Eunice Hanger (1911–1972) was educated at Gympie High School and the University of Queensland. For the first half of her career she was a schoolteacher. She had a lifelong interest in the theatre, as a playwright, actress and producer. In 1955 she joined the English Department at the University of Queensland and in 1958 she was appointed lecturer in drama. She became a senior lecturer in 1965.
Hanger was concerned that many contemporary playwrights were ignored by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and she began collecting their scripts. She was familiar with the Campbell Howard Collection at the National Library and the University of New England, and sought to avoid duplication by concentrating on plays written after 1950. The plays that she collected were deposited in the Fryer Library at the University of Queensland. By 1964 there were over 200 plays in the collection, including radio plays.
Acquisition
The National Library sought copies of selected plays that would complement the Campbell Howard Collection and strengthen its holdings generally. In 1964 the Fryer Library provided copies of 18 plays. Later attempts to augment the collection were unsuccessful on account of copyright restrictions.
Description
The collection in the National Library comprises photocopies of typescripts of 18 plays. The authors include David Ireland, J.P. McKinney, H.A. Lindsay and Dymphna Cusack.
Organisation
The collection is kept together at MS 1044 in the Manuscripts Collection. An online finding aid is available at https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-294499964/findingaid.
Related Collection
The Hanger Collection in the Fryer Library is described in Australian Playscripts: A Checklist of Unpublished Scripts in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland Library, St Lucia, 1987.
Reference
Richard Fotheringham, Hanger, Eunice (1911–1972), Australian Dictionary of Biography online
First posted 2008 (revised 2019)
