AustLit
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.
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Shakespeare weaves his personal history and that of his forebears with the history of Tasmania from the time of European settlement onwards.
Notes
-
Dedication: To Max and Benedict, two Tasmanian devils.
-
Epigraph: The same sky covers us, the same sun and all the stars revolve about us, and light us in turn. Comenius (1592-1671), quoted by Julian Sorrell Huxley in We Europeans.
-
Epigraph: 'What would you do, Father, if you had to be present at the birth of a monster with two heads?' I would baptise it, of course. What an absurd question.' Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Rumblings from Australia's Deep South : Tasmanian Gothic On-Screen
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , 6 April vol. 5 no. 1 2011; (p. 71-80) 'This article examines the current cinematic attention to Tasmania and its stories, with particular attention paid to the Gothic mode. 'Tasmanian Gothic' has become a by-word for the unsettling combination of Tasmania's colonial histories and its harsh landscapes in literature, but its cinematic counterpart has virtually been ignored. It is suggested that Tasmania is experiencing a renaissance on the big screen and it is the Gothic that appears to be the most dominant mode through which it is pictured. The article then charts a history of local Tasmanian Gothic cinematic production, a hybrid vision that tends towards a combination of stylistic, thematic, historical and geographic elements. Tasmanian Gothic cinema refers not simply to productions by Tasmanian film-makers, but to the broader on-screen representation of the island, its culture and histories by a range of local, interstate and international crews. As this article suggests, Gothic cinematic representations of Tasmania are yoked by a number of persistent concerns that act in dialogue with the unique cultural and geographic positioning of Australia's only island state.' (Author's abstract)
-
George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator': Colonial Celebrity and Its Postcolonial Aftermath
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Studies , vol. 12 no. 2 2009; (p. 153-172) Author's abstract: George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator', conducted one of the most high profile and subsequently notorious experiments with indigenous people in the nineteenth-century British Empire. His 'removal' of Tasmanian Aborigines from the settler-dominated main island was well known at the time: celebrated by many as the most efficacious resolution to frontier conflict, even as it was criticized by (some) liberal commentators. Robinson was acutely aware of himself as an actor on the imperial stage, boasting in his diary on 3 September 1832 that, 'By taking the whole [group of Aborigines] I gain not only the reward but also celebrity' (Friendly Mission). As Patrick Brantlinger argues, colonial, American, European and British commentators were acutely interested in the fate of indigenous peoples when they encountered white, Western civilization: the Tasmanian genocide (as it was known) 'offered a moral and political lesson in how the progress of empire and civilization could be badly botched'. Ideas about Robinson and his 'mission' to the Tasmanian Aborigines have circulated in popular culture and art since the 1830s. A variety of mechanisms have kept Robinson in the popular imagination. Benjamin Duterrau's portrait of Robinson in 'The Conciliation' memorably pictures a soft-faced Briton surrounded by his Aboriginal 'charges', but colonial and imperial commentators positioned Robinson equally often within the racial science of high imperialism. Alongside such representations, Robinson and the Tasmanian Aborigines were envisioned by popular newspapers, pamphleteers and writers in the Victorian economy's commodification of Empire. These imaginings of Robinson were as vigorous in the imperial centres as in the colonies, and have continued to be so. Twentieth-century authors - from Robert Drewe, to Mudrooroo, to Matthew Kneale, to Stephen Scheding and Nicholas Shakespeare - seem compelled to re-imagine Robinson's story. This paper examines Robinson's colonial celebrity and its postcolonial aftermath through theories of mass media and celebrity. -
Kindred Spirits
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: London Review of Books , 18 August vol. 27 no. 16 2005; (p. 17-18)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose -
Nonfiction
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Island , Autumn no. 100 2005; (p. 124-126)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose -
The Shortlist
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , April vol. 15 no. 3 2005; (p. 43)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose
-
Sweeping Reflections Limit an Outside View
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 6 November 2004; (p. 17)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose -
Outsider in Paradise
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 November 2004; (p. 8-9)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose -
Trouble in Paradise
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13-14 November 2004; (p. 11)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose -
Heaven and Hell
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 13 November 2004; (p. 8)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose -
An Ideal Travel Companion
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 December 2004; (p. 13)
— Review of In Tasmania 2004 single work prose -
George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator': Colonial Celebrity and Its Postcolonial Aftermath
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Studies , vol. 12 no. 2 2009; (p. 153-172) Author's abstract: George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator', conducted one of the most high profile and subsequently notorious experiments with indigenous people in the nineteenth-century British Empire. His 'removal' of Tasmanian Aborigines from the settler-dominated main island was well known at the time: celebrated by many as the most efficacious resolution to frontier conflict, even as it was criticized by (some) liberal commentators. Robinson was acutely aware of himself as an actor on the imperial stage, boasting in his diary on 3 September 1832 that, 'By taking the whole [group of Aborigines] I gain not only the reward but also celebrity' (Friendly Mission). As Patrick Brantlinger argues, colonial, American, European and British commentators were acutely interested in the fate of indigenous peoples when they encountered white, Western civilization: the Tasmanian genocide (as it was known) 'offered a moral and political lesson in how the progress of empire and civilization could be badly botched'. Ideas about Robinson and his 'mission' to the Tasmanian Aborigines have circulated in popular culture and art since the 1830s. A variety of mechanisms have kept Robinson in the popular imagination. Benjamin Duterrau's portrait of Robinson in 'The Conciliation' memorably pictures a soft-faced Briton surrounded by his Aboriginal 'charges', but colonial and imperial commentators positioned Robinson equally often within the racial science of high imperialism. Alongside such representations, Robinson and the Tasmanian Aborigines were envisioned by popular newspapers, pamphleteers and writers in the Victorian economy's commodification of Empire. These imaginings of Robinson were as vigorous in the imperial centres as in the colonies, and have continued to be so. Twentieth-century authors - from Robert Drewe, to Mudrooroo, to Matthew Kneale, to Stephen Scheding and Nicholas Shakespeare - seem compelled to re-imagine Robinson's story. This paper examines Robinson's colonial celebrity and its postcolonial aftermath through theories of mass media and celebrity. -
Rumblings from Australia's Deep South : Tasmanian Gothic On-Screen
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , 6 April vol. 5 no. 1 2011; (p. 71-80) 'This article examines the current cinematic attention to Tasmania and its stories, with particular attention paid to the Gothic mode. 'Tasmanian Gothic' has become a by-word for the unsettling combination of Tasmania's colonial histories and its harsh landscapes in literature, but its cinematic counterpart has virtually been ignored. It is suggested that Tasmania is experiencing a renaissance on the big screen and it is the Gothic that appears to be the most dominant mode through which it is pictured. The article then charts a history of local Tasmanian Gothic cinematic production, a hybrid vision that tends towards a combination of stylistic, thematic, historical and geographic elements. Tasmanian Gothic cinema refers not simply to productions by Tasmanian film-makers, but to the broader on-screen representation of the island, its culture and histories by a range of local, interstate and international crews. As this article suggests, Gothic cinematic representations of Tasmania are yoked by a number of persistent concerns that act in dialogue with the unique cultural and geographic positioning of Australia's only island state.' (Author's abstract)
Awards
- 2007 winner Tasmania Book Prizes — Tasmania Book Prize
- 2005 finalist Walkley Award — Best Non-Fiction Book
- 2005 shortlisted The Age Book of the Year Award — Non-Fiction Prize
Last amended 15 Jan 2009 08:03:09
Subjects:
- Tasmania,
- 1800-1899
- 1900-1999
Export this record