As a reward and as a 'physical' full stop to the draft of chapter 3, which I worked hard to complete so that Pam could have it for inflight reading, the Librarian and I spent a couple of nights being tourists in Melbourne. I love Melbourne in autumn, crunchy leaves underfoot, 28 degrees one day, soft shell jacket needed the next and ... trams. Of course the eclectic mix of buildings is an easy partnership - original buildings proudly displaying their construction dates (1888, 1889, 1913 ) nestled between intriguing monoliths of concrete and steel. Ernst's life one building, mine the next. Eavesdropping I hear a tourist proclaiming that Fed Square had just been rated the 8th ugliest building in the world - I disagree. Like a meandering river it flows down to Flinders Street Station where the 1910 building and its much loved clocks stand as a guardian of the city.
I am always thrilled to be contacted by those who by chance find my blog. I have been blogging for three years and am hoