MS 9000
Papers of Nadia Wheatley (1949- )
- Papers
- 1977-95
- 2.52m. (18 boxes) + 1 folio box
- Partly restricted:
correspondence with Barbara Mobbs
(series 1 folders 13-14) restricted until Wheatley's death.
The papers were purchased by the Library in 1996.
The collection was arranged in
the present series structure by Nadia Wheatley, with the
exception of the material relating to the novel, television, film
and stage productions of Five times dizzy, which was
brought together into the same series by Library staff. This list
is strongly based on a list received from Wheatley. Wheatley's
background notes to her works have been retained as appendices.
The papers comprise writing and
publishing correspondence, correspondence with school children,
drafts, synopses, maps, notes research material, cuttings, page
and cover proofs, flyers and other papers relating to her novels
and children's books Five times dizzy, Dancing in the Anzac
deli, The house that was Eureka, The blooding, My place, and
Lucy in the leap year. They also include papers relating to
her book of short stories The night Tolkien died, her
dealings with the ABC over the series The museum of here and
now, the stage production of Lucy in the leap year and
the stage, film and television productions of Five times dizzy.
Nadia Wheatley was born in Sydney
in 1949. She has written primarily novels, short stories, and
scripts for children and teenagers.
Bibliography
Books:
- Five times dizzy,
Oxford University Press, 1982
Dancing in the Anzac deli, Oxford University Press,
1984
The house that was Eureka, Viking Kestrel, 1985
1 is for one, illus. Helen Leitch, Oxford University
Press, 1986
My place, illus. Donna Rawlins, Collins Dove, 1987
The blooding, Viking Kestrel, 1987
Lucy in the leap year, Omnibus, 1993
The night Tolkien died, Random House, 1994
Books edited:
- Charmian Clift, Trouble
in lotus land, Harper Collins, 1990
Charmian Clift, Being alone with oneself, Harper
Collins, 1991
Landmarks, Turton & Chambers, 1991
Short Stories in the following anthologies:
- Hard feelings, ed.
Alison Fell, The Women's Press, 1979
And so say all of us, ed. Pearlie McNeill and Marie
McShea, Second Back Row Press, 1981
Room to move, ed. Suzanne Falkiner, Unwin Paperbacks,
1985
Absolutely rapt, Oxford University Press, 1990
The blue dress, ed. Libby Hathorn, Heinemann, 1991
Landmarks, ed. Nadia Wheatley, Turton & Chambers
1991
Goodbye and hello, ed. Clodagh Corcoran & Margot
Tyrrell, Viking 1992
The Oxford book of children's stories, ed. Jan Mark,
OUP, 1993
Weddings and wives, ed. Dale Spender, Penguin, 1994
She's fantastical, ed. Lucy Sussex & Judith
Buckrich, Sybylla, 1995
Ready or not, ed. Mark Macleod, Random House 1996
Hide and seek, ed. Jenny Pausacker, Reed, 1996
Chapters in the Following Australian History Collections:
- Social policy in
Australia, ed. Jill Roe, Cassell, 1976
Twentieth century Sydney, ed. Jill Roe, Hale &
Iremonger 1980
The wasted years?, ed. Judy Mackinolty, George Allen
& Unwin, 1981
Making a life, ed. Verity Burgmann and Jenny Lee,
McPhee Gribble, Penguin, 1988
Scripts:
- Charmian Clift and George
Johnston, radio documentary, with Garry Kinnane,
Radio Helicon, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1985
Five times dizzy, with Terry Larsen, 12-part
television mini-series, Samson Productions/ Special
Broadcasting Service, 1986.
