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Absolutely Revolting

May 2010, no. 321

Susan Sheridan reviews The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction edited by Ken Gelder and Rachael Weaver
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Contents Category: Fiction
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Article Title: Fleeting colonial moments
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The dreamy-eyed young girl from Peter Weir’s film Picnic at Hanging Rock, whose image adorns the cover of this anthology, gives a misleading impression of the ‘Australian girl’ who features in most of the stories. This girl may be the central figure in the colonial romance genre, as the editors propose, but she is characterised by energy and independence, rather than by the kind of sexually charged haze that surrounds the girls in the 1975 film. For the most part, her romantic experiences lead straight to marriage, give or take the odd misunderstanding along the way, and marriage was an institution entangled in economic security, social stability and, ultimately, the national destiny of white settler Australia. The Australian girl of the period was of necessity a clear-eyed realist where marriage was concerned. ‘Lorna Travis; A Christmas Story’ makes the economics of marriage very clear, while in Ada Cambridge’s ‘A Sweet Day’, an English aristocrat in disguise falls for a capable colonial girl and rewards her with a title as well as a wedding ring.
Book 1 Title: The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction
Book Author: Ken Gelder and Rachael Weaver
Book 1 Biblio: Melbourne University Publishing, $34.99 pb, 278 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Editor
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The dreamy-eyed young girl from Peter Weir’s film Picnic at Hanging Rock, whose image adorns the cover of this anthology, gives a misleading impression of the ‘Australian girl’ who features in most of the stories. This girl may be the central figure in the colonial romance genre, as the editors propose, but she is characterised by energy and independence, rather than by the kind of sexually charged haze that surrounds the girls in the 1975 film. For the most part, her romantic experiences lead straight to marriage, give or take the odd misunderstanding along the way, and marriage was an institution entangled in economic security, social stability and, ultimately, the national destiny of white settler Australia. The Australian girl of the period was of necessity a clear-eyed realist where marriage was concerned. ‘Lorna Travis; A Christmas Story’ makes the economics of marriage very clear, while in Ada Cambridge’s ‘A Sweet Day’, an English aristocrat in disguise falls for a capable colonial girl and rewards her with a title as well as a wedding ring.

Read more: Susan Sheridan reviews 'The Anthology of Colonial Australian Romance Fiction' edited by Ken Gelder...

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Contents Category: Poem
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Always an afterthought, last thing left
in that mad dash to spit and polish
before visitors – rare here, so I forget
how others might read you if they looked up:
weird residue of disuse, proof of slackness, antisocial.
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Always an afterthought, last thing left
in that mad dash to spit and polish
before visitors – rare here, so I forget
how others might read you if they looked up:
weird residue of disuse, proof of slackness, antisocial.

Read more: 'Cobwebs' a poem by Tracy Ryan

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Pam Macintyre reviews The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
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Contents Category: Young Adult Fiction
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Article Title: Redeeming Tom
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Not really? Tom Mackee? That boorish, pervy, smart-mouthed Year Eleven boy from Saving Francesca (2004), who offended Tara Finke whenever he opened his mouth, is the central character in Melina Marchetta’s new book. At least he loved music and was not a bad guitarist. Last time we met him, Tom became part of Francesca’s circle at school. Occasionally charming, a dab hand at witty repartee, he was falling for activist and feminist Tara Finke. Now he’s not sixteen anymore, but twenty-one (or thereabouts).
Book 1 Title: The Piper’s Son
Book Author: Melina Marchetta
Book 1 Biblio: Viking, $24.95 pb, 328 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Author
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Not really? Tom Mackee? That boorish, pervy, smart-mouthed Year Eleven boy from Saving Francesca (2004), who offended Tara Finke whenever he opened his mouth, is the central character in Melina Marchetta’s new book. At least he loved music and was not a bad guitarist. Last time we met him, Tom became part of Francesca’s circle at school. Occasionally charming, a dab hand at witty repartee, he was falling for activist and feminist Tara Finke. Now he’s not sixteen anymore, but twenty-one (or thereabouts).

