by Jill Roe
12William Blake to Blackwood, 6/2/1928, ML MSS 6329.
13Bulletin, 22/8/1928, p. 9; SMF to Alice Henry, 23/12/1928, FP vol. 114.* ‘M. Barnard Eldershaw’: Marjorie Barnard (1897–1989), writer and historian (ADB vol. 17); Flora Eldershaw (1897–1956), teacher, writer, and public servant (ADB vol. 14).
14William Blake to Blackwood, 6/2/1928, and Blackwood to W. Blake Esq., 25/4/1928, ML MSS 6329.
15Fred Lampe was a younger brother of SF; ‘Gooandra’ was a snow lease.
16SMF to Mary Fullerton, n.d. and 12/6/1928, FP vol. 119;* SMF to Kate Baker, 12/2/1928, Baker Papers.
17ML MSS 6035/31–3; Bulletin, 11/7/1928, p. 51.
18SMF to Alice Henry, 15/12/1928, FP vol. 11, SMF to Mary Fullerton, 12/6/1928, FP vol. 119. The papers of William Alexander Carter (1867–1956), mainly press clippings of his writings, are at ML MSS 33721 (1).
19The Society of Women Writers, founded in 1925, is the oldest continuous literary society in Sydney, Florence Baverstock (see ch. 6, n. 27) was a founder. Lesley Heath, ‘Sydney Literary Societies of the Nineteen Twenties’, PhD thesis, p. 101, SWW Minutes, cited n. 134; Fox (ed.), Dream at a Graveside, p. 8.
20The Old Council House, erected in 1913 on the corner of McMahon St and Forest Rd, was demolished in 1931, Jubilee History of the Municipality of Hurstville 1887–1937, Hurstville Municipal Council, Hurstville, NSW, 1937, and advice, Hurstville Library, 14/12/04.
21Up the Country was published in the UK in Oct. 1928 (English Catalogue of Books); Brent of Bin Bin to Mary Gilmore, 2/12/1928, FP vol. 119; Dorothy Cottrell (1902–57), writer (ADB vol. 8); W. Blake to Blackwood, 30/11/1928, ML MSS 6329.
22FP vol. 108/10; the most likely ts. is at ML MSS 6035/35.
23Dated cuttings/transcripts of reviews, FP vol. 121A. The Dynasts was published 1903–08. Re the death of Emily Mazere, in the summer of 1881 the young girls Elizabeth and Emma Darlow drowned in a deep hole at Bowler’s Creek (Jack Bridle, My Mountain Country, Miles Franklin Memorial Committee, Talbingo, 1979, and see also ‘The Ghost Hole. Feet First’, ML MSS 445/21). The 1984 edition of Up the Country prepared in-house at Angus & Robertson from an early ms. has a different subtitle, ‘A Saga of Pioneering Days’, and while it renders the work more accessible to modern readers, its historicity is diminished (Laurie Clancy, ‘Loss and Recovery’, Australian Book Review, Apr. 1985, no. 69).
24W. Blake to Blackwood, 2/1/1929, ML MSS 6329; SMF to Mary Fullerton, 2/1/1929 and reply, 13/2/1929, FP vol. 16; re competition, SMF to Mary Fullerton, 23/8/[192––, annotated SMF, 1929], FP vol. 119.
25Mary Fullerton to SMF, 27/3/1928 and 30/7/[1929], FP vol. 16, is a good example of the relationship,* also 2/10/1929. ‘Henry Handel Richardson’: devised by Richardson after her marriage for her first novel, Maurice Guest(1908), by replacing her given names, which she disliked, with ‘Henry Handel’, variously said to have family or musical connotations, to avoid categorisation as ‘a woman’s novel’ (Nettie Palmer, ‘Frontier Years’, in Smith (ed.), Nettie Palmer, pp. 30, 175–6). Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (1880–1943) was a controversial British writer and radical lesbian (ODNB), and see PD, 27/3/1932 re The Well of Loneliness: ‘damned dull’. Mary Fullerton to SMF 27/3/1928, FP vol. 16.