Awards:
- Five times dizzy (novel)
- New South Wales
Premier's Special Children's Book Award, 1983
Highly Commended, Children's Book Council of
Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers, 1983
IBBY Honour Award
- Five times dizzy (television
mini-series)
- AWGIE for Best
Adaptation, Children's Television Drama, 1987
- Dancing in the Anzac deli
- Commended, Children's
Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older
Readers, 1984
IBBY Award 1985
- The house that was Eureka
- New South Wales
Premier's Children's Book Award 1985
Commended, Children's Council of Australia Book of
the Year for Older Readers, 1985
Shortlisted Vogel Award, 1984
- My place (illustrated
by Donna Rawlins)
- Children's Book Council
of Australia Book of the Year for Younger Readers,
1988
Eve Pownall Award for Non-fiction, 1988
IBBY Award, 1988
KOALA Award, 1988
White Raven Award, 1988
Listed US Library Best Books for Young People, 1988
- Lucy in the leap year
- Children's Book Council
of Australia Book of the Year for Younger Readers,
1994
Shortlisted New South Wales Ministry for the Arts
Awards, 1994
Shortlisted Mulicultural Award, 1994
- The night Tolkien died
- Honour Book, Children's
Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older
Readers, 1995
- Writing and publishing correspondence, 1981-93
- Correspondence with children, 1983-95
- Five times dizzy, 1977-83
- Dancing in the Anzac deli, 1982-83
- The house that was Eureka, 1982
- The blooding, 1986
- My place, 1986-87
- Lucy in the leap year, 1984-96
- The night Tolkien died, 1978-93
- The museum of here and now, 1988-89
- Short stories, 1977-95
Series 1 Writing and Publishing Correspondence, 1981-93
- Correspondence dealing with
all Wheatley's fiction books from Five times dizzy
(1982) to The night Tolkien died (1993), as well
as some short stories, the non-fiction works Adolescent
and family problems: books for young people (1988)
and Landmarks (1991), the television and stage
productions of Five times dizzy and My place;
and progress on Wheatley's unpublished biography of
Charmian Clift.
-
- The correspondence canvasses
business matters such as writing grants, royalty
payments, book awards, publishing agreements, foreign
editions, editorial comments on books, permission to
publish short stories, negotiations over book covers,
copyright requests, public lending right payments,
requests for articles and book reviews, Wheatley's
comments on other writers' proposals for works, and
invitations for visits, talks and book launches. The
correspondence also contains a quantity of biographical
information as well as comments by Wheatley on Australian
juvenile fiction, the status of children's authors,
politics, the Bicentenary, other children's authors
works, Garry Kinnane's biography of George Johnston, and
her involvement in the Unemployed People's Union in
1979-80. The 1990 and 1991 files contain some
correspondence with students and the 1993 files contains
a file on Wheatley's objections to the NSW Teachers'
Federation's use of (and addition of a McDonalds logo to)
an illustration from My place for its Year 3 Basic
Skills test.
-
- Major correspondents include
Oxford University Press, Barbara Mobbs (Wheatley's agent
from 1988), Children's Book Council of Australia,
International Board on Books for Young People, Penguin
Books, Collins Angus & Robertson Publishers, Redress
Press, SBS, Rosalind Price (Pixel Publishing), Omnibus
Books, Belle Alderman, Margaret Aitken, Katherine
Scholes, Donna Rawlins, Edel Wignell, Toss Gascoigne,
Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, Julie Lewis, Barbara Jefferis, and
Theatre South.
-
- Folders 1-7: Writing
and publishing correspondence 1981-89
- Folders 8-12: Writing
and publishing correspondence 1990-93
- Folders 13-14:
Correspondence with Barbara Mobbs, 1988-93 (Restricted)
- Folder 15: Assorted
correspondence with Children's Book Council of Australia
and the International Board on Books for Young People,
1983-89
Series 2 Correspondence with Children, 1982-95
- Letters from school children
together with replies containing background information
on Wheatley's books.
- Folders 16-19:
Correspondence, 1983-92
- Folder 20-21: Correspondence,
1992-95
Series 3 Five Times Dizzy, 1977-83
- Published by Oxford
University Press in 1982. The novel was adapted for the
stage by Des Davis of Theatre South and for film and
television by Wheatley and Terry Larsen (see also
Appendix for Wheatley's background notes).
-
- The series contains papers
relating to the novel Five times dizzy (working
title 'A job for yaya') and later adaptations for the
stage, film and television.
-
- Novel
- Folder 22: Copy of
original typescript 'A job for yaya', written in Crete in
1977 and submitted to various Australian publishers
1977-78 (A few pages missing). Also includes Wheatley's
background notes to the novel and stage, film and
television adaptations.
- Folder 23: A complete
photocopy (pages 1-75), plus incomplete photocopy 'A Job
for yaya'. Latter has some changes made during
next re-write.
- Folder 24: Substantial
handwritten and typed drafts, synopses etc, for
re-written version done in Sydney 1979-80.
- Folder 25: (i)
Photocopy of clean typescript, chapters 1-4, revised
version, 'A Job for yaya'. This is essentially the
same as a later version titled Five Times Dizzy. (ii)
Photocopy of Five Times Dizzy as submitted to and
accepted by Oxford University Press, 1981. Epilogue
considerably different from published version. (iii) Two
copies first stage galley proofs of Five Times Dizzy.
Full set with corrections copied in by Nan McNab, OUP
editor; with handwritten corrections by Wheatley.
