Guide to the Papers of Dorothy Cottrell

1929. March. Typescript of Before Bunny came here. Published in the Ladies Home Journal (File 1)

A young bride finds it difficult to be a stepmother to a small boy.

This was Dorothy Cottrell's first short story. The first magazine it was offered to, bought it for $500.

1932. Magazine Cuttings of the "Dickie" Stories (File 2)

1. Not without introduction

2. The actress next door

3. Judith runs out of gas

4. Valentine Blush

5. A sock on the Beak

6. Pups versus Divorce

1-4 were published in the American magazine, Liberty.

5-6 were published in Nash's Magazine, No. 5 in 1934.

A small American boy, orphaned, comes from California to live with aunts (older sisters of his mother) in the North Queensland country town of Eolian.

These were never published in Australia.

1932. September. Magazine cutting of the "Winks" stories (File 3)

1. The Peppered-Egg Mystery

2. Illegitimate

3. Little dogs and large (typescript)

1 was published in the Ladies Home Journal (American) in September 1932 and in Pearson's Magazine. 2. The cutting is from Pearson's Magazine v.LXXIV-27. 3. is a typescript.

Winks is an adventurous Australian terrier named "Tiddlywinks". The Winks stories were subsequently published in a volume, Winks his book Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York 1932 with illustrations by Paul Bransom.

1932. September. Magazine cuttings of an "Old Doc story", Into this World. Published in Liberty (File 4)

A birth in flood time in an Australian and back setting. Doctor has difficulty arriving in time.

1933. Magazine cuttings of The Square Peg. Published in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan of April 1933 and also in Pearson's Magazine (File 4)

One pup in a litter of Cattle dogs is not trainable for cattle work, but is reprieved when he is taught to carry the invalid small son of the station owner in a homemade carriage. Setting is in south west Queensland.

Dorothy Cottrell herself taught dogs to pull her own carriage when a child.

1933. Typescript of Cabbage Roses. Published in the Winchester Story-Teller May 1933 (File 4)

The love-story of a girl of peasant German extraction for a person who joins the Australian army during the 1914-1918 War. Setting and characters based on German settlements on the Darling Downs around Toowoomba. It was reported to the Cottrells that the royal party of Edward VIII travelling to Balmoral had much enjoyed this story which had been read on the train.

1933. Typescript and Magazine cut-outs of "Dutch and Tug" stories (File 5)

1. In the Dark of the Moon (typescript)

2. A Uncommon stupid Dog (typescript)

3. Racing Abe goes home (cut-outs)

1. and 2. published in (? - not known). 3. published in the American August 1934 and in Pearson's Magazine LXXX, 35.

The adventures of an Australian swagman and his dog Tug. Dorothy Cottrell was particularly fond of this character.

1935. Cut-outs of the "Spike" stories: (File 6)

1. Where's that dog Spike?

2. That Dog Spike (author's title Great Fins)

3. Cench Call

4. Bulldog's Chicken

1. Published in American (April 1935), Nash's Magazine and under the title Bullfighter in Summertime, a scholastic magazine.

2. Published in Good Housekeeping and Hearst's International Cosmopolitan in June 1938.

3. Published in Nash's Magazine of December 1936 and Good Housekeeping.

4. Published ?

A Bulldog and his owners on the Californian waterfront of Los Angeles. These stories are based on a real bulldog which Mr & Mrs Cottrell Owned Conch Call has a photograph of Dorothy Cottrell on the first page.

1937. A magazine, out-out of Teddy Bear. This article was published in Nash's Magazine in August 1937 (File 7)

The Australian Koala.

There are also included in this envelope photographs of koalas selected by Dorothy Cottrell to accompany the article.

1940. Magazine cut-outs of Little Fellow published in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan in September 1940 (File 7)

A small part-Shetland pony is left on an abandoned property in S.W. Queensland. It is attacked by dingoes and eagles but resumed by a poverty-stricken settler. The pony aids this man to capture a stallion and thus build up his fortune. This story is still included in Australian School English text books, presumably because of its effective evocation of outback landscapes and life.

1940. Typescript of Attagirl Biscuit. Published in Good Housekeeping of October 1940 as The Circle of their arms (File 7)

A mongrel dog on a film set in Hollywood.

1947. Magazine cut-out of Hurricane North Atlantic. Published in The Saturday Evening Post February 1947 (File 7)

Hurricane storm in the Caribbean. This was Dorothy Cottrell's first story to be accepted by The Saturday Evening Post. She was delighted that she "had made the Post at last".

1947. July. Magazine cut-out of The Reef. Published in Argosy (File 8)

Survival and rescue of an airman who comes down in the sea off the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

1948. Newspaper cut-outs and typescripts of the Mother Seco stories (File 8)

1. The Starting Point

2. The Mad dog

3. The case of the Red and White notices.

These stories are mystery/investigation stories with Mother Seco as the chief character. Setting, California. The Mother Seco stories were published under the name of Barton Merrill.

1948. Magazine cut-outs of My love will come, a three-part serial published in The Saturday Evening Post of February 1948 (File 8)

A love story between a young girl brought up on a remote Caribbean island and an "outsider".

c.1948. Typescripts of the "Ricky" story (File 9)

1. I smell a dog

2. Cap'n Buck buys a store

3. The attested Miracle

4. The North Star by Earth's rotation

5. Are you Seagreen yet?

1. Was published in Argosy, September 1948. One was published in The Liverpool Daily Post c. 1960 under the title of Dove of Peace.

2. A widow and her young son Ricky live on the waterfront. Cap'n Buck, an old seaman, is Ricky's great-uncle and friend.

1950. Typescript of details of hand operated elevator as shown in the article How to wear a wheel-chair, published in The Saturday Evening Post 10 June 1950, and special details of wheelchair and belt as mentioned in the article (File 10)

This article is based on Dorothy Cottrell's own experiences and the lift she designed and had constructed at Pioneer House.

1950. Magazine cut-out of Hurricane Wedding. Published in The Saturday Evening Post of 11 November, 1950 (File 10)

Also published in the Liverpool Echo.

1950. Typescript of Shark bait. Published in Argosy ? 1950 also in The Australian Journal August 1951 (File 10)

A doctor outwits sharks on the Great Barrier Reef.

1951. Magazine cut-out of Of that Early World. Published in Argosy of February 1961 (File 10)

Woman copes with a dangerous escaped convict in the Florida Mangrove swamps.

1951. Magazine cut-out of The Pit in the Jungle. Published in The Saturday Evening Post of 18 August 1951 (File 10)

Rescue of two sailors who fall into a natural pit in a North Queensland tropical forest. This story was based on an incident told to the Cottrell s by Mr Banfield, when they were on Dunk Island.

1952. Magazine cut-out of The Gauntlet of Flames. Published in The Saturday Evening Post of 11 October 1952 (File 10)

An Australian "elder statesman" goes back to the Gulf Country of Carpentaria where he had lived when young, and rescues a mother and son from a bushfire.

1954. Typescript of A Melon for His Honour. Published under the title of The Mysterious Box in The Saturday Evening Post of 26 June 1954 (File 10)

A valuable silver object is found in the sea off the coast of a West Indian Island.

Undated. Typescript of I loved it, love. Published in My Weekly in the early 1970's (File 11)

The experiences of a young city-bred woman as the wife of an owner of an immense station in the Gulf Country.

This is only one of Dorothy Cottrell's stories to be published posthumously.

Undated. Typescript of And the blind shall lead. Published, but not known where (File 11)

Pot and Trot about two Australian terriers.

Typescripts of the "Old Al" stories (File 11)

1. Miss Heuben Smith's Cow

2. We ride the Iron stallions down to drink

3. Old Al and the Broad stripes and bright stars

Unpublished typescripts and fragments of Dorothy Cottrell (File 12-14)

Typescripts as follows.

A Matter of Focus

And in the Skies the morning hung

By Courage through Danger

Fourteen hundred bulldoga

From Everlasting Thou art God

It was this way your Honour

No man's fool

The Cure

Through the Invisible

Words for Eternity

Parking Space (a script for a film)

Fragments as follows.

Sir Dresden China (about the Cottrell's cat)

Bin Button Smith

Phr-r-r

Mr Gottlieb's Ghost

Our dog Boots

An "old Doc" fragment

As the Stars to the High

Correspondence with agents and publishers re publication of, and royalties for works by Dorothy Cottrell c.1956-1967 (File 15)

Ularunda near Morven, Queensland. Photograph of Sports Day at Ularunda in 1926 (File 15)

1969. Sale particulars of Ularunda put out by A.M.L. F. Company, with a handwritten note by Mr Cottrell on the acreage and selections there (File 15)

1949. Typescript of Something to hold to, published about 1949 in (American) Blue Book(?) (File 16)

A small boy is the only survivor of a plane crash in the Everglades, Florida.

1949. Typescript of The Unforgotten published in The Saturday Evening Post, c.1949 or 1950 (File 16)

Father and son in remote Australian bush hunt for a killer dog.

1950. Cut-out of Wildfire. Published in The Saturday Evening Post, 7 January 1950 (File 16)

An Australian Bushfire.

1951. Cut-out of The Damning Dust, published in Blue Book 1951, also in Magpie (File 16)

Murder investigation in Queensland outback.

1953. Typescript of Horse Thief's Treasure published in The Saturday Evening Post, 1963 (File 16)

An Australian Drought.

1958. Cut-out of Old Man Kangaroo. Published in Argosy August 1958 also Women's Weekly (File 16)

Rivalry between young and old kangaroos.

Unpublished and undated typescripts (File 17)

Big Joe really knew

The Elder's Cheroot

Everythings under control

Homeward bound for New Orleans

Nothing for nothing

A ship drifts West

Copy of a cable from Ben Hibbs, editor of The Saturday Evening Post, endorsing Dorothy and W.M. Cottrell's application to bring their adopted Australian son into the United States (File 17)

Letters about Dorothy Cottrell from American and Australian friends (added 22 October 1984) (File 18)