26‘An Up-Country chronicle. Brent of Bin Bin’, Brisbane Courier, 2/3/1929, p. 22, also ‘Brent of Bin Bin’, Illustrated Tasmanian Mail, 13/3/1929 [pp. 4–5].
27Miles’s other candidate for a chair was Flora Eldershaw; ‘yarn’ (coll.): ‘a story or tale of adventure, especially a long one, about incredible events’ (MD). Brent of Bin Bin to Nettie Palmer, 22/7/1929, Palmer Papers, MS 1174;* charts etc, FP vol. 56, p. 79; Notes on characters, ML MSS 445/30; W. Blake to Blackwood, 14/2/1930, ML MSS 6329.
28Mary Fullerton to SMF, 26/6/1929, FP vol. 16. Bernard Charles Cronin (1884–1968), jackeroo, journalist and prolific writer of light fiction, published Bracken in London in 1931 (ADB vol. 8); see also ‘Miles Franklin reviews Bernard Cronin’ [The Sow’s Ear], FP vol. 60, possibly published Book News, Jul. 1933.
29De Berg interview; ‘Cooking for the Wedding’, School Paper, 2/9/1929, pp. 119–20, Lawson Lit. Soc. Papers, ML MSS 772, Box 28. Percy Reginald Stephensen (1901–65), writer, editor and publisher, and Winifred Sarah Stephensen, prev. Venus, née Lockyer (1886–c.1967), a British-born dancer (ADB vol. 12), also Winifred’s son Jack Lockyer, pers. comm., 21/10/1992.
30MDR to SMF, 24/1/1930, SMF to MDR, 30/1/1930, MDR Papers, both;* Charles Peters to SMF, 28/5/1930, FP vol. 90; SMF to Mary Fullerton, 11/7/1930, FP vol. 119.
31There are several undated tss of Back to Bool Bool at ML MSS 6035; ‘Ten Creeks Run. A tale of the horse and cattle stations of the Upper Murrumbidgee, Australia’, final typed draft, 1928, ML MSS 6035/35; PD, 16/7/1929; Blackwood to W. Blake Esq., 16/8/1929, and W. Blake to Blackwood, 22/9/1930, ML MSS 6329.
32SMF to MDR, 6/5/1929, MDR Papers.*
33SMF to Alice Henry, 13/8/[1928], FP vol. 115,* and 22/6/1929, FP vol. 114. Adela Pankhurst Walsh (1885–1960), youngest daughter of Emmeline and Richard Pankhurst, political activist (ADB vol. 12), started an Australian branch of the British Guild of Empire in the 1920s, which SF supported (PD, 19/6/1936).
34Mary Fullerton to SMF, 27/3/1930, FP vol. 16;* Table Talk, 15/5/1930, p. 16. Guy Innes, ‘“Brent of Bin Bin” a Woman. Literary Secret Out’, Melbourne Herald, 5/5/1930, p. 3, also said Brent was Miles Franklin, based on literary evidence. Guy Edward Innes (1882–1953) was deputy manager, Australian Newspaper Cable Service, London 1926–35.
35FP vol. 121 (reviews and cuttings); Ten Creeks Run, 2nd edn, 1952, pp. 196–7.
36SMF to Alice Henry, 1/2/1930,* and 23/12/1928, FP vol. 114; Dan Clyne to SMF, 29/10/1930, FP vol. 22;* S. A. Byles to SMF, 16/10/[1930?], FP vol. 6.
37SMF to Mary Fullerton, 3/8/1930, FP vol. 119; Blackwood to SMF, 14/7/1930, and SMF to Blackwood, 14/10/1930, ML MSS 6329; Em[ily] Fullerton to SMF, 4/11/[1930], FP vol. 20.
38SMF to MDR, 30/10/1930 and 8/11/1930, MDR Papers, both;* FP vol. 113X (re Norman Franklin): SMF to Arthur Greening, 11[?]/11/1930, Lothian Papers.
39S. Mills to Blackwood, 2/1/1931, ML MSS 6329; SMF to George Robertson, 15/5/1930, ML MSS 314.*
40SMF to SF, 21/1/1931, FP vol. 108.*
41Blackwood to Mary Fullerton, 26/1/1931, S. Miles to Blackwood, 26/3/1931 and cables, [S. Mills] to Melbourne Herald, 26/3/1931, 31/3/1931, ML MSS 6329.