- Folder 26: (i) 2
copies second stage galley proofs, Five Times Dizzy, April
1982, handwritten corrections by Nan McNab. (ii) Shooting
schedule for ABC Education program on the writing of Five
Times Dizzy, directed by Sophia Turkiewitz. (iii)
Early correspondence relating to 'A Job for yaya' and Five
Times Dizzy, including letters from Wayne Davies 1977
re chemistry, anonymous Penguin rejection, notes by
Wheatley to OUP re the first illustrator chosen and a
1982 letter from second illustrator, Neil Phillips.
-
- Stage play
- Folder 27: Two
versions of the stage play Five Times Dizzy,
adapted by Des Davis, with handwritten suggestions,
changes, and dialogue by Wheatley.
-
- Film scripts
- Folder 28: (i) 2
copies typed treatment of 'How Are You?' (44p) submitted
to the Australian Film Commission, May 1979. Parts of
novel 'A Job for yaya' incorporated into submission. Plus
some draft material: including typed draft character
notes and Greek notes essentially by Wheatley, with some
handwritten additions by Terry Larsen and Wheatley and
translations of passages from Greek mantinadhes by Martin
Johnston. (ii) Chopped fragments treatment 'How Are
You?', with notes for first draft screenplay.
- Folder 29: First
draft screenplay, Five Times Dizzy, 195 pp.
- Folder 30-31: 2
copies second draft screenplay, Five Times Dizzy
-- 179 scenes.
- Folders 32: Photocopies
of cartoons by Patrick Cook, commissioned by Terry Larsen
and Wheatley, as a way of opening up the written text of
the film script. Drafts from stage after second draft
screenplay.
- Folder 33: Draft
re-working of Five Times Dizzy screenplay, 74 pp.
(complete), plus notes and drafts.
- Folder 34: Bound copy
Five Times Dizzy third draft screenplay, 128 pp.
- Folder 35: Fourth
draft screenplay, Five Times Dizzy, pages 1-117
complete; second copy pages 22-117.
- Folder 36: Australian
Film Commission assessors' reports; contract; photographs
of Greek girls and grandmothers, Newtown, about 1981.
-
- Scripts for TV
mini-series
- Folder 36: Notes and
synopses, first funding submission to Australian
Children's Television Foundation, 1982
- Folder 37: Episodes
1-5: second draft; episodes 6-13: treatments. Written at
Ebor, NSW, September 1983.
- Folder 38: Episodes
1-5: Third draft?
- Folder 39: Episodes
6-12: First draft?
- Folder 40: Episodes
6-12, plus slightly different copies of episodes 10-12.
- Folder 41: Chopped up
fragments and drafts from various stages.
- Folder 42: Handwritten
and cut-and-paste version episodes 8 and 11 from quite a
late stage.
- Folder 43-44:
Pre-production scripts, episodes 6-11, from a late stage.
(1985?)
- Folder 45:
Post-production: synopses and Mareka's voice-overs.
Correspondence with and submissions to Australian
Children's Television Foundation; correspondence with
producer Tom Jeffrey.
Series 4 Dancing in the Anzac Deli, 1982-83
- Sequel to Five times
dizzy. Published by Oxford University Press, 1984.
- Folder 46:
Handwritten and typed drafts, synopses etc, September
1982 - April 1983. Also one page of handwritten Greek
translations of dialogue by Martin Johnston. First typed
draft, approx. 84 pages, Sept 1982 - March 1983
- Folder 47: Full
original typescript plus 2 full photocopies of the novel,
as submitted to OUP mid 1983.
- Folder 48:
Handwritten and typed changes to novel after editing --
especially new prologue. Editorial revision containing
Wheatley's additions and changes, plus editor Rita Hart's
suggestions and handwritten mark-up and copying in of
changes.
- Folder 49: Photocopy
of editorial revision and photocopy of corrected first
stage galley proofs.
Series 5 The House That was Eureka, 1982
- Published by Viking/Kestrel
in 1985.
-
- Folder 50: Exercise
book: first handwritten draft opening (57 pp.);
structural notes, calendars, house maps, photocopies
historical material; first typed draft of opening
sections, re-typed for submission to Literature Board.
- Folder 51: Typescript
submitted to Literature Board, May 1982 (95 pp.).
- Folders 52-53:
Handwritten and typed drafts of latter section of novel
(mostly written after May 1982 submission).
- Folder 54: Typescript
of virtually finished novel, with corrections, Sept 1982.
- Folder 55-56: 2
photocopies complete typescript as submitted to
Vogel/Australian Award and Penguin.
