Folios

FryerFoliosJanuary 2009

FryerFoliosFryer Library, The University of Queensland Volume 4 > Number 1 > January 20093 68Thea AstleySusan Sheridan, Adjunct Professorof English and Women’s Studiesat Flinders University in Adelaide,writes about Fryer Library’sunique collection of Thea Astleymanuscripts.Gleanings fromAustralian VersePenny Whiteway, Fryer Librarylibrarian, examines an unexpectedaddition to the Hayes collection.11 13 15The johnno SagaKatherine Barnes, recipient ofthe 2008 Fryer Library Award,explores the genesis of DavidMalouf’s Johnno.Gala dinnerCathy Leutenegger, Fryer Librarylibrarian and member of theBAL project team at AustLit fortwo years, reports on a sharedcelebration.17Val VallisPaul Sherman remembers his oldfriend, Val Vallis.18What’s new in FryerAdditions to the collections,staff news, partnerships, and thewebsite.Letters to the EditorFriends of FryerNews from Fryer Library’s activegroup of supporters, the Friendsof Fryer.Cover page: Thea Astley in the early 1960s(Fryer Library, Photograph Collection, PIC 823)Fryer Folios is published twice a year by The University of Queensland Library to illustrate the range of special collections in the Fryer Library and to showcasescholarly research based on these sources. One issue was published in 2008; three issues will be published in 2009. ISSN 1834-1004 (print) ISSN 1834-1012(online). Fryer Folios is distributed to libraries and educational institutions around Australia. If you wish to be added to the mailing list, please contact theSecretary, Friends of Fryer, The University of Queensland Library, The University of Queensland Q 4072. Telephone (07) 3346 9427; Fax (07) 3365 6776; Email:fryerfriends@library.uq.edu.au (Note that individuals wishing to receive a copy will need to join Friends of Fryer).Unless otherwise stated, the photographs in this magazine are taken by theFryer Library Reproduction Service. The views expressed in Fryer Folios arethose of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the viewsof the editors or publisher. Every reasonable effort has been made to contactrelevant copyright holders for illustrative material in this magazine. Where thiswas not possible, the copyright holders are invited to contact the publisher.Editors Dr Chris Tiffin, Laurie McNeice, Cathy Leutenegger, Suzanne ParkerPhotographersStewart Gould and Mark SherwoodGraphic designJanine NicklinPrinted byWestminster Printing, Milton, Qld

‘Queensland is where the tall yarn happens’The Thea Astley Collection in Fryer LibrarySusan Sheridan, Adjunct Professor of English and Women’s Studiesat Flinders University in Adelaide, writes about Fryer Library’s uniquecollection of Thea Astley manuscripts.Thea Astley (1925-2004), more thanany other novelist, has put Queenslandon the map – especially the tropicalNorth. Almost all her sixteen titlesare set in this state, of which sheonce wrote, ‘Queensland is wherethe tall yarn happens, acted out ona stage where, despite its vastness,the oddballs see and recognise eachother’. She was born and raised inBrisbane, where her father was ajournalist. She attended All HallowsConvent and The University ofQueensland, where she graduatedBachelor of Arts in 1948. For the nexttwenty years she worked as a schoolteacher, and between 1967 and 1979she taught in the English Departmentat Macquarie University. Her firstnovel, Girl with a Monkey, appeared in1958, and from then on she produceda novel or short story collection everytwo years or so. After retirement fromteaching, she lived for several yearsin Kuranda, outside Cairns, beforemoving back to New South Wales tothe South Coast.Wherever she lived, Queenslandremained the heartland of her fiction,from suburban Brisbane around1960 in Slow Natives (1965) to theFar North settings of the stories inHunting the Wild Pineapple (1979)and It’s Raining in Mango (1987) anddying small-towns like Drylands (1999).More than a regional novelist, Astleywas recognised as one of the leadingAustralian modernist fiction writersof her generation, alongside PatrickWhite and Hal Porter. She won theprestigious Miles Franklin Prize noless than four times. Yet there is noextended study of her art in existenceAbove:Thea Astley in the early1960s. Fryer Library,Photograph Collection,PIC 823Thea Astley’s greenHermes ‘Baby’ typewriter,which she used from the1950s to the 1970sJanuary 20092

Above:Thea Astley’s 1988 SteeleRudd award for It’sRaining in Mango and her1992 Order of Australiamedal(although there is a biography inpreparation). The collection of criticalessays on her work, plus an interviewand several essays by Astley, whichPaul Genoni and I edited (TheaAstley’s Fictional Worlds) 1 was the firstbook on Astley’s work to be published,as recently as 2006. This anomalyshould surely be remedied, and theThea Astley papers held in the FryerLibrary offer a rich resource fromwhich to begin such a study.Ever the professional writer, duringher lifetime Astley deposited 17boxes of material, consisting ofhandwritten and typescript draftsof 11 of her books, from the first(Girl with a Monkey) to The MultipleEffects of Rainshadow (1996). Thesemanuscripts have accompanyingnotes by the author. Many of them alsoinclude correspondence with editorsand publishers, and backgroundresearch material. In some cases thereare overseas editions of the novels.There are draft manuscripts of shortstories and articles or talks, and a fewunpublished manuscripts. Notebookscontain handwritten drafts of proseand poems, some of which date fromthe 1940s when she was a member ofthe Barjai group in Brisbane.The Fryer Library recently acquiredan additional six boxes of materialfrom Thea Astley’s estate. Theyinclude successive drafts of severalmore of her works, and a significantamount of biographical material in theform of correspondence. I recently hadthe pleasure of looking through thisnew material.Of literary manuscripts, there aredrafts of An Item from the Late News(published in 1982 but not representedin the earlier acquisition) and theoriginal handwritten draft of Drylands,plus edited drafts of this novel: thereis rich material here for a study of theevolution of this, her last novel. Thereare also drafts of various sketches,talks and short stories (her CollectedStories were published in 1997).1 Susan Sheridan and Paul Genoni, eds, TheaAstley’s Fictional Worlds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne:Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006. Paperback edition2008.The correspondence is largelyliterary, consisting of letters and cardsfrom other writers, and from editorsand agents. These include BeatriceDavis’s first letter, inviting Thea tovisit her at Angus and Robertson’sto talk about the manuscript of Girlwith a Monkey: ‘This piece is rathertoo slight, but I believe you couldbecome a very good novelist indeed.’There are letters and postcards fromPatrick White over the years 1960to 1963, when they were friends inSydney. A small collection of herbooks includes two of his novels andSelected Writings of Gérard de Nervalinscribed to her by Patrick White. Hisletters include severe criticism of oneof her manuscripts entitled ‘The LittleLie’ (1961), despite the fact that Angusand Robertson wanted to publish it. Aquestion for literary sleuths – was thisnovel in fact never published, or didit transmute into her third novel, TheWell Dressed Explorer?The correspondence files also offersome insights into Thea Astley’s familyof origin – letters from her father andmother, and from her brother Philip,who became a Jesuit priest. There isalso material by and about Philip, whodied in 1997. There are some 20 lettersfrom her husband, Jack Gregson, mostof them written from Europe wherehe went travelling alone in 1975, anda few cards and letters from Theato members of her family. There is afolder of material about Thea’s paternalgrandfather, Charles Astley, who taughtart at Toowoomba and Warwick in theearly years of the twentieth century.A folder of publishing contracts alsocontains speaking invitations withassociated correspondence. Thereare folders of newspaper cuttings andreviews, not in any particular order, butincluding some of the American oneswhich would be difficult to accessotherwise; perhaps they indicate thereviews Astley was willing to keep.One box contains all the awardsAstley won, literary and civil, as wellas her Bachelor of Arts certificate fromThe University of Queensland. Finally,an unusual holding – two Hermestypewriters (which Thea used to referto as ‘typers’), one a present from her3Fryer Folios

husband Jack and used from the late1950s to 1970s, and a second onepurchased in the mid-1980s.This additional acquisition makesthe Fryer collection of Astley papersthe most extensive in the country. As acollection, it is exceptionally strong inholdings of successive drafts and proofcopies of her novels. Apart from thedrafts of The Well Dressed Explorer (herthird novel) and The Acolyte (her sixth),which are held in the National Library,the Fryer collection of Astley’s papersholds all the crucial material for a studyof the processes of composition of hernovels (the only novel not representedat all in the archives seems to be A BoatLoad of Home Folk, her fifth novel).While this kind of study is mosturgently needed, there is also materialfrom which to begin an investigationinto her relations with publishers,which would in turn provide insightsinto conditions of publication for fictionwriters in Australia over the period ofher career. As well as the early poemsincluded in this collection, the Fryeralso holds a small collection of poemsshe published in the school magazine– the makings perhaps for a collectionof her poetry. It is to be hoped thatliterary researchers will quickly take upthe opportunity to work with this richcollection.Susan Sheridan was educated atSydney University (BA Hons 1967) andAdelaide University (PhD 1980). Sheis Adjunct Professor of English andWomen’s Studies at Flinders University,where she taught women’s studiesfrom 1987 to 2006. She has publishedwidely on women writers, culturalstudies and feminist theory.A Recent DonationFryer Library recently receiveda very interesting donation inthe form of two letters writtenby David Malouf to ProfessorKeith McWatters and his wife DrPA McWatters. Professor KeithMcWatters, professor of Frenchat the University of Liverpoolin England and internationalauthority on the writer Stendhal,was born in Maryborough,Queensland, in 1931. He attendedThe University of Queensland,graduating with first-classhonours in French and Englishin 1952, the year David Maloufbegan studying at UQ.In the second of these twoletters written to McWatters’ wifeafter McWatters’ death in 1995,Malouf recalled that ‘Keith wasjust enough older and furtherahead at University…for me tofind him (I was seventeen) veryintimidating’, noting ‘the qualitiesthat justified my feeling it, theintellectual seriousness and rigourthat was so rare in him.’ Maloufadded: ‘It’s extraordinary to thinkback to that time…and see howhe made for himself…just thekind of life he was determined onthen, and which none of the restof us would have believed waspossible.’McWatters left Australia in1958 to begin studying for hisdoctorate at Grenoble Universitywhere, as Peter Edwards hasnoted, he became ‘in manyrespects more French than theFrench’. Though he did returnbriefly to teach in UQ’s FrenchDepartment between 1961 and1964, McWatters spent the rest ofhis academic career in England,where his major scholarly workwas a seven-volume editionof Stendhal’s Chroniques pourl’Angleterre.Neither he nor Malouf found aparticularly congenial intellectualenvironment in Queensland inthe 1950s and it is this problemthat the first letter addresses.Written in 1985 in response to aletter from McWatters praisingHarland’s Half Acre, Maloufdiscusses Queensland under JohBjelke-Petersen: ‘The injusticeand cruelty stops short of actualbloodshed – so people don’talways recognise it or feel theneed absolutely to confront it….There is here a deep nostalgia forProfessor Keith McWattersin the late 1980ssimplicity – for an idea of somesimpler Australia that we havesomehow fallen away from andought to revive. It is, in fact,the truly awful Australia of ouryouth.’ Malouf ends by noting:‘Queensland still upsets me…butwhen I come to write about it Iget overwhelmed by my physicalfeeling for its light and colour.’We thank Dr PA McWatters fordepositing these two remarkableletters in Fryer Library.LAURIE MCNEICE is the ActingManager of the Fryer Library.January 20094