Read more: Pam Macintyre reviews 'The Piper’s Son' by Melina Marchetta

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Prithvi Varatharajan reviews Walking on Ashes by Winifred Weir
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Contents Category: Poetry
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In 1914 men left for war expectant of a great adventure,’ Winifred Weir writes in the introduction to her poetry collection. ‘So many died. So many returned haunted, silent, desperate with what they had seen and endured.’ Walking on Ashes is Weir’s attempt to understand the effects of war on her family; her father and brother fought in World War I and World War II, respectively. The book, loosely chronological, contains dates of battles and their locations (‘Gallipoli’, ‘Passchendaele 1917’, ‘Amiens, France, 1918’). Some poems are out of order, suggesting that the sequence of events is less important than their overall consequence. In Walking on Ashes, time – like Weir’s father’s right arm – is shattered by war. The point of view is fluid, too: it shifts between father, mother, daughter, and son, as each has an experience to relate.
Book 1 Title: Walking on Ashes
Book Author: Winifred Weir
Book 1 Biblio: Puncher & Wattmann, $24 pb, 95 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Author
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In 1914 men left for war expectant of a great adventure,’ Winifred Weir writes in the introduction to her poetry collection. ‘So many died. So many returned haunted, silent, desperate with what they had seen and endured.’ Walking on Ashes is Weir’s attempt to understand the effects of war on her family; her father and brother fought in World War I and World War II, respectively. The book, loosely chronological, contains dates of battles and their locations (‘Gallipoli’, ‘Passchendaele 1917’, ‘Amiens, France, 1918’). Some poems are out of order, suggesting that the sequence of events is less important than their overall consequence. In Walking on Ashes, time – like Weir’s father’s right arm – is shattered by war. The point of view is fluid, too: it shifts between father, mother, daughter, and son, as each has an experience to relate.

Read more: Prithvi Varatharajan reviews 'Walking on Ashes' by Winifred Weir

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Neal Blewett reviews Malcolm Fraser: The political memoirs by Malcolm Fraser and Margaret Simons
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Contents Category: Memoir
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Article Title: Vindicating Malcolm
Article Subtitle: Demonology from the left and right
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It is unusual for a political leader to figure in the demonology of both the left and the right. Malcolm Fraser bears that distinction. For Labor he was the arrogant Western District squire, trampling on the rights of the workers; the hardline Cold War warrior and the abuser of the constitution. For Liberals he was the leader who denied them their Thatcherite moment in the sun and who, embittered by early retirement, decried their principles and their hero, John Howard. These memoirs are, above all, Fraser’s repudiation of these mythologies. The book is a strange hybrid, Fraser’s response being mediated by the journalist and writer Margaret Simons into a third-person narrative. In modern times, only Charles de Gaulle has dared such effrontery.
Book 1 Title: Malcolm Fraser
Book 1 Subtitle: The political memoirs
Book Author: Malcolm Fraser and Margaret Simons
Book 1 Biblio: Miegunyah Press, $59.99 hb, 863 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Author
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It is unusual for a political leader to figure in the demonology of both the left and the right. Malcolm Fraser bears that distinction. For Labor he was the arrogant Western District squire, trampling on the rights of the workers; the hardline Cold War warrior and the abuser of the constitution. For Liberals he was the leader who denied them their Thatcherite moment in the sun and who, embittered by early retirement, decried their principles and their hero, John Howard. These memoirs are, above all, Fraser’s repudiation of these mythologies. The book is a strange hybrid, Fraser’s response being mediated by the journalist and writer Margaret Simons into a third-person narrative. In modern times, only Charles de Gaulle has dared such effrontery.

A shocking moment for those of leftist persuasion in the Australia of the late twentieth century came in the early hours of 6 March 1983. The hint of a tear on that Easter Island visage, a tremble in that pugnacious jaw: could Malcolm Fraser be human after all? Could this be the hard man from Nareen who preached and practised a rugged individualism – ‘life was not meant to be easy’ – to the poor and downtrodden? Could this be the warmonger, defender and administrator of the Vietnamese intervention? Above all, was this the evil conspirator who, in league with the vice-regal fiend, brought down the beloved Gough, smashing him in successive general elections and driving him from parliament, if not from politics?

Read more: Neal Blewett reviews 'Malcolm Fraser: The political memoirs' by Malcolm Fraser and Margaret Simons

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