- Folder 57: Photocopy
edited typescript with comments by Kay Ronai and
Wheatley.
- Folder 58: 2
photocopies edited typescript with comments by Kay Ronai
and Wheatley.
- Folder 59: 2
photocopies edited typescript with comments by Kay Ronai
and Wheatley.
- Folder 60: Original
typescript, with agreed editorial changes written in;
marked up for typesetter.
- Folder 61: Sample
settings, galleys and covers.
Series 6 The Blooding, 1986
- Published by Viking/Kestrel
in 1987.
-
- Folder 62:
Handwritten first draft, including opening pages, maps,
notes and other handwritten drafts.
- Folder 63: First
word-processed draft.
- Folder 64: Second
word-processed draft.
- Folder 65: Third
word-processed draft.
- Folder 66: Fourth
word-processed draft
- Folders 67-68: Fifth
draft: text as submitted to Penguin, November 1986; with
inserts after editing by Kay Ronai, marked up with
typesetting.
- Folder 68:
Correspondence with Penguin re editing, permissions and
first cover.
Series 7 My Place, 1986-87
- Published by Collins Dove in
1987. Illustrated by Donna Rawlins.
-
- Folder 69: First
draft: handwritten, in exercise book: April 1986; first
typed draft, as sent to Donna Rawlins, April 1986.
- Folder 69-70: Early
drafts, research notebooks and notes.
- Folder 71-72: Sample
historical records.
- Folder 73: Sample of
historical maps; research from Sands Directory, and
roughs (mainly photocopies) for maps for book, with
notes.
- Folder 74: Typed and
handwritten drafts, done in Sydney early 1987.
- Folder 75: Late
drafts: March/April 1987; mark-up for typesetting;
glossary and editorial notes for Pat Woolley for American
edition My place; correspondence (mainly with
publishers) re My place.
- Folder 76: Two sets
page proofs; one cover proof
- Folder 77: Correspondence
(mainly with publishers) re My place.
Series 8 Lucy in the Leap Year, 1984-96
- Published by Omnibus Books
in 1993. The novel was adapted for the stage by Wheatley
in 1995 for production by Theatre South in 1996.
-
- Novel
- Folder 78: First
handwritten drafts, 1984; first typed draft (first third
of text only), 1984.
- Folder 79: Handwritten
drafts chapters 10-25 (1991).
- Folder 80: First
computer typescript complete novel: chapters 1-9 typed c.
1986; chapters 10-25 typed 1991.
- Folder 81: Clean copy
complete typescript as sent to Barbara Mobbs, Jenny
Pausacker, Libby Gleeson, November 1991;
- Folder 82: Item in
Folder 81, with considerable later revision.
- Folder 83: First
interim revisions January/April 1992; second
interim revisions January/April 1992
- Folder 84: Complete
typescript, with revisions January/April 1992.
- Folder 85: Photocopy
version submitted to Aidan Chambers, 28 April 1992 and
sent to Jenny Pausacker May 1992 with her handwritten
comments, revised Sept/Oct 1992
- Folder 86: Copy of
complete revised typescript, 21 October 1992.
- Folder 87: Copy (same
as in Folder 86) marked for illustrator and revised Oct
1992.
- Folder 88: Bits
replaced late Oct 1992; clean copy typescript submitted
to Omnibus November 1992 and accepted December 1992.
- Folder 89: Copy
typescript submitted to Omnibus in November 1992 and
accepted December 1992, flagged for illustrator.
- Folder 90: Edited
text, Lucy in the Leap Year. Posted to Omnibus, 10
March 1993
- Folder 91:
Correspondence re Lucy with Jenny Pausacker, Libby
Gleeson, Barbara Mobbs, Aidan Chambers; correspondence
with Omnibus re editing (text and illustrations).
-
- Stage Play
- Folder 92: First and
second drafts, playscript, 1995; handbills and
performance schedules, Theatre South, 1996
Series 9 The Night Tolkien Died, 1978-93
- Short stories published by
Random House in 1994.
-
- Folder 93:
'Land/scape': drafts July-August 1993; historical
resource material.
- Folder 94: 'The Blast
Furnace': drafts January-February 1991; historical
resource material.
- Folder 95: 'The
Prodigal': drafts April 1992.
- Folder 95: 'The Known
Soldier': drafts September 1991
- Folder 96: 'The Most
Unforgettable Character I Have Ever Met': drafts July
1993
- Folder 96:
'Pastoral': drafts 1978-1993
- Folder 97:
'Quicksand', drafts January - April 1991; offer letter
and galleys re The Blue Dress.