42Mabel’s son Denis had just joined the air force, so there was a spare room at 181c High St.
43S. Mills to Blackwood, 20/5/1931, ML MSS 6329; Blackwood to SMF, 7/5/1931, FP vol. 85, and S. Mills to Blackwood, 9/5/1931, ML MSS 6329; Curtis Brown to Blackwood, 5/5/1931, FP vol. 86. ‘Helen of the Headland’ became Rufus Sterne (Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1932).
44Australian Authors’ Week. Catalogue of Books, 29/9–5/10/1931, N828.9994/26, State Reference Library, State Library of NSW (and list of late titles); Brent of Bin Bin to A. P. Herbert, 26/9/1931, FP vol. 87; S. Mills to Blackwood, 28/7/1931 and 5/10/1931, ML MSS 6329; SMF to Greening, 15/10/1931, FP vol. 80; Brent of Bin Bin to Nettie Palmer, 8–10/5/1931, FP vol. 87. (Sir) Alan Patrick Herbert (1890–1971), a British author, politician and matrimonial law reformer (ODNB).
45Brent of Bin Bin to Nettie Palmer, 8/5/1931, FP vol. 87.
46Leaflet with PBC no. 152; Brent of Bin Bin to Nettie Palmer, London, Oct. 1931, Palmer Papers; Brent of Bin Bin to P. R. Stephensen, 8/9/1931, FP vol. 86, and Brent of Bin Bin to Otto Niemeyer, 25/9/1931, FP vol. 87.
47Back to Bool Bool, pp. 108, 266, 270; ‘Brent of Bin Bin Again’, Bulletin 21/5/1930, p. 5.
48This and subsequent paragraphs are based on cuttings preserved in FP vol. 121A, plus local reviews as attrib. by SF, PBC no.152C (SMH, 19/12/1931, Woman’s Mirror, 26/1/1931, Sunday Sun, 27/2/1931); Blackwood to Mary Fullerton, 24/11/1937, FP vol. 85; HHR to Mary Kernot, 21/1/1932, Henry Handel Richardson: The Letters, eds. Clive Probyn and Bruce Steele, Miegunyah Press, Carlton, Vic, 2000, vol. 2, p. 497, and TLS, 14/1/1932, p. 29; A. G. Stephens to Brent of Bin Bin
, 11/2/1932, FP vol. 87, and Brent of Bin Bin to A. G. Stephens, May 1932, MA.*
49Brent of Bin Bin to Beaverbrook, 21/11/1931, FP vol. 87.
50Brent of Bin Bin to Daily Herald, 28/3/1932, FP vol. 87.
51The dedication is included in the 2nd edn of Back to Bool Bool (Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1956).
52Bulletin, 10/4/1929, p. 37 and 4/12/1929, p. 37; Wilde, Courage a Grace, p. 283; Daily News (Perth), 10/9/1932 (FP vol. 121A).
53SMF to SF, 12/11/1931, FP vol. 108;* JMF to SMF, 29/4/1931, FP vol. 48; SMF to E. H. Stephens, 3/9/1931, FP vol. 87. Social Credit: a version of political economy popular during the 1930s Depression, based on the teachings of Major C. H. Douglas, that the weakness of capitalism could be remedied by the redistribution of purchasing power.
54SF to SMF, 11/10/1931, FP vol 48; PD, 28/10/1931.
55SF, Notebook, FP vol. 107, p. 32; ‘Who Are the Dead?’, FP vol. 62; SMF to SF, 21/9/1931, FP vol. 48, and Roderick, Miles Franklin, p. 191 (column 1).
56S. Mills to Blackwood, 11/11/1931, ML MSS 6329; Annie May Bridle to SMF, 4/11/1931, FP vol. 47; SF to SMF, 7/11/1931, FP vol. 48; Eva Franklin to SMF, 23/11/1931, FP vol. 48.