Gleanings fromAbove:The cover of Gleaningsfrom Australian VerseThe colophon of the bookPenny Whiteway examines an unexpected addition tothe Hayes collection.A manuscript titled Gleanings fromAustralian Verse has recently beenpurchased for the Fryer Librarycollection, thanks to a Sydney bookdealer and money from the HadgraftMemorial Fund. The manuscript wascommissioned by Father Leo Hayesduring the 1940s, and he referred tothe manuscript in an interview he didwith staff of The Bulletin, which waspublished on 26 November 1947:‘Look at this work. A Queenslandwoman did it. A Manchesterwoman really, but she’s been inQueensland quite a while now. Igot her to do the work for me. It’sin the manner of the illuminatedmanuscripts of the Middle Ages.See, black-letter work with pictureinitial letters. One book contains myfavourite Australian poems… Lookat those tiny watercolours. Lessthan an inch square, yet look at thedetail. See, here’s Mary HannayFoott’s “Where the Pelican Builds”.’This unique volume, and its sistervolume of English verse which Hayesalso mentioned to The Bulletinstaff, were not part of the vastHayes collection donated to theUniversity in 1967. The Queensland/Manchester woman referred to byFather Hayes was artist Ella LilianPedersen. Born Ella Lilian Glover in1898, she completed a Diploma ofArts and Crafts at the Manchester5Fryer Folios

Australian VerseCollege of Arts in 1918. She moved toQueensland after marrying pastoralistAndrew Pedersen in 1921.Pedersen worked with a variety ofmedia throughout her life – includingtextiles, weavings, pottery, embroideryand paintings in oil and watercolour –but it is her skill with illumination andcalligraphy which is evident in thisbook. Each of the 17 poems chosenby Father Hayes has been written inbeautiful calligraphy by Pedersen, andthe accompanying illustrations depictthe location or subject of each poem.The Bulletin article mentions thatthe book had a cover of hand-tooledleather set with semi-precious stones –including opals and agates – collectedby Father Hayes around CrowsNest, where he was parish priest.Unfortunately the original cover, alsocrafted by Pedersen, did not surviveintact. The central panel was replacedby book restorer Anne Cloonan in theearly 2000s, with the one remaininggemstone, a chrysophase, set in.The Hadgraft Memorial Fund wasset up by friends of Cecil Hadgraftafter his death in 1987. Hadgraft was along-time academic at The Universityof Queensland, and a dedicatedsupporter of Fryer, making manycontributions to the collection. He wasinfluential in the Library obtaining theHayes collection, so it is fitting that hisFund has continued his contribution tothe development of the collection byacquiring such a unique item.Penny Whiteway is a librarian at theFryer Library.Above:The beginning of MaryHannay Foott’s famouspoem ‘Where the PelicanBuilds’Lilian Pedersen’s bookbindingtoolsJanuary 2009 6

KATHERINE BARNES, recipient of the 2008 Fryer Library Award,explores THE GENESIS OF DAVID MALOUF’S JOHNNO.Above:Letter recording JohnMilliner’s death (UQFL75/DM22, verso)The story begins at St Anselm’sCollege, Birkenhead, in 1963.David Malouf has been givinghis senior English students some‘untranslatable Latin’ to translate,on the pretext that it’s relevant tothe seventeenth-century Englishtexts they’re studying, but really, headmits in a letter to fellow-poet andclose friend Judith Rodriguez, ‘todraw out the versifiers’. He’s alreadyhad a substantial group of poemspublished in Four Poets (1962) andhas been experimenting with otherforms, when he announces in a letterto Rodriguez an idea for a new work,‘a kind of semi-autobiographical,sub-fictional portrait of Johnny M.’‘Johnny M.’ is of course his friendJohn Milliner. The prose work he hasin mind is going to contain ‘a certainamount of ambiguous sexuality,copious literary allusions etc. etc.’. Hehopes he can ‘hit the note’. 1 The FryerLibrary holds more than 400 itemsof correspondence between Maloufand Rodriguez over a twenty-yearperiod starting in 1957. Comprisingletters, aerogrammes and postcards,they record, along with much else,the progress of the work that had itsbeginning with that decision: the novelJohnno.The story of its writing is a sagathat unfolded over a decade, and ina sense it had begun even beforethe decision to start writing hadbeen taken. Already in January 1962Malouf was making the same kind ofprotests against Brisbane that he laterput into the mouth of his character1 Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library,UQFL75/DM50.Johnno. ‘Brisbane is even worse thanI had remembered,’ he comments.‘So makeshift, so shabby anduncommitted.’ The following month anaerogramme records a crucial event:John Milliner was drowned twodays ago in the Condamine atDalby. Incredible. I can’t reallybelieve it has happened, neverless than this morning when I wentto the Crematorium to hear himprayed over and preached over ina way that he would have founduproariously offensive. We were togo to Bribie or Stradbroke Is. forthe weekend. 2There is more later in the month:The whole business is full ofmysteries, co-incidences etc. thatmultiply around John’s death asthey did around his life. I beginto wonder if they are not, inboth cases, his own deliberateconstructions. Extraordinary theway in which fantasy and realitycross and exchange roles! 3Malouf’s cringing revulsionagainst Brisbane, as an expatriateschoolteacher still in his twenties,provides the context for his reflectionson the mysteries of the death, and life,of John Milliner.In November 1963 he wasoptimistic. The novel was growing ‘likelittle Topsy’, and he was enjoying thechallenge of the move from verse toprose:2 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM22.3 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM23.7Fryer Folios