- Folder 98: 'Listening
to Mondrian': drafts November - December 1991; notes.
- Folder 98: 'Women's
Business': drafts 1976 - 1993
- Folder 99: 'Melting
Point': drafts August 1993 -- March 1994; translation
notes: Latin: Gig Ryan; Greek: Petro Alexiou.
- Folder 100: 'The
Convict Box': drafts December 1990 - February 1991;
historical resource material (including letters, Sam
Searle's history project); correspondence and galleys re
'Hello & Goodbye'.
- Folder 100: 'The
Night Tolkien Died': drafts May - June 1993.
- Folder 101-102: Texts
of the twelve stories as submitted to Mark Macleod,
Random House, 1993.
- Folder 103-104:
Edited copy.
- Folder 106: Editorial
correspondence re anthology
Series 10 The Museum of Here and Now, 1988-89
- Script produced for ABC
Education Unit TV series, 1988.
-
- Folders 107-109:
Various drafts four episodes of the miniseries.
- Folders 110-115:
Various drafts four episodes of the miniseries.
- Folder 115: Correspondence
with ABC Educational Unit, 1988-1989
Series 11 Short Stories, 1977-95
- Typescript drafts and some
correspondence relating to three published short stories.
- Folder 116: (i) 'The
young priestess from the west house': drafts 1977-1984
- (ii) 'Chameleon's dish',
1977-1980
- (iii) 'Widow Wilberforce and
the lyrebird': drafts 1985-1995
| Box |
Series |
Folder/
piece |
| 1 |
1 |
1-7 |
| 2 |
|
8-12 |
| 2a |
|
13-14 |
| 3 |
|
15 |
| 3 |
2 |
16-18,
20-21 |
| Folio |
|
19 |
| 3 |
3 |
22-23 |
| 4 |
|
24-29 |
| 5 |
|
30-35 |
| 6 |
|
36-41 |
| 7 |
|
42-45 |
| 7 |
4 |
46-48 |
| 8 |
|
49 |
| 8 |
5 |
50-54 |
| 9 |
|
55-58 |
| 10 |
|
59-61 |
| 10 |
6 |
62-63 |
| 11 |
|
64-66 |
| 12 |
|
67-68 |
| 12 |
7 |
69-74 |
| 13 |
|
75-77 |
| 13 |
8 |
78-82 |
| 14 |
|
83-90 |
| 15 |
|
91-92 |
| 15 |
9 |
93-96 |
| 16 |
|
97-102 |
| 17 |
|
103-106 |
| 17 |
10 |
107-109 |
| 18 |
|
110-115 |
| 18 |
11 |
116 |
Writing and Publishing Correspondence
13 Folders are my writing and
publishing correspondence from 1981 -- virtually the beginning of
my publishing career -- until 1993. This does not include
correspondence regarding visits to schools and talks at
conferences and festivals et cetera, which I cull out of my files
every couple of years.
In the period 1980 to 1986 my
work was handled by the literary agent, Rosemary Creswell. None
of her correspondence is included here.
From January 1988, the agent
Barbara Mobbs began to handle new work of mine, from My Place
and The Blooding onwards. In July 1990 I asked her to take
over the earlier titles, Five Times Dizzy, Dancing in the
Anzac Deli, The House that Was Eureka, 1 is for One, and the
Charmian Clift biography.
Folder 14 includes my
correspondence with Barbara Mobbs, and her correspondence on my
behalf. I have informed Barbara that I am depositing this
material with the National Library, but of course if anyone were
to wish to use this particular material, they should seek
permission from Barbara Mobbs.
Five Times Dizzy: Novel
In 1977 I was living in the town
of Chania, Crete, with Martin Johnston. At Easter I began a novel
for children titled A Job for Yaya, concerning a
Greek-Australian girl called Mareka and her quest to provide a
goat for her yaya -- her grandmother.
I completed the first draft in
about three months. Revised it for some time. Finally typed a
clean version (within certain limitations: typewriter ribbons
were scarce in Chania, and had to be used to the last drop of
ink). Sent typescript back to a librarian friend in Australia,
asking her to send it around publishing companies. I believe she
sent it to a few, but I have no record of this.
When I returned to Australia in
late 1978, the typescript had sat for a year at Hodder &
Stoughton. In February 1979 I had them return it to me.
Immediately afterwards, I began to adapt it for film (see below).
I also continued to work on revising the novel. In about 1980, my
agent Rosemary Creswell sent the outline of a new version plus
the old version to Penguin, who rejected it (cf reader's report
folder 26).
