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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In the year of 1914, in the canefields of northern New South Wales, the young men couldn't wait to set off for the adventure of war. The women coped as best they could, raised the children, lived in fear of being next to receive an official telegram. They grieved their dead, and came to learn that for returned men there are worse things than death in combat. They bore more children to replace those lost in the First World War, and the sons were just the right age to go off to the second.' Source: http://www.penguin.com.au/ (Sighted 06/07/2009).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Mapping a Memoir within Australian Landscapes : Shirley Walker
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 9 2012; 'Shirley Walker (1927), retired Senior Lecturer in English from the University of New
England at Armidale, where she taught Australian Literature, decided to try her own
hand at writing a memoir. The result is Roundabout at Bangalow: An Intimate
Chronicle (2001), which is her account of growing up in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales in Australia. The author has also published numerous critical articles on Australian Literature, commenting thoroughly on the work of Mary Gilmore (1865- 1962), Judith Wright (1915-2000) and Dorothy Hewett (1923-2002). Walker has also published The Ghost at the Wedding (2009) based on the life of Walker's mother in law, a woman whose life was largely shaped by war, and who, in 1918 near the end of WW1, married a returned soldier. This biography, which was awarded the Asher Literary Prize (2009) and the Nita B Kibble Award (2010), Australia's premier award for women's writing, has been described as a major work of Australian literature and a major contribution to Australian history. The present article focuses on Roundabout at Bangalow: An Intimate Chronicle, where Walker narrates the complicated and, sometimes, blurred resonances of her "half-a-lifetime" memoir. This work exemplifies how Walker is deeply concerned with the unreliability of memory and the way it can exaggerate grievances or distort past perceptions, unloosing itself from historical and geographical truth and adopting first and foremost a primal function in the formation of identities.' (Author's Introduction)
-
He's Going Walkerbout
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 March 2011; (p. 14) -
Books
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 3 July 2010; (p. 28-29)
— Review of The Ghost at the Wedding 2009 single work biography ; Gunshot Road 2010 single work novel -
Untitled
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 24 no. 1 2010; (p. 67-68)
— Review of The Ghost at the Wedding 2009 single work biography -
Writer's 'Lyrical' Memoir Wins Kibble Prize
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 3 June 2010; (p. 17) Quotes judging panel chairman, Robert Dixon, describing the winning work by Shirley Walker as 'a lyrical elegy to the generation before.'
-
Ugly Face of War
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 5 July 2009; (p. 18)
— Review of The Ghost at the Wedding 2009 single work biography -
Non-Fiction Books
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 11 - 12 July 2009; (p. 24)
— Review of The Ghost at the Wedding 2009 single work biography -
Brothers in Arms
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 11 July 2009; (p. 28)
— Review of The Ghost at the Wedding 2009 single work biography -
Lost between Hemispheres
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July-August no. 313 2009; (p. 46-47)
— Review of The Ghost at the Wedding 2009 single work biography -
Sad Reconstruction of a Family Devestated by War
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 18 July 2009; (p. 15)
— Review of The Ghost at the Wedding 2009 single work biography -
River of No Return
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 26 July 2009; (p. 10-11) -
Writer's 'Lyrical' Memoir Wins Kibble Prize
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 3 June 2010; (p. 17) Quotes judging panel chairman, Robert Dixon, describing the winning work by Shirley Walker as 'a lyrical elegy to the generation before.' -
He's Going Walkerbout
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 3 March 2011; (p. 14) -
Mapping a Memoir within Australian Landscapes : Shirley Walker
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 9 2012; 'Shirley Walker (1927), retired Senior Lecturer in English from the University of New
England at Armidale, where she taught Australian Literature, decided to try her own
hand at writing a memoir. The result is Roundabout at Bangalow: An Intimate
Chronicle (2001), which is her account of growing up in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales in Australia. The author has also published numerous critical articles on Australian Literature, commenting thoroughly on the work of Mary Gilmore (1865- 1962), Judith Wright (1915-2000) and Dorothy Hewett (1923-2002). Walker has also published The Ghost at the Wedding (2009) based on the life of Walker's mother in law, a woman whose life was largely shaped by war, and who, in 1918 near the end of WW1, married a returned soldier. This biography, which was awarded the Asher Literary Prize (2009) and the Nita B Kibble Award (2010), Australia's premier award for women's writing, has been described as a major work of Australian literature and a major contribution to Australian history. The present article focuses on Roundabout at Bangalow: An Intimate Chronicle, where Walker narrates the complicated and, sometimes, blurred resonances of her "half-a-lifetime" memoir. This work exemplifies how Walker is deeply concerned with the unreliability of memory and the way it can exaggerate grievances or distort past perceptions, unloosing itself from historical and geographical truth and adopting first and foremost a primal function in the formation of identities.' (Author's Introduction)
Awards
- 2010 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Non-Fiction
- 2010 winner Kibble Literary Awards — Nita Kibble Literary Award
- 2009 winner Asher Literary Award Joint winner with Sara Knox, The Orphan Gunner.
Last amended 6 Feb 2014 17:56:40
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