What is most difficult is the actualprose. The thing has to be writtenin big blocks, rather the wayMozart’s operas are constructed,with a good deal of unity withinthem. This means that the shapeof the action in each block has tobe absolutely right, & this – I meanthe arc of the thing – dependsprimarily on getting the paragraphsto work with & against one another& needs a very firm idea of largerhythmic units – more perhaps thanI have the means of handling at themoment. Still, I’m getting better. 4He was already aware that theprocess had its own inherent interest,potentially for others as well ashimself:It’s a shame really that no oneelse can share this part of it all,because it might very well be moreinteresting than the novel itself.What one should do is write a diary(like Gide) of the novel’s growth& a kind of autobiographicalcommentary as well. One of thethings that is strangest in all thisis that while writing to you now Irealise that the material from whichit springs goes back to a timebefore we knew one another at allwell …I’ve never written anything inthe novel line before that was reallyof much personal significance tome. The experience I was usingderived from books, or perhaps,I hadn’t got far enough into thesituations to strike root & let thereal experience come up. 5In January 1964 he was finishingthe first draft of the final chapter, andfinding that he wrote most easily in thebath!By February the work was ‘in at leastits penultimate form’. 6 Things were stillgoing well on June 10 th but by the 26 thhe had lost confidence, announcing‘the final abandonment of the novel,which … won’t do’. 7 Then a postcardof 18 th September announces anotherevent of critical importance: ‘My father4 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM66.5 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM68.6 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM71.7 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM80.died yesterday of a heart attack and Iam flying back tomorrow’. 8By July 1966 he was working on thedraft again. The following month hewas able to report that he had ‘workedout a persona for the “I” which is notquite my own, and there is a gooddeal of fiction mixed in the fact – all,I think, as it should be’. 9 In January1968 he had again taken up ‘that novelI worked on a couple of summers ago– it’s better than I thought – as a longshort story’. 10He returned to Australia to take upa position at the University of Sydney,and started thinking about ‘theumpteenth version of my prose-pieceabout Brisbane, which I’ve more orless promised the press for the end ofMarch. Not at all sure that it will work– but it’s this time or never – maybenever!’. 11 By mid-1972 the novel was,at last, close to completion.Along with the Malouf-Rodriguezcorrespondence, the Fryer Libraryholds several late typescript versionsof the manuscript of Johnno, two inthe David Malouf collection, and onein the archives of the University ofQueensland Press. 12 We can look tothese typescripts for the final part ofthe saga.8 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM84.9 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM124.10 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM158.11 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL75/DM200.12 Fryer Library, UQ Library, UQFL198Left:A postcard dated 18thSeptember: “My fatherdied yesterday of aheart attack and I amflying back tomorrow…”(UQFL75/DM84)January 20098

Top:Writing in the bath (bluepaper)‘I write it mostly in thebath. That is, I get into thebath, dabble round for anhour or so getting it allstraight and then write ingreat bursts, sometimes3000/5000 words at atime. […] One learns, atlast, to write in paragraphsrather than sentences, tothink in big rhythmic unitsrather than small ones’(UQFL75/DM69, recto)Above:Late changes to the textof Johnno (UQFL 163,Box 2, Series E, Item I)The typescripts clearly arose froma single carbon copy, separatelyamended but often with the samealterations. None of them starts withthose familiar opening words from thenovel as we now know it, ‘My fatherwas one of the fittest men I haveever known’. Instead, each beginswith three paragraphs where Danteexplains his difficulties in writing anovel about Johnny Milliner: the verydifficulties that Malouf himself hadfaced over a ten–year period, as wehave just seen from the evidenceof the correspondence (the sametypescripts show us too that thechange of name from ‘Johnny’ to‘Johnno’ was made at the very lastminute).In each case these three tellingparagraphs have been deleted byhand, leaving the story to begin, notwith Dante’s reflections on the bookhe is trying to write about the life (anddeath) of Johnny Milliner, but withthe death (and life) of Dante’s father.It’s not hard to understand why theexcision of those paragraphs wasso significant. It was only with thatdecision that the novel came, fully andfinally, under the author’s control. Thefirst novel was complete at last; thenovelist’s career had begun.Katherine Barnes was the FryerLibrary Fellow for 2008. She lecturedin English at the University of NSW atthe Australian Defence Force Academyfrom 2004-2007, and is currently avisiting fellow there. Her book on thepoetry of Christopher Brennan wonthe Walter McRae Russell Award forthe best work of literary scholarshipon an Australian subject in 2007 andwas shortlisted for the NSW Premier’sPrize for Literary Scholarship in2008. She also won a major teachingaward at ADFA in 2007. She is now aCommonwealth public servant.9Fryer Folios

A Joint Celebration at Customs HouseCathy Leutenegger, Fryer Library librarian and member of the BALproject team at AustLit for two years, reports on a shared celebration.On 12 November 2008 Fryer Libraryand AustLit: The Australian LiteratureResource hosted a gala dinnerat Customs House. It was a jointcelebration, commemorating eightyyears of Fryer Library and launchingthe fourth and final volume of theBibliography of Australian Literature.The guest speaker was David Malouf.It was appropriate that these twomilestones were celebrated together,as both Fryer Library and theBibliography of Australian Literatureare leading resources in Australianliterary scholarship. Between the twothere has been a successful and highlyproductive collaborative relationship.Fryer Library had its beginningsin 1927. The collection was initiallya modest one, housed in a cedarbookcase in the English Department ofThe University of Queensland. It wasformed from a gift by the Students’Dramatic Society to commemoratefellow student John Denis Fryer, whodied in 1923 as a result of woundsreceived in the First World War. DrFrederick Walter Robinson, one of theearliest teachers of Australian literatureat a university, developed and nurturedthe collection. It outgrew its bookcaseand was housed for some years in aroom near ‘Doc Robbie’s’ study.David Malouf, in his speech, recalledwith warmth his visits to the readingroom during his lunch breaks when hewas a student. The collection remainedwithin the English Departmentuntil 1954, when it became part ofthe University Library. In 1967 thecollection was augmented withthe addition of the astonishinglyrich collection from Father EdwardLeo Hayes. It is now known as anoutstanding resource of Australianliterature and related subjects, andyearly attracts both national andinternational scholars. Kerry Kilner,Executive Manager of AustLit andAssociate Editor of the Bibliographyof Australian Literature, described FryerLibrary as ‘a profoundly importantsite for scholars of Australia’s literaryheritage’.The comprehensiveness of theFryer Library’s collections madeit an invaluable resource for theBibliography of Australian Literatureproject team, particularly the part ofthe team working at The Universityof Queensland. Their task of sightingevery book listed in the bibliographywas made easier by their proximityand direct access to the library’scollections. Keith Webster, UniversityAbove:Dinner in the Long Room,Customs HouseBelow:Guest speaker, DavidMaloufJanuary 200910