I worked on with this new
version. It was the same story, but streamlined, and told more
from within Mareka's point of view (though still narrated in the
third person). The title eventually changed to Five Times
Dizzy, to fit with potential film. Eventually the text was
submitted to Oxford University Press, and was accepted in late
1981/82. There were some editorial queries about the epilogue,
which I completely re-wrote, as well as doing a small amount of
editorial change throughout. In March 1982 the children's
literature consultant Margaret Dunkle gave the version with the
new ending a glowing recommendation (see folder 28) -- and from
this stage the whole thing became plain sailing. As I have
discussed this in a number of publications I won't go into it
here, but basically I believe that the change was not just to do
with my improvements to the text, but to the change of political
climate, which led to the encouragement of this as one of
Australia's first multicultural novels for children.
Five Times Dizzy: Stage Play
In about 1989 I was approached by
Des Davis, Director of Theatre South, who wished to write and
direct a stage adaptation of Five Times Dizzy. I gave my
permission. Though the script is by Des, it has been essentially
a happy collaboration, in which I have written bits of additional
dialogue during the many different productions of the play which
have taken place over the last few years.
Five Times Dizzy: Film and Television Scripts
In early 1979 -- soon after I had
returned from Greece -- I began to work with an old friend, Terry
Larsen, on a film adaptation of my children's novel, A Job for
Yaya (for which I had not been able to find a publisher).
We prepared a treatment which we
submitted on 1 May 1979 to the Australian Film Commission for
script development funding. The project at that stage was called How
Are You?
We received some funding, and
proceeded to develop the film script. Fairly soon the producer
Don Catchlove took on the project; he received $28,000
pre-production funding from the Australian Film Commission in
1980 (of which $11,000 was allocated to script development).
Terry and I kept working through various treatments and drafts --
workshopping with a couple of different directors, including Phil
Noyce. The project acquired the name Five Times Dizzy,
from the Greek dance O Pentozalis, which translates as
'five times dizzy'.
In the nature of film work at
that time of the 10BA tax provisions, there would be a flurry of
work towards the end of the financial year as the producer looked
for investment, and then everything would tend to go quiet when
he failed to get enough money to make the film. After a two or
three years, the film project just sort of dwindled away.
In 1982 I moved to Melbourne, and
started to hear about a new organisation -- the Australian
Children's Television Foundation. I went along one day to meet
the project officer, Jon Stephens, and gave him a sample bag of
some of Terry Larsen's and my work, including the Five Times
Dizzy film script. Jon expressed interest in this, and we
applied for funding to turn it into a television series. The
application was successful -- a payment of $15,000, to be split
between us, was approved in August 1983. Later that year I worked
on the script with Terry in rural New South Wales for a couple of
months.
Soon after this, we acquired a
new producer -- Tom Jeffrey, of Samson Productions, who had
connections with the ACTF.
We continued work on the
television script over 1984 and 1985. Tom Jeffrey was successful
in raising investment funding (including money from SBS).
The House that was Eureka: Novel
The subject for my History
Masters Honours thesis (completed 1975) was the social and
political organisations of NSW unemployed workers, 1929-36. In
the course of researching this, I unearthed information regarding
the major anti-eviction battles fought in Sydney in 1931. In the
early 1980s I researched these eviction battles again, when
writing a chapter titled 'Meeting Them at the Door' for Twentieth
Century Sydney, edited by Jill Roe.
My interest in the Newtown battle
was particularly re-sparked at this time because, quite by
coincidence, a friend of mine -- the poet, John Forbes -- had
just rented the house in which the battle had occurred. Visiting
the house gave me quite a new feeling about the battle. At this
same time, I went to the house where the Bankstown battle had
occurred, and managed to visit the house, where the original
landlady was still living. She told me her side of the story.
From this time, the house and story of the battles began to work
their way into a novel.
In April 1982 I moved to
Melbourne. At this time I was myself homeless and on the dole --
and even indeed without a typewriter. I began to write the
eviction-battle novel in an exercise book. After a few weeks I
borrowed a typewriter and continued, writing by hand, typing out
the handwritten passages, laying out the sections each day like a
giant tarot, working out the way the thing flowed. I did quite a
lot of the plotting with architectural maps and calendars.
I kept revising as I went, and
was able to submit 95 pages as support material in an application
to the Literature Board in May 1982. I finished the novel by
about September/October, then decided to enter the work in the
Australian/Vogel award. This would effectively mean that the work
was held up for quite a while, as I could not submit it to a
publisher in the meantime. (And so, while I was waiting, I wrote Dancing
in the Anzac Deli, which was published before Eureka,
through written after.)
