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Cover of 1897 edition
y separately published work icon Frank Layton : An Australian Story single work   children's fiction   children's   adventure  
Issue Details: First known date: 1854... 1854 Frank Layton : An Australian Story
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Frank Layton, the eponymous young hero, left without an inheritance after his father's death, has emigrated to make his way by working on a station. Initially he finds it hard to accommodate the rough bush conveniences with his own 'cultivated taste of a highly polished life', however, he proves to be made of stern stuff and can therefore express no genuine feeling for the plight of 'poor Cousin Bessie', caught in Canvas Town and likely to be there for perpuity. Not such a model of british manhood as Frank, Bessie's husband is untried and untested in the bush and 'has no aptitude nor determination ... energy or perseverance.' (373).' (Pam Macintyre 'From Canvas Town to Marvellous Melbourne: Melbourne in Colonial Children's Novels' La Trobe Library Journal 60 (Spring 1997): 74-83).

Notes

  • Marcie Muir comments: 'The first story about the goldfields to appear in print, if not in book form, was Frank Layton, by George Sargent. ... Reading Frank Layton one would think it was an eyewitness's account of Australian life. It is crammed with facts and the scene is so graphically described, but Sargent was a thoroughly professional writer and admitted drawing on other published works, especially those of Samuel Mossman.' (Marcie Muir 'The Lure of Gold: Boy's Adventure Stories and the Australian Gold Rushes' The La Trobe Library Journal 60 (Spring 1997): 84-96).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Serialised by: The Leisure Hour : An Illustrated Magazine for Home Reading 1852 periodical (4 issues)
      1854 .
      Note/s:
      • Serialised in the Leisure Hour in 1854. Ran to 26 weekly instalments between 5 January - 29 June. Included a b/w illustration at the beginning of each instalment. The author's name was not indicated.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Religious Tract Society ,       1865 .
      Extent: 286 p. [6] leaves of platesp.
      Description: illus.
      Series: y separately published work icon Leisure Hour Library Religious Tract Society (publisher), London : Religious Tract Society , 1865-1897 22806852 1865 series - publisher novella short story adventure children's

      'The books known as the Leisure Hour Library have long been favourites with a large circle of readers. In process of time some of these have fallen out of date, and the dress in which they were sent forth has become old-fashioned. The Committee of the Religious Tract Society has therefore resolved to issue a new series of stories suited for readers of both sexes, and well adapted for circulation in Sunday school libraries, and as gift and prize books. Each volume extends to 384 pages, and is well illustrated. Some members of the series will contain stories never before reprinted; others will consist of popular volumes of the old library, reissued in the new and more attractive format.

      The present volume, The Black Troopers and Other Stories, is the first of the new issue, and the following - Strange Stories of Peril and Adventure; Remarkable Adventures in Real Life; and Adventures Ashore and Afloat - are published at the same time. Of these the first two have never been printed in book form before; the others are popular members of the old library. It will be found that these volumes abound in adventure, exciting narratives, and stories of bravery and heroism.'

      (Prefatory note, The Black Troopers and Other Stories).
Alternative title: Frank Layton: Eene Australische
Language: Dutch
    • Amsterdam,
      c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       H. Hoveker ,       1856 .
      Extent: iv, 336,[26]leaves of platesp.
      Description: illus.
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Re-Reading Representations of Indigenality in Australian Children's Literature : A History Brooke Collins-Gearing , St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2009 Z1445073 2006 single work criticism Australian children's literature has a history of excluding Indigenous child readers and positioning non-Indigenous readers as the subject. Rather then portray such literature, particularly before the 1950s, as simply racist or stereotypical, it argues that it is important for teachers, of all students, to help readers understand how nationalist or white Australian myths were constructed on Indigenous land and knowledges. (Author's Abstract). This article includes discussion of English works depicting Australian life and themes.
"Providence Designed It for a Settlement" : Religious Discourses and Australian Colonial Texts Clare Bradford , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , Spring vol. 24 no. 1 (p. 4-14)
Captivating Narratives : Reeling in the Nineteenth-Century Child Reader Robin Pope , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 134-147)
The Lure of Gold : Boy's Adventure Stories and the Australian Gold Rushes Marcie Muir , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 84-96)
From Canvas Town to Marvellous Melbourne : Melbourne in Colonial Children's Novels Pam Macintyre , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 74-83)
From Canvas Town to Marvellous Melbourne : Melbourne in Colonial Children's Novels Pam Macintyre , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 74-83)
The Lure of Gold : Boy's Adventure Stories and the Australian Gold Rushes Marcie Muir , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 84-96)
Captivating Narratives : Reeling in the Nineteenth-Century Child Reader Robin Pope , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: La Trobe Library Journal , Spring no. 60 1997; (p. 134-147)
y separately published work icon Re-Reading Representations of Indigenality in Australian Children's Literature : A History Brooke Collins-Gearing , St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2009 Z1445073 2006 single work criticism Australian children's literature has a history of excluding Indigenous child readers and positioning non-Indigenous readers as the subject. Rather then portray such literature, particularly before the 1950s, as simply racist or stereotypical, it argues that it is important for teachers, of all students, to help readers understand how nationalist or white Australian myths were constructed on Indigenous land and knowledges. (Author's Abstract). This article includes discussion of English works depicting Australian life and themes.
"Providence Designed It for a Settlement" : Religious Discourses and Australian Colonial Texts Clare Bradford , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , Spring vol. 24 no. 1 (p. 4-14)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (5)
Last amended 31 Aug 2021 12:50:55
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