her father from a fire before she accepts.
1 The Tree Of Magic Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 15 January 1931; (p. 6)

An Aboriginal man whose romantic interest is about to go off with a powerful man from another group destroys the threat by tipping flour down on him from a much-feared tree under which the stranger has camped.
1 The Whirlwind Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 9 July 1931; A man whose girlfriend sneers at him as lacking backbone spends six years mining gold in the western desert, then is drawn back to Brisbane by a picture of Queen street in a newspaper left near him by a whirlwind. He assembles his gold and makes a perilous trip toward Brisbane, but in a storm he has an accident and breaks his back. Reviving in hospital he finds his penitent ex-girlfriend a nurse at his bedside, and, despite his permanently paralysed leg, they agree to marry.
1 Winter Winds Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 23 July 1931; (p. 6) An office girl engaged to a western cattleman is harried by chill and westerly winds and writes a complaining letter to her fiancé in what she sees as the warm and wonderful bush.Struggling with a bad horse on a muster in even more bitter weather, he makes an extra effort to meet the mailman, but on reading the letter realises she will never be able to live in the bush, and comes to accept his own woes.
1 The Waggons Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 24 September 1931; (p. 6-7)
1 A Tale of Three Cooks Arthur Groom , 1931 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 31 December 1931; (p. 6)
1 Western Characters Arthur Groom , 1930 single work column
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 13 November 1930; (p. 4)
1 Bill's Mistake Arthur Groom , 1930 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 16 October 1930; (p. 6) Shipping office employee who wanted to go bush in youth goes hiking in the McPherson Ranges and meets a local girl dressed as a boy, feels strange attraction and on finding she's a girl, declares himself in love.
1 Around The Run Arthur Groom , 1930 single work column
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 18 September 1930; (p. 4) Checking staff, waters and cattle with the manager of a large Northern Territory cattle station.
1 Racing Bells Arthur Groom , 1930 single work column
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 28 August 1930; (p. 4) Exhilaration of stock horses being run in with bells on, but unhobbled, on a winter morning.
1 Lonely Hansen Arthur Groom , 1930 single work short story
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 10 July 1930; (p. 6) Older worker hiding in bush after jail sentence fights and defeats his son to make him return and face his lesser misdeeds, in hopes that unlike his father, he will make good.
1 Into the Mountains Arthur Groom , 1930 single work children's fiction children's adventure Two boys go bush with one's uncle to explore the McPherson ranges. They discover natural wonders and dangers and encounter a 'deranged' recluse, before rescuing the injured uncle and being deeded his selection, when they reach 21, as a token of his gratitude.
X