The House That Was Eureka
was shortlisted for the 1993 Vogel award; that was in about
September. I then submitted it to Penguin, and Kay Ronai accepted
it within twenty-four hours. Though the text presented many
technical problems because it required newspaper facsimiles etc
-- which were unheard of in those days in Australian children's
publishing -- the book had a pretty easy editorial ride --
largely thanks to Kay.
It was published in 1985.
The Blooding
After completing The House
That Was Eureka I began to think of a novel about political
conflict between the generations of a family, and about a
character caught on the horns of a dilemma. I did not know what
the political dilemma of the book would be.
In 1983 I moved to an area of
rainforest in southwestern Victoria, where there were a couple of
small-scale controversies about logging. Meanwhile, in 1986 (I
think) there was the Battle of Farmhouse Creek in Tasmania.
In the early months of 1986,
while on a long overnight bus trip, I realised that the issue of
this story would be logging, and I began to work out the
characters of Colum and his family.
I started writing the novel,
initially in 3rd person narrative. Meanwhile, I had very recently
purchased my first computer, and gave myself three months off
work in order to learn to use it. The trouble was, I had to have
something to type into it.
After various false starts of the
novel, I wrote the 1st person passage of Colum's statement to his
lawyer (Folder 1). I thought this would be a text inside the 3rd
person narrative of the novel. As soon as I'd done it, however, I
knew I had the voice of the book, and I was away.
I typed most of the text straight
into the computer. This was very odd for me: not only was I
unused to computers (and terrified of them), but I had never
worked straight onto a typewriter. I found that it helped me
achieve the naive style I needed for the narrative of this
17-year-old boy.
As I have said in interviews,
writing this novel was a bit like method acting, as I tried to
mimic the narrator's exhaustion. (It only takes Column about 17
days to write down his tale.) I did the first draft in one
enormous burst of about three weeks, working up to twenty hours a
day.
After three full revisions, and
more revisions of some passages, it was ready to submit to
Penguin by November 1986. The Blooding was published
towards the end of 1987.
My Place
One Sunday night in April 1986 I
had an idea for a picture book which would move backwards through
the time of one particular place, with 'windows' opening into
each decade from 1988 back to 1788. (The aim was to try to
counteract Bicentennial glorification of white Australian
history.) The story would be narrated in the first person by a
series of child narrators, with an Aboriginal girl at the
beginning and end. That night I wrote some of the beginning and
ending decades in an exercise book, including the last page with
reference to the big tree.
Over the next few days I filled
in as much detail as I could, then typed out the decades I had
done and sent this, together with draft page layouts for a couple
of pages, to Donna Rawlins on April 20. These page layouts
included roughs of maps.
Within another couple of days,
Donna rang to say she loved the idea, but didn't have time to
illustrate it herself. Over the next few months she tried to find
an alternative illustrator. Meanwhile, I continued work on the
text and maps. Towards the end of the year, Donna agreed to
illustrate the book. At the same time we contracted the book to
the small publishing company Dove, where Donna had worked as an
in-house designer, because we wanted total artistic and editorial
control over the book. We virtually packaged the book to Dove.
From this time, Donna and I
worked in a very close collaboration. Over late 1986/early 1987,
I stayed in or near Sydney and did a lot of research and
rewriting, including doing the roughs for the maps. At this time,
drafts were going back and forth between Donna and myself on a
daily basis. Most of these drafts have been lost. Essentially the
writing and illustrating were happening simultaneously, with
typesetting (by a friend of mine, Gay Kalnins) done to fit in
with this process.
The final artwork was delivered
in early May 1987, and the book was launched in November 1987.
Lucy in the Leap Year: Novel
In 1984 I began the text of what
I thought was going to be a picture book (though a rather wordy
one) called Spiders on the Sill. Actually, this began not
with text but a map of a city suburb where the hero (a girl of
about eight, originally called Sukie) lived.
I soon realised it was too long
for a picture book. Over the next year or so I wrote drafts
(handwritten and typed) but the text always seemed to be too long
for the potential market. Besides, the subject matter kept
concerning itself with death, and I thought this was too grim for
the readership. I kept getting the plot to about May and
stopping. (I knew the story would follow a year in the girl's
life.) In 1986 I re-typed chapters 1-9 into my computer -- but
could go no further.
