Papers of Maslyn Williams, 1850-1995 [manuscript]
- Bib ID:
- 1791626
- Format:
- Manuscript
- Author:
- Williams, Maslyn, 1911-1999
- Related Online Resources:
- Finding aid at National Library of Australia
- Access Conditions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
- Description:
-
- [1850-1995]
- 13.40 m. (72 boxes) + 2 cartons + 2 fol. boxes + 7 map folios.
- Summary:
-
MS 3936 comprises papers in the following categories: material about Maslyn Williams' Second World War service and items pertaining to his friend, the war cameraman, Damien Peter Parer; research notes and manuscripts relating to Williams' publications about Asia; research notes and manuscripts relating to Australian historical research and other writings; research notes and manuscripts outlining the history of the British Phosphate Commission; and, papers relating to the founding of the National Music Camp Association.
The collection also includes material relating to Williams' book The phosphateers, including British Phosphate Commission records, research matter on Nauru and Christmas Island, and reports to the United Nations about Nauru; four maps of Ocean Island, Nauru Island, and the area of the South Pacific Commission; drafts and background material for plays, novellas, short stories and books, including papers relating to My life revisited and His mother's country; correspondence and other papers including early correspondence on the National Music Camp Association; diary of Hiroshi Kibori, 1975-1976; an article on Damien Parer; and, a photograph of Ned Mosby, the American seaman who settled on Yorke Island, Torres Strait (70 boxes, 2 fol. boxes, 7 map folios).
The Acc00.034 instalment comprises correspondence including drafts of Williams' own letters, research material, notes, typescripts, an unrevised manuscript of His mother's country, articles, reviews, pamphlets and photographs. The instalment includes a copy of the diary Williams kept while travelling across Europe looking for a suitable venue for making the film "Mike and Stefan", 1949. There is material relating to British Phosphate Commission official Thomas Cude and the Mitchell Library acquisition of his papers. The correspondents include Curtis Brown, Ed Campion, Harry Maude, Caroline Jones, Joan Long, Robert Foster, Blanche d'Alpuget, Paul Glynn, Ruth Alexander, Irene Stevens, National Film and Sound Archive, Youth Music Australia and the Literature Board (2 boxes, 2 cartons).
- Biography/History:
-
Journalist, filmmaker and writer. Robert Ronald Maslyn (Ron Maslyn) Williams was born in England in 1911. In the 1920s, he moved to Australia where he grew up in the New England and Southern Highlands districts of New South Wales. He studied at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney and worked as a journalist prior to a career in filmmaking. In 1940, he joined the Official War Film and Photographic Unit as a writer-producer and served under Frank Hurley in the Middle East. He transferred to the Australian Information Bureau in New York in 1945 and then to the Canadian Film Board in 1946.
Williams made films in Europe and Australia gaining several awards including a gold medal at the Venice Bienalle. His documentary work included ethnographic films made in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. In 1962, he ceased filmmaking and turned to writing. He became the author of books on Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and China and also published a history of the phosphate industry, and four novels. Williams' autobiography, His mother's country (1988), won the Fellowship of Australian Writers Christina Stead Award in 1988 and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction, 1989. Williams died in Bowral, New South Wales, in 1999.
- Notes:
-
- Manuscript reference no.: MS 3936, MS Acc00.034.
- Some photocopies.
- Related Material:
-
- Papua New Guinea photographs; Located at; National Library of Australia Pictures collection PIC Album 447a.
- Ronald Maslyn Williams interviewed by Hazel de Berg for the Hazel de Berg collection; Located at; National Library of Australia Oral History collection ORAL TRC 1/272,273.
- Journals; Located at; State Library of New South Wales ML MSS. 1760.
- Oral history interviews with Maslyn Williams are held by; National Film and Sound Archive.
- Cited In:
- Guide to collections of manuscripts relating to Australia, B886.
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Finding aid (75 p.) available in the Special Collections Reading Room.
- Subject:
-
- Williams, Maslyn, 1911-1999 -- Archives
- Parer, Damien, 1912-1944
- British Phosphate Commission
- Screenwriters -- Australia -- Archives
- War photographers -- Australia -- Archives
- Motion picture producers and directors -- Australia -- Archives
- Authors, Australian -- 20th century -- Archives
- Novelists, Australian -- 20th century -- Archives
- Australian literature -- 20th century
- Motion pictures, Australian
- Phosphate industry
- Time Coverage:
- 1850-1995
- Occupation:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Terms of Use:
- Copying permitted for research purposes.
- Copyright:
-
Copyright Undetermined
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- Reason for copyright status:
- A Manuscript Collection may have a range of formats and dates.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary, dramatic or musical work
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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