Above:Keith Webster, UniversityLibrarian and Director ofLearning ServicesTanya Ziebell, Manager,Marketing and CommunityOutreach Services,organiser of the celebrationdinnerBelow:(left to right) : Kevin Johns,Jill Johns (daughter ofFW Robinson), MichaelRobinson (grandson ofFW Robinson), DavidMalouf, Enid Robinson(daughter-in-law of FWRobinson)Far group:David Malouf and theeditors of BAL – TerryO’Neill, John Arnold,John Hay and Kerry KilnerLibrarian and Director of LearningServices, highlighted the collaborationbetween Fryer Library and AustLit insaying ‘AustLit and the Bibliographyof Australian Literature are bothexamples of outstanding scholarshipmade possible only through access tosignificant heritage collections’.The Bibliography of AustralianLiterature had its beginnings in1990 with the establishment of theBibliography of Australian LiteratureProject at the National Centrefor Australian Studies, MonashUniversity. Under the leadershipof John Hay and John Arnold, theaim of the project was to revise andupdate E Morris Miller’s famousbibliography, Australian Literaturefrom Its Beginnings to 1935. As theproject evolved, it underwent severaltransformations; however, it heldto its aim of listing all separatelypublished works of creative literatureby Australian authors since 1788. In1995 the List of Australian Writers1788-1992 was developed as astarting point for the bibliography. In1997 the BAL project joined with anumber of other initiatives to becomethe umbrella project called Australia’sLiterary Heritage. In 1999 a furthertransformation was the merging ofAustralia’s Literary Heritage withAUSTLIT: The Australian LiteraryDatabase, developed at The Universityof New South Wales at the AustralianDefense Force Academy. From thispoint the development of ‘BAL’, as itwas known by its contributors, wasclosely connected with the emergenceof the new web-based AustLit: TheAustralian Literature Resource.In 2001 the first volume of theBibliography of Australian Literatureappeared, and in 2008 the fourth andfinal volume was published. Underthe general editorship of John Hayand John Arnold, and the associateeditorship of Kerry Kilner and TerenceO’Neill, both of whom worked on BALfrom its establishment, the compilationof the bibliography was a hugecollaborative effort. Researchers atThe University of Queensland, MonashUniversity, Flinders University and TheUniversity of New South Wales at theAustralian Defense Force Academylaboured with the support of AustLitcolleagues at other partner librariesto produce accurate bibliographicrecords representing Australian literaryendeavour.The completion of this project was asignificant achievement and deservingof a celebration. A large numberof members of the BAL team werepresent at the dinner, as were severalprevious Fryer Librarians, members ofFW Robinson’s family, donors to theFryer collections, former and currentstaff of The University of QueenslandLibrary, AustLit Board members andothers involved with the developmentof AustLit and BAL. David Maloufspoke about his memories of ‘DocRobbie’ and the early Fryer Library, aswell as about Australian literature ingeneral. Shortly after the event, AustLitstaff had further cause for celebration,with the announcement that a LIEFgrant had been awarded to AustLit forfurther development in 2009.CATHY LEUTENEGGER is ActingSenior Librarian in the Fryer Library.She was a member of the BAL projectteam at AustLit for two years.11Fryer Folios

Val Vallis (1916-2009)Soldier, Sailor, SingerPaul Sherman remembers his old friend, Val Vallis.On Shakespeare’s Birthday, 1956,Eunice Hanger, a co-lecturer withVal Vallis at The University ofQueensland, directed me in the titlerole of Coriolanus on the stone stepsof the Uni at St Lucia. Afterwards,Eunice gave a party in her office. Sheintroduced me to Val, whom I’d nevermet before and whose poetry I hadnot then read. Gruffly, but jokingly, hesaid as he shook my hand, ‘Oh, soyou’re the Core-ee-o-loinus.’ It was agreat send-up of my Aussie accent.A couple of months later wewere both on stage in the (nowdemolished) Albert Hall in the oldTwelfth Night Theatre’s productionof Macbeth, directed by Eunice’sfriend Rhoda Felgate. Val, withreddened nose, fattened tummy, andbrandishing keys and a kerosenelamp, was the jolliest Porter I’ve everacted with. I started as Lennox, soit was Val’s Porter who opened thedoor of Macbeth’s castle to Macduffand me. Then (because our BanquoAbove:Portrait of Val VallisVal Vallis’s poem ‘TheBallad of Changi Chimes’January 200912