I put the drafts away, but over
the next few years I kept getting them out, trying again, and
coming up against the same barriers. At some stage however the
hero's name changed to Lucy and the title became Lucy in the
Leap Year.
At last, in 1991, I began work on
the novel again, with the aim of submitting it to Aidan Chambers
at Turton & Chambers. I knew he wouldn't mind a text that was
long and serious. I completed the text in November 1991, and sent
it to my colleagues Jenny Pausacker and Libby Gleeson and my
agent Barbara Mobbs. All loved the first two thirds of the book
and thought the story went off the rails in the last section. I
then proceeded to do virtually a complete re-write of the last
half of the book, as well as changing bits of the beginning.
I finished this in April 1992 and
submitted it to Aidan Chambers. He accepted it, but soon
afterwards the publishing venture of Turton & Chambers came
to an end, so I had to find a new publisher.
I revised the text again in
October 1992, and sent it again to Jenny Pausacker. Meanwhile, I
had asked my partner, Ken Searle, to illustrate the book. This
caused me to undertake a new sort of revision, as I worked
through it with Ken, checking that the visual images worked.
Together we found locations for a number of the illustrations,
such as the primary school, the electricity substation. Sometimes
I would rewrite sections of the novel, to open up visual
possibilities.
I then offered the text to
Omnibus in November 1992. They accepted the book in December.
Editing etc was done through the early months of 1993. The book
was published in May 1993.
Lucy in the Leap Year: Stage PLay
Over 1994-5 I had a some
discussions with Des Davis, Director of Theatre South, who
has directed a number of successful seasons of the play Five
Times Dizzy regarding the possible adaptation of Lucy in
the Leap Year for the stage. The idea was the he would write
the adaptation, but that I would fill in extra scenes and
dialogue, as I had with the playscript for Five Times Dizzy.
After one of these discussions -- around the middle of 1995 -- I
sat down to write a checklist of scenes -- and eight days later
found I had written a play. This is going to be produced in
August 1996.
The Night Tolkein Died: Short Stories
When I first tried to teach
myself to write, while living in Greece and London in the period
1976-78, my chosen genre was the short story. I suppose I
produced about thirty stories in these three years, which I
continued to work on after my return to Australia (as well as
starting new stories). Most of these never reached a state which
I considered ready to submit for publication, though the four I
submitted to various publishers were accepted. Perhaps I should
add that these were all intended as stories for adults.
I gradually began to stop writing
short stories, as I concentrated on novels for children and young
adults and the biography of Charmian Clift.
In March 1990 I was asked by the
British writer, critic and publisher, Aiden Chambers, to edit an
anthology of Australian stories for young adults, to be published
by his company Turton & Chambers. I agreed, and the result
was the anthology Landmarks. As I edited the stories of
other writers, I found myself thinking a lot about the genre of
the short story. I even started writing short stories again. And
I decided to see if I could get enough together for an anthology
of my own. Naturally, I went through my box of old stories to see
if anything was salvageable. As definitions of youth literature
had changed over the years, I found that two of the stories which
I had initially written for adults were now suitable for young
adults.
Over the next few years I
collected together the stories that became the collection The
Night Tolkien Died (published 1994). The drafts in BOX 9 are
in the order in which the stories appear in the book.
The following stories were
initially written for other publications:
'The Blast Furnace', for Landmarks,
ed. Nadia Wheatley, Turton & Chambers, 1991
'Quicksand', for The Blue
Dress, ed. Libby Hathorn, Mammoth, 1991.
'The Convict Box', Goodbye
and Hello, ed. Clodagh Corcoran and Margot Tyrrell,
Viking, 1992.
The Museum of Here and Now: TV mini-series
In 1988 I was asked by the ABC
Education Unit to write a mini-series of four episodes of 30
minutes, to fit broadly with syllabus content in the social
science area for upper primary. There were to be fictional
stories, with a strong historical basis and multicultural
content.
I researched and wrote the
series, but was eventually very dissatisfied with changes made to
my material, which had the effect of changing history. I took my
name off the series. It has since gone to air a number of times.
Sundry Short Stories
These are three short stories
written over many years, published in adult anthologies.
'The Young Priestess From the
West House' appears in Room To Move, ed. Suzanne Falkiner,
Redress Press, 1985
'Chameleon's Dish' is in And
So Say All of Us, ed. Pearlie McNeill and Marie McShea,
Second Back Row Press, 1984.
Widow Wilberforce and the
Lyrebird is in She's Fantastical, ed. Lucy Sussex and
Judith Buckrich, Sybylla, 1995
Guide prepared September 1996. Last updated 29 January 1997.
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