57Blackwood to S. Mills, 4/11/1931, S. Mills to Blackwood, 2/11/1931 and 17/11/1931, ML MSS 6329; Eva Franklin to SMF, 23/11/1931, FP vol. 48; SMF to Mary Fullerton, 25/2/1931, FP vol. 16 (‘that [OBB] would mess the trail up a little, wouldn’t it’).
58The Old Blastus files are at FP vol. 80, and the William Lothian Papers are at SLV, plus materials at FP vol. 92 (Memorandum of Agreement, Aug. 1931); SMF, ‘Old Blastus of Bandicoot’, FP vol. 80, p. 371, n.d., is a résumé of the affair. The earliest review appears to be TLS, 21/1/1932, p. 45 (‘uncommon and attractive qualities’); All About Books, Aug. 1932 (announcing publication in Australia), and Bulletin, 21/9/1932, p. 5 (‘more than a fine novel’).
59J. Mulvaney and A. Calaby, ‘So Much that is New’. Baldwin Spencer 1860–1929: A Biography, Melbourne Univ. Press, Carlton, Vic., 1985, pp. 417–18; SMF to SF, 25–26/12/1931, FP vol. 108. Jean Hamilton, ‘Notes from my Diary (typed and aided by me M.F., 1931–2)’, ML MSS 3659/1, pp. 885–941. Jean Hamilton (1889–1961) was of a pioneering family in Victoria’s Western District (Mulvaney and Calaby).
60SMF to Eva O’Sullivan, 4/5/1932;* PD, 3/3/1932 and after; SMF to MDR, 4/3/1932, MDR Papers; Eva Franklin died at Paddington, NSW, 24/1/1932, aged 46, after three months’ illness.
61Martin, Passionate Friends, p. 134; SF to SMF, 21/9/1931, FP vol. 48.
62SF to SMF, 10/4/1932, FP vol. 48; Nettie Palmer, All About Books, 1931, vol. 3, no. 7, p. 159 (turkeys’ eggs); Blackwood to S. Mills, 4/11/1931, ML MSS 6329 (reprinting Up the Country).
63Brent of Bin Bin to Nettie Palmer, 26/1/1932, Palmer Papers; Nettie Palmer, All About Books, 1932, vol. 8, no. 4, p. 121; S. Mills to Blackwood, 17/2/1932, ML MSS 6329.
64Roderick, Miles Franklin, p. 146; Brent of Bin Bin to Kate Baker, n.d., Kennedy Papers and Jun. 1932, Baker Papers.
65SMF to C. H. Grattan, 18/3/1932,* and 1/9/1932, FP vol. 23, S. Mills to Blackwood, 17/11/1931, FP vol. 103.
66Guy Innes to SMF, 9/8/1932, FP vol. 24; Winifred Stephensen, Diary, 3/7/1932, Stephensen Papers, ML MSS 1284.
67PD, 16/7/1932; Munro, Wild Man of Letters, pp. 108–10, and Proposal for an Australian Publishing Company, FP vol. 91/4; P. R. Stephensen, The Bushwhackers: Sketches of Life in the Australian Outback, Mandrake Press, London, 1929. Special note: it seems Stephensen may have realised that Miles was Brent at this time (Munro, p. 109).
68P. R. Stephensen to Brent of Bin Bin, 25/7/1932, and ‘The old brand Brent of Bin Bin’ to P. R. Stephensen, Aug. 1932, FP vol. 86, both.
69Margery Currey to SMF, 19/10/1932, FP vol. 22; ‘Editha Phelps’, Tecumseh Herald, 29/12/1931, FP vol. 12; Louise Phelps to SMF, 3/12/1933, FP vol. 3, p. 81.
70‘Miles Franklin’, 18/11/1932, FP vol. 121A. The Propeller, a suburban weekly newspaper, founded in 1911, was absorbed by the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader in 1969.
71SMF to George Mackaness, 19/11/1932, Mackaness Papers, NLA; All About Books, 4, 1/11/1932, p. 181, and Sun, 24/11/1932, p. 34. George Mackaness (1882–1968), educationist, author and bibliophile, lecturer-in-charge of English, Sydney Teachers College 1924–46, pres. FAW 1933–34, was awarded an honorary DSc., Univ. of Sydney, 1961 (ADB vol. 10).
77All About Books, 1932, no. 4, vol. 6, p. 87; ‘The “Olive Schreiner” of Australian Literature’, Illustrated Tasmanian Mail, 16/6/1932, p. 15; SMF to C. H. Grattan, 21/7/1932, FP vol. 23.*
Chapter 11 — ‘As a Natural Fact’
1SMF to C. H. Grattan, 21/7/1932, FP vol. 23.* Lead quotation: LN, FP vol. 3, p. 594.
2Spearritt, Sydney’s Century, p. 8.
3SMF to C. H. Grattan, 5/5/1933, FP vol. 23; Barnard, Miles Franklin, p 3.
4Rose Lindsay: A Model Life, ed. Lin Bloomfield, Odana Editions, Bungendore, 2001, p. 342; Munro, Wild Man of Letters, p. 120; Publishing Company, Manager’s Report, 25/6/1933, Stephensen Papers, ML MSS 1284 29 (127).
5SMF to Norman Lindsay, n.d. [Feb. 1933], Harry T. Chaplin Colln, Rare Books Colln., Fisher Library, Univ. of Sydney;* SMF to Margery Currey, 4/1/1933, FP vol. 23;* Publishing Company, Manager’s Report, 25/6/1933, Stephensen Papers; John Hetherington, Norman Lindsay: The Embattled Olympian, Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne, 1973, p. 200.
6SMF to C. H. Grattan, 29/3/1933, FP vol. 23;* Munro, Wild Man of Letters, pp. 119, 127. Saturdee was published by the Endeavour Press in 1933, and in London in 1936.
7‘Bring the Monkey’, ts. with corrections, Stephensen Papers; Manager’s Report, 25/6/1933, Stephensen Papers, ML MSS 1284; reviews, FP vol. 121A, also ‘Smart, Banal, Shocking. Miles Franklin’s New Novel’, Sunday Observer (Sydney), 28/5/1933, p. 23; SMF, ‘Tea Parties’, Australian Mercury, Aug. 1935, vol. 1, no. 2, Stephensen Papers (page proofs). Monkey was taken over by the Bulletin in 1936, FP vol. 81.
8SMF to Randolph Bedford, 21/1/1937, FP vol. 29; SMF to Arthur Greening, 4/2/1933, Lothian Papers; ML MSS 6035/20, 22. Edward and Maggie Bridle were cousins of SF.
9W. Blake to Blackwood, 20/12/1929, ML MSS 6329, attachment.
10Blackwood to Miss Mills, 21/2/1933, and S. Mills to Blackwood, 26/5/1933, ML MSS 6329; SMF to Mary Fullerton, n.d., incompl. [1933], FP vol. 16.
11Propeller, 6/1/1933, p. 5; Propeller, 16/6/1933, FP vol. 121A, repr. A Gregarious Culture.
12All About Books, May 1933, p. 79; Fox, Dream at a Graveside, pp. 40–3; FAW membership receipt, 7/4/1933, FP vol. 25. Jean Devanny (1894–1962), NZ-born writer, was a member of the Communist Party 1930–49 (ADB vol. 8).
13All About Books, 14/10/1933, repr. A Gregarious Culture; SMF to C. H. Grattan, 25/10/1933, FP vol. 23. Frank Dalby Davison (1893–1970) was a leading writer (ADB vol. 13).
14Lesley Heath, ‘Sydney Literary Societies of the Nineteen Twenties’, PhD thesis, pp. 332–3, and Heidi Zogbaum, Kisch in Australia: The Untold Story, Scribe, Carlton North, Vic, 2004, pp. 94–5; SMF to Helene Scheu-Riesz, 20/8/1933, FP vol. 23, also Leonora Pease to SMF, 20/9/1933, FP vol. 13, and SMF to A. W. Roeder, 24/7/1933, FP vol. 20; SMF to C. H. Grattan, 25/12/1933, FP vol. 23;* All About Books, Feb. 1935, p. 32. Egon Kisch (1885– 1948), ADB vol. 15. 19 SMF to Kate Baker, 7/5/1934, Kennedy Papers.
15C. H. Grattan to SMF, 6/12/1932, FP vol. 23; preceding quotation, C. Hartley Grattan, ‘The Australian Political See-Saw’, Current History, Jan. 1933, p. 435.
16Hancock, p. 59, cited A. T. Yarwood, Attitudes to Non-European Immigration, Cassell Australia, Melbourne, 1968, p. 114.
17SMF to C. H. Grattan, 29/3/1933 and 21/6/1933, FP vol. 23.
18C. H. Grattan to SMF, 13/4/1935, FP vol. 23.
19Will Carter reported the ms. find in ‘Australianities’, Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga), 24/7/1933, FP vol. 121A.
20Re Ted Graham, see Charles Graham to SF, 27/3/1928, FP vol. 49, and SF to Charles Graham, 9/4/1928, FP vol. 113; Barnard, p. 140. Deborah Jordan, Nettie Palmer: Search for an Aesthetic, History Dept, Univ. of Melbourne, 1999, p. 22
9. Annie Louisa Somerville, née Treherne (1863–1958) was a nurse (NSW BMD registers, electoral rolls). Nephew Jack: enrolled for secondary schooling at Blue Mountains Grammar School, from 1932 he spent his holidays at Grey St (SF Notebook, FP vol. 107, p. 30). Lena Lampe left Grey St in Jun. 1934, FP vol. 107, p. 39.
21SMF to Mary Fullerton, 27/3/1934, FP vol. 16. Xavier Herbert (1901–84), ADB vol. 17.
22Ad for Hotel Charleville, built 1932, with an SMF note, ML MSS 3659/2X, 221, and SMF to Mr McK––[?], FP vol. 46; Eva [Statham] to SMF 5/1/1949, FP vol. 26; Atlas of [Queensland] Pastoral Holdings, 2000, map 41, D6, and indexes to Lessees of Crown Lands; Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 10/5/1934, p. 20, Pioneers on Parade, pp. 248–53.
23SMF to Dearest Ducks, 14/5/1934, FP vol. 25;* Telegraph(Brisbane), 10/5/1934, FP vol. 121A; Thomas Firmin McKinnon (1878–1953), ADB vol. 10.
24SMF to Jean Hamilton, 15/5/1934, FP vol. 26.
25SMF to Mary Fullerton, 15/6/1934 and 14/9/1934, FP vol. 16, both;* M. F., ‘A Remorseless Novel: Review of Prelude to Christopher by Eleanor Dark’, Australian Mercury, Aug. 1935, vol. 1, no. 2 (page proofs), repr. A Gregarious Culture.
26‘The Great Australian novel. Honouring Tom Collins. An appreciation’, FP vol. 73; Re A. G. Stephens, part-published DT (Sydney), 20/4/1935, p. 5, c. to Kate Baker, 20/4/1935, also a memorial to ‘A.G.S’, Australian Mercury, Jul. 1935, vol. 1, no. 1 (page proofs); Patricia Rolfe, The Journalistic Javelin, Wildcat Press, Sydney, 1979. p. 277; SMF to Gus Lampe, 18/1/1935 [1936], FP vol. 49, and SMH, 20/1/1936, p. 10; ‘Catherine Helen Spence. Australia’s Greatest Woman’, delivered Women’s Club, Sept. 1936 (ML).
27Kirkpatrick, The Sea Coast of Bohemia: Literary Life in Sydney’s Roaring Twenties, Univ. of Qld Press, St Lucia, Qld, 1992; Geoffrey Dutton, The Innovators: The Sydney Alternatives in the Rise of Modern Art, Literature, and Ideas, Macmillan, South Melbourne, 1986; SMF to C. H. Grattan, 25/6/1935, FP vol. 23; Eileen Chanin et al., Degenerates and Perverts: The 1939 Herald Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2005, p. 45; Miles Franklin, ‘A Book of Lore’, Australian Mercury, Aug. 1935, vol. 1, no. 2 (review of Gordon Buchanan, Packhorse and Waterhole: With the First Overlanders to the Kimberleys, page proofs); SMF, ‘The Future of Australian Literature’, Age, 2/3/1935, p. 5.