had to go to Adelaide to get married) our Malcolmwas promoted to Banquo and I was promoted toMalcolm. So it was the Prince and the Porter for meand Val.We soon became firm friends. Up at Mt Tamborinehe introduced me to Judith Wright and soon, whenI started teaching at Murgon State High Schoolin 1958, I found myself teaching the poems ofpeople I knew. During my four years in Murgon, Valvisited the school and the town hall to give talks onAustralian poetry for the Commonwealth LiteraryFund. These talks took him as far as Mt Isa.Val was a great traveller – the Universityof London (where he took his Doctorate ofPhilosophy), the University in Venice (where he wasAustralian writer-in-residence, hosted by Australia’sBernard Hickey) and even the Opera House inChile, where he was a judge of an internationalopera competition, sitting beside the great Italianmezzo Fedora Barbieri.But, as far as he travelled, Val’s core was alwaysQueensland, not so much Brisbane as the seaportof Gladstone where he grew up and where hisfather was a fisherman and a ‘wharfie’.At sea, Val relished the waters in and outsidethe port of Gladstone, though as a sailor on hisfamily’s boats, the Valhalla and the Jean, he washappy that his father (nicknamed ‘Michael’) and hisbrother Paddy had pride of place.After high schooling in Rockhampton, Val workedas a clerk for the Gladstone Council before the waragainst Japan saw him in New Guinea at MilneBay. He wasn’t in the front line. He had time for his‘non-day’ job – writing poetry. He was posting it toThe Bulletin in Sydney, whose poetry editor wasthe great Doug Stewart. His ‘Songs of the EastCoast’ (the opening lines of which can be read inhis footpath-plaque near the corner of Adelaide andAlbert Streets), written in New Guinea’s Madangin 1944, achingly evokes the raw-salt reality andthe mythic mystique of Gladstone, its harbour andits nearby hills that ‘bite the blue skies’. That lineI quote was used about six decades later for theopening exhibit of the Museum of Brisbane in theCity Hall. When Japan surrendered, Val was postedto Singapore to help in the repatriation of prisonersfrom the notorious Changi Jail. While Val was there,a strange thing happened. In mid-afternoon theprison’s bell started madly chiming for midnightand more –… only after fifteen notesDid silence grip its tongueVal turned this bizarre event into a gripping ballad,‘Changi Chimes’, which I find grabs schoolstudents today when I am asked to performAustralian poems on visits to schools. Moreover,an Italian school teacher, Aldo Magagnino, ofPresicce, near Lecce in Southern Italy (the lateBernard Hickey was Professor of English in Lecce),has translated this and others of Val’s poems intoItalian. They are being published in the Italianmagazine, crocevia.Val’s international impact was felt when he wasan Australian opera critic for the London-publishedmagazine, Opera. Three volumes of his own poetryhave been published, plus essays for the BritishJournal of Aesthetics and the Foundation forAustralian Literary Studies. Last September, afterhe had left his Indooroopilly home for SinnamonVillage, he signed permission for two of his poems(‘Mooring Buoy’ and ‘Shipwright’) to be publishedin the Penguin Anthology of Australian Verse,2009, edited by John Kinsella. This book is nowpublished.I regard one of Val’s most significant works tohave been his collaboration with Judith Wrightand Ruth Harrison on the publication (by Angusand Robertson in 1970) of previously unpublishedpoems by John Shaw Nielson. Val hated literarypretentiousness. Thus he was a great admirer ofthe unacademic lyrical poetry of Shaw Nielson. Iremember his great enthusiasm when he told meof a play with music by Darryl Emmerson (ThePathfinder) based on the life and poemsof Nielson.Val’s enduring monument is the Arts Queenslandannual Val Vallis prize, set up by then Arts MinisterMatt Foley, for an emerging poet.Val was survived by his sister, Mrs TopsyHamilton, but sadly she also died recently. Topsy’sdaughter, Susan, is a prominent Professor andadministrator at the University of Queensland.As we are now in what is called Queensland’sSesquicentenary, it is worth recalling that in theCentenary Year, 1959, Val was co-editor (with RSByrnes) of a monumental and vastly comprehensiveanthology – the Queensland Centenary Anthology,which included poems, plays, short stories, essaysand extracts from novels.Paul Sherman is a poet, actor and former highschool teacher. Born in Brisbane and a Universityof Queensland graduate, he has acted in numerousShakespearean plays. He has travelled widely,delivering lectures on Australian poetry, and hispoems have been published in various anthologiesand journals. At the 2008 Queensland PoetryFestival he read the poems of his friend, Val Vallis.13Fryer Folios

What’s Newin Fryer LibraryCollectionsIn the last few months of 2008 theFryer manuscript collections continuedto expand with the acquisition of anumber of significant new collections.The literary collections were enhancedwith the addition of 23 boxes ofpapers of Australian novelist TrevorShearston. The collection includesmanuscripts of his first three bookspublished by University of QueenslandPress (Something in the Blood (1979),Sticks that Kill (1983) and White Lies(1986)) as well as manuscripts forsubsequent novels, short stories andscreenplays, and associated researchmaterial and correspondence. TrevorShearston’s main interest as a writerhas been in documenting throughfiction the relationship of Australians toPapua New Guinea, so the collectionadds to the wealth of material held inFryer Library relating to Papua NewGuinea, particularly the records of thePapua New Guinea Association ofAustralia (UQFL387). This collection hasbeen growing rapidly, with numerousdonations by members of the PapuaNew Guinea Association of Australia,acquired through the tireless efforts ofDr Peter Cahill.Fryer Library’s Australian literaturecollections were also enhanced with thedonation of two letters by David Maloufwritten to University of Queenslandalumnus Keith McWatters, and to hiswife after Professor McWatters’ death.This unique donation is written aboutin more detail elsewhere in this issueof Fryer Folios, as is the book madespecially for Father Leo Hayes by LilianPedersen, Gleanings from AustralianVerse.Also received were 22 boxes of researchmaterial on Queensland writers,collected by Dr Stan Mellick during hisresearch for the Oxford Literary Guideto Australia (1993) and clearly arrangedinto biographical data, town-relateddata and textual material by the authors.These papers were added to the existingcollection of Dr Mellick (UQFL108).One of the subjectstrengths in theFryer Librarycollections is thehistory of tradeunions and leftwingpoliticsin Australia. InDecember theCombined UnionsChoir, celebratingtheir twentiethanniversary,donated to FryerLibrary theirrecords since 1988in a collectionof files andphotograph albums. The collectionwas presented to senior librarystaff at a handover ceremony atthe Queensland Council of UnionsBuilding in South Brisbane. TheQueensland Council of Unions alsoadded a further 16 boxes of papersto the extensive Trades and LaborCouncil of Queensland Archive,bringing the total number of boxes inthe collection to 653. It is the largestmanuscript collection in Fryer Library.Also received in the latter part of theyear was a collection from FrancesClark of papers, correspondence,photographs, newspaper cuttings andephemera relating to Frederick Thomasand Elizabeth Brentnall and their family,in particular their daughter Flora Harrisand grand-daughter Noela Denmead.It includes photographs and papersrelating to Daphne Mayo and her workon the Queensland Women’s WarMemorial in Brisbane in the early 1930s.The Fryer Library collections includea surprising amount of realia. Thisis particularly true of the Hayescollection, which contains curiositiessuch as a travelling medicine chest,as well as stamps, coins, and religiousparaphenalia. The collection wasrecently enhanced with the donationof a silver-plated napkin ring, whichwas presented to Father Hayes onAbove:Daphne Mayo putsthe finishing touchesto the fountain of theQueensland Women’sWar Memorial in 1932.Fryer Library, Papers ofFrances Clark, UQFL444,PARCEL 1January 200914

