Guide to the Papers of Arthur Groom
MS 9552, MS Acc11.109
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Arthur Groom
- Title
- Papers of Arthur Groom
- Date Range
- ca. 1930-1953
- Collection Number
- MS 9552, MS Acc11.109
- Extent
- 1.4 metres (2 boxes, 1 map folio)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The collection comprises the manuscript of an unpublished novel, 'Flood waters', a 1932 confidential diary kept while Groom was working at O'Reilly's Guesthouse on the Lamington Plateau in southeast Queensland, a diary of a 1952 trip taken in preparation for writing Wealth in the wilderness (1955) and correspondence relating to the trip. There are also newspaper cuttings, a manuscript for an article 'Beef will be scarce and dear' (1952?), Groom's honorary ranger badge and an 1897 petition by Susan Grace Lambert regarding land in Tasmania held by the Groom family.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1055791).
Conditions Governing Use
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Arthur Groom, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The collection was donated to the Library by Groom's children, Linda, Donn, Tony and Richard Groom.
Related Materials
Photographs received with the collection have been transferred to the Pictorial Section.
Apart from Groom's published works, the Library also holds his Album of photographs of Central Australia (1947) in the Pictorial Collection at PIC Album 284a and a hand-drawn map of walking tracks near Binna Burra Lodge, Lamington National Park in the Map Collection.
Arrangement
The papers have been retained in the order in which they were received.
Finding Aid Source(s)
Please note: This finding aid may comprise or contain descriptive information provided by donors, researchers and/or volunteers.
Collection Retrieval Advice
Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.
Biographical Note
Arthur Groom was born in Caulfield, Victoria, on 11 December 1904, the son of Arthur Champion Groom, the Member for Flinders in the first Federal Parliament. Raised on the cattle station Rosabelle Downs , Queensland, he worked as a jackaroo and journalist.
He published a novel Merry Christmas (1930), set in Queensland in the late 1920s.
In 1930 he became the first honorary secretary of the National Parks Association of Queensland and was active in the promotion of national parks and environmental protection until his death. With Romeo Lahey, he established Binna Burra Lodge, on the edge of the Lamington National Park, in southeast Queensland, in 1933.
Though found medically unfit for service in World War II, he trained soldiers from the Canungra Army base in jungle warfare.
After visiting Central Australia and the Hermannsburg Mission in 1946 and 1947, he wrote I saw a strange land (1950). He published One mountain after another, on the history of the Lamington National Park and the 'Scenic Rim' region in 1949. His last book, on the cattle industry of the Northern Territory and Western Australia, was Wealth in the wilderness (1955).
He was known for his almost legendary ability to walk long distances, and his sense of humour. His published works reveal a great love for the Australian landscape.
Arthur Groom died in Melbourne in 1953.
References
Biography supplied by Linda Groom.
P.A. Scherer. Camel treks in the outback, 1994, p.69+
Item Descriptions
Class MS 9552. Original consignment
Comprises the manuscript of an unpublished novel 'Flood waters', a 1932 diary kept while Groom was working at the O'Reilly's Guesthouse on the Lamington Plateau in southeast Queensland, a diary of a 1952 trip taken in preparation for writing Wealth in the wilderness (1955) and correspondence relating to the trip. There are also newspaper cuttings, a manuscript for an article 'Beef will be scarce and dear' (1952?), Groom's honorary ranger badge, and an 1897 petition by Susan Grace Lambert regarding land in Tasmania held by the Groom family.
Contained in 2 boxes.
Series 1. 'Flood waters'
This series contains the typed manuscript of an unpublished novel 'Flood waters', a romantic adventure set on a cattle station near the Northern Territory and Queensland border. It was written in the late 1920s or 1930s. There is also a typed transcript of the manuscript.
Series 3. Wealth in the wilderness, 1952
In this series is the diary of a 1952 trip to Northern Territory and Western Australia in preparation for writing Wealth in the wilderness (1955). The diary contains information on the cattle industry and reports comments by station managers on the future of the cattle industry and the place of Aborigines. There is also correspondence relating to the trip.