Downunder Authors

Any help in finding authors who write, wrote about the early days downunder? Someone like Wilbur Smith, who has written about Africa. I read some years ago and don't have a clue as to who wrote them.
Tnxs BB

I read Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore in high school, about the founding of Australia with colonies of convicts. Nonfiction, but it reads like a novel. It was good enough to keep; I still have it on the bookshelf.

The only Australian novel I can recall reading is Nevil Shute's "A Town Like Alice," which is realy about what happened to a group of English Women and Children who were taken prisoner by the Japanese. I saw the Masterpiece Theater teleplay and wanted to read the original story.

Judy Nunn has written a few.... KAL for example.

Also, Bryce Courtenay

Thanks BB

There are a couple Aussie sci-fi authors I like, but sounds like that's not what you're looking for!

Clodfobble wrote:

I read Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore in high school, about the founding of Australia with colonies of convicts. Nonfiction, but it reads like a novel. It was good enough to keep; I still have it on the bookshelf.

Thanks. I picked it up at library today.

You could try Leviathan by John Birmingham. It's mostly about Sydney and its origins right up to modern times. An interesting read in my opinion and as it is a referenced biographical account, it falls under the genre of creative non-fiction which is what gives it the flavour of the city more than anything else.

'creative non-fiction' ....... that's gotta rank with a 'terminalogical in-exactitude'

creative non-fiction is pretty much the genre for most biographical novels. The events in the story are fact, but the story is created by the authors imagination. Even Auto-biographies are creative non-fiction because when you write the story of your life, no one could possibly expect anyone to remember every conversation word for word etc. Hence, 'creative' non-fiction.

Trust me, it's an actual genre and very popular in this post modern era.

mmmmm.....ok... I grudgingly accept the concept.... but, like TV 'drama-documetaries' I have reservations about not only the versimiltude of such creations, but also of the long-term affect upon an increasingly less-literate society... we are in grave danger of creating a whole new set of 'urban legends'...

'it must be right - it was in this book i red - i saw it in that docuentary i seed on the box ...'

Well that has to do with teaching people critical and independant thought. There are sections of society which have always had difficulty with that concept. ;)

mmmm...... which concept? crictical & independent thought? or the teaching of it......

Jay...I think the lack of teaching students this basic skill is a problem in the education system.

:) Read my lips. Downunder authors!

Sean McMullen..... now go away....

@Aliantha..... is the Oz system reaaly a bad as that? (that wasn't a typo... I type with a manc accent). It's getting that way here in the UK, where the criteria for excellence is how many tick-boxes you ticked rather than how many kids you inspired.

I gave you one Buster. ;)

Jay, I think there are a lot of problems with the bureauracracy involved in the education system these days. It's really quite ridiculas.

Aliantha wrote:

I think there are a lot of problems with the bureauracracy involved in the education system these days. It's really quite ridiculas.

Oh dear. I don't know if I can handle that much irony right after waking up...

Glad I'm not a spelling nazi.

But maybe your high school English teacher wishes you were?

Actually I did very well in English in school. I guess I just have never made the mistake of thinking I'm perfect...in anything. :)

Clodfobble wrote:

I read Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore in high school, about the founding of Australia with colonies of convicts. Nonfiction, but it reads like a novel. It was good enough to keep; I still have it on the bookshelf.

I gave up at page 487, but I'm damn glad I wasn't in that goat roping.

busterby asked if anyone knew about a writer who wrote about the 'early days' in Australia . The early days in Australia were about 40,000 years ago , but the Aborigines did not write in our modern sense .
I therefore take it that busterby means to refer to the early COLONIAL days in Australia . If so , you should read Henry Lawson . 'The Drover's Wife' is perhaps his best short story , and is seen as an Aussie classic . There is a snake in the house , and the husband ( the drover ) is absent . The drover's wife is sunburnt and hardy , and there are children in the house . The snake scene is described in the present tense . The writing may be clumsy sometimes, but it rings true and clear . It is the beginning of white Australian literature .

P.S. sorry about the 'y' , busterb . 'Busterb' should rhyme with 'do not disturb' . No why (?) .

Buddug wrote:

P.S. sorry about the 'y' , busterb . 'Busterb' should rhyme with 'do not disturb' . No why (?) .

No Idea?

Perhaps you should be grateful for the information I gave you ?

Well thanks and I have it saved to lookup. BUT rhyme ??