Above:Laurie McNeice, ActingManager of Fryer Library(right), presents a copyof Miss Margaret Ogg’sphotograph to BarbaraNicolaides, Secretary ofthe Brisbane Women’sClubthe twenty-fifth anniversary of hisordination as a priest.The Library was also proud toacquire a painting by Luana Walkerand Talisah Edwards, OodgerooNoonuccal’s grand-daughters. Thepainting entitled Kinyingarra 3 is anacrylic on canvas measuring 91cm x121 cm, and will be displayed in theLibrary. It complements Fryer Library’sprized collection of manuscripts fromOodgeroo Noonuccal.StaffSome rearrangement of staff in Fryerhas occurred with the secondment inSeptember of Manager Mark Cryle towork on a digitised portal of sourceson Queensland history and politicsentitled Queensland’s Past Online.Mark has been working closely withProfessor Peter Spearritt at the Centrefor the Government of Queenslandidentifying, sourcing and quantifyingappropriate content from FryerLibrary and elsewhere to be digitised.Queensland’s Past Online will belaunched later in 2009. During MarkCryle’s secondment, Laurie McNeiceis acting as Manager of Fryer Library,and Cathy Leutenegger is acting asSenior Librarian.PartnershipsFryer Library often supportsexhibitions and displays at otherlibraries and museums with specialloans of materials from its collections.In October and November the StateLibrary of Queensland celebrated the100th anniversary of the BrisbaneWomen’s Club with an exhibitionentitled Reforming Women : SocialActivism and the Brisbane Women’sClub. Fryer Library loaned to the StateLibrary photographs and manuscriptsfrom the collections of Daphne Mayo,WB Ross, and Frances Clark. Includedwas a rare original photograph ofMiss Margaret Ann Ogg, the founderof the Brisbane Women’s Club, fromthe WB Ross collection. Miss Oggwas a remarkable woman, whoseactivities included being missionsecretary of the Women’s ChristianTemperance Union, State Secretary ofthe National Council of Women, andthe only woman executive memberof the National Political Council.The Brisbane Women’s Club has aportrait of her by Yvonne Haysom,but was unaware of the existence ofher photograph until the State Libraryexhibition. They requested a copy of itto hang in the club. Fryer Library washappy to provide this.WebsiteWomen in Politics and History:a Guide to Manuscript Sourcesin Fryer Librarywww.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/women.htmlFryer Library staff have recentlycreated a list of manuscript collectionswhich document or interpret theexperiences, ideas and activitiesof women in Queensland history.Literary collections have generallybeen omitted, but otherwise thelist aims to be inclusive. Women inthe political arena are a particularfocus; however the collections alsodocument women’s experiences in theprofessions, in waged employmentand in private life. From the diaries ofindividuals to the records of prominentorganisations, from the moralreformers and temperance advocatesto the more radical expressions offirst and second wave feminism, thelist reflects the diversity of Fryer’smanuscript sources in the broad fieldof women’s studies. The entries rangein size from single folders (designatedby an ‘F’ call number) to multi-boxcollections (with ‘UQFL’ call numbers),and all are generally available forconsultation in Fryer Library’s readingroom. This wealth of source materialis complemented by the library’ssubstantial holdings of books, journalsand newspapers and its vast politicalephemera collection, encompassingthe innumerable campaigns andissues that have affected andmobilised women in Queensland,especially since the 1960s.‘From humble beginnings: theFryer Library at The University ofQueensland’The last issue of Fryer Folios reportedon the publication in inCite (August2008) of Mark Cryle’s article about thehistory of Fryer Library. The article cannow be viewed on the Fryer Libraryhomepage at: www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/incite_article_08.pdf15Fryer Folios

The Allied Liberation of LaeI read with much interest Dr PeterCahill’s excellent article in Folios(September 2008). The following minordetail is forwarded for interest and forreasons of accuracy.With reference to p.16, HQ 5 th Aust.Division (AIF) (Maj. Gen. EJ Milford)relieved HQ 3 rd Aust. Division (AIF)(Maj. Gen S. Savige) at Tambu Baysouth of Salamaua in August 1943.Hence 42 nd Battalion (along with therest of 29 Aust. Inf. Brigade) returnedunder the command of its original HQ– 5 th Division (AIF). 5 th Division troopsthus captured Salamaua in earlySeptember. I was GSO3 Operationson HQ 5 th Aust Div. at Salamaua at thetime of the operation.The unofficial history of the campaignwould uncover the fact that 5 th AustDivision was under orders not to crossthe Francisco River (I sighted thesignal) and enter Lae before the arrivalof 7 and 9 Div troops but some troopsof the 29 th Inf. Brigade (Brig. RMMonaghan) did so unofficially – againstorders. Gen. Blamey went public withthe statement that the Japs were inthe bag. Because of this ‘unofficialcapture’ some wag added – ‘He forgotto tie the bag’.I was also attached to HQ NewGuinea Force for a brief period in1943 when 162 US Regiment (Col[?] Roosevelt) landed earlier in thecampaign at Roosevelt Ridge southof Salamaua and north of Tambu Bay.They went to the summit of the ridgeand found it unoccupied. Situationreports at the time indicated they thenreturned to the beach. On resumingthe advance up the ridge the nextmorning they discovered the Japanesein occupation. It took some weeks toretrieve the situation.I think a typographical error couldhave occurred on page 17. Dr. Cahill,I believe, means ‘the battle for Laelasted from March to October 1943’not 1942.Sincerely yours,Lt-Col [R] JSD Mellick OAM ED PhD scLetter from Bob CochraneBob Cochrane, who lent the photosof his wife Kathleen Cochraneincluded in the last Fryer Folios,wrote to thank the editors for thearticle about her. He added thefollowing :The article on the history of the libraryaroused a memory in me – when Icame to The University of Queenslandin 1941 I was assigned a tiny study,at balcony level in an added-onstructure attached to the building(old Government House). My studyadjoined a larger room which in itsturn adjoined that of FW Robinson.At some stage he drew my attentionto a glass-fronted book-case andexplained that this was the FryerLibrary, which he was caring for andtrying to build up. I’m happy to thinkhow his hopes have been fulfilled.Thanks again,Bob CochraneLetters to the EditorDonationI enclose $ Cash ChequePlease charge my: Visa Card MastercardCard Number:Cardholder Name:Signature:Expiry Date:Cheques made payable to: The Fryer LibraryThe Fryer LibraryLevel 4, Duhig BuildingThe University of Queensland Q 4072January 200916

Friends of FryerEvents UpdateThree events featured on the Friends of Fryer calendar for thesecond half of 2008.27 August 2008: ‘All the Fun of the Fair: Reflections on theHistory of the Brisbane Exhibition’Membership Information:If you would like to becomea Friend of Fryer please go to thewebsite at: www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/friendsoffryer/Click on Become a Friend of Fryernow. Complete the membershipform and send the form with your$40 (individual) or $50 (household)payment to the address providedon the form.Alternatively, please contact:The Secretary,Friends of Fryer, Fryer LibraryThe University of QueenslandQueensland 4072Telephone (07) 3346 9427Fax (07) 3365 6776Email fryerfriends@library.uq.edu.auIn August the Friendsof Fryer celebrated‘the Ekka’ with theauthors of the recentlyreleased Showtime: AHistory of the BrisbaneExhibition (Universityof Queensland Press).Authors Dr JoanneScott and Dr RossLaurie spoke to theFriends of Fryer abouttheir research on thehistory of the Ekka, ina presentation entitledAll the Fun of the Fair: Reflections on the History of the BrisbaneExhibition. Dr Joanne Scott is an Associate Professor in Historyat the University of the Sunshine Coast, and Dr Ross Laurie is aLecturer in History at The University of Queensland. Their book,Showtime, was released at the same time as the exhibition TenDays in August: Memories of the Ekka, which ran at the BrisbaneCity Hall from August until mid-November.During their presentation, they focused on the two elements ofthe show most closely associated with fun: Side Show Alley and‘showbags’. Their talk was illustrated with a wealth of historicalphotographs, many from the Fryer Library collections.Professor Peter Spearritt, Professor of History at The Universityof Queensland, introduced the two speakers, and Dr SpencerRouth delivered a vote of thanks. Spencer delighted the audiencewith his own memories and observations of the Ekka. Insteadof illustrating these with further photographs, Spencer decidedto be his ‘own illustration’ with his attire which, he attested, was‘the way one would go to the judging of the cattle’ – wearing‘a very finely checked jacket, one’s best Akubra and … RMWilliams boots’. In keeping with the spirit of nostalgia, strawberryicecreams and Library ‘showbags’ were on hand.20 September 2008: ‘Watching Brief: Reflections on HumanRights, Law and Justice’, at the Brisbane Writers FestivalAbove:Dr Ross Laurie andDr Joanne Scott with theirbook Showtime: A Historyof the Brisbane ExhibitionAt the Brisbane Writers Festival in September, The University ofQueensland sponsored ‘Watching Brief: Reflections on HumanRights, Law and Justice’, a discussion between human rightsbarristers Julian Burnside and Stephen Keim. It was chairedby the Executive Manager of Social Sciences and Humanities17Fryer Folios

Library, Ros Follett. Julian Burnside is a Melbourne barrister who came toprominence in 2001 when he helped bring legal action against the Australiangovernment over its handling of the MV Tampa issue. He subsequently becamea leading public critic of the government’s refugee and anti-terrorism laws.Fryer Library holds a collection of papers and artworks from him and his wife,Kate Durham, relating to asylum seekers detained on Nauru. Stephen Keim isa Brisbane barrister who in 2007 defended terrorism suspect Dr MohammedHaneef. The discussion between the two barristers about their experiences washighly engaging and was met with a standing ovation.3 December 2008: Friends of Fryer ChristmasIn December the Friends of Fryer celebrated Christmas with guest speaker DrVeny Armanno. Dr Armanno is the author of a number of award-winning novels,as well as being a Senior Lecturer in the School of English, Media Studies and ArtHistory at The University of Queensland. At the Christmas party Dr Armanno spokeabout the genesis of his book Candle Life. He talked about his time in Paris as aresident at the Cité Internationale des Arts, where in true romantic fashion he livedin a tiny studio and wandered the streets at night as a ‘noctambuliste’. There hehad a number of adventures which were later woven into his novel. Dr Armanno’stales of the catacombs of Paris, mysterious beggars and dark wartime events werecaptivating, delivered with the same narrative flair displayed in the novel.Upcoming EventsFrom 20-22 July, Fryer Library will be hosting the Bibliographical Society ofAustralia and New Zealand’s 2009 conference ‘The Limits of the Book.’ Theconference will examine the book as both a precisely defined artefact and anelusive, conceptual ‘work’ or ‘text’. It will consider the aesthetics of book designand manufacture, the effects of books on readers, the networks of commercial andpersonal circulation, phantom and lost books, piracies, and whether digitisationwill be the destroyer of the book or the infinite extender of its limits. Papers willrange over the whole of literary history, from textual scholarship on Piers Plowmanthrough Australian nineteenth-century serial fiction to contemporary online diariesor “blogs” and beyond. For further information, see the Fryer Library homepage at:www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/limits.On the evening of Tuesday, 21 July, Fryer Library will be the venue for the Brisbanelaunch of Cyril Hopkins’ Marcus Clarke, edited by Laurie Hergenhan, Ken Stewartand Michael Wilding. This biography of Marcus Clarke was written a century agoby Cyril Hopkins, brother of Gerald Manley Hopkins and a close friend of Clarke,and is published now for the first time by Australian Scholarly Publishing. LaurieHergenhan, AO, Emeritus Professor of Australian Literature at the University ofQueensland, is a long-time associate of the Fryer Library. He was the foundingeditor (1963-2002) of Australian Literary Studies and his books include a study ofthe convict novel, Unnatural Lives, and an edition of Marcus Clarke’s journalism,A Colonial City. Much of his work on this book was done during his time asHonorary Fryer Library Fellow in 2006.On the afternoon of Friday, 14 August, Juliet Flesch from the School of HistoricalStudies at Melbourne University will discuss her book From Australia with Love: ahistory of modern Australian popular romance novels and the Australian RomanceFiction collection at Fryer Library on which it was based. The talk will form partof the proceedings of the first International Association for the Study of PopularRomance Conference to be held at UQ and all Friends of Fryer will be invited.Above:Dr Veny Armannoaddresses the Friendsof Fryer, December2008Members of the publicare welcomed to visitFryer Library anduse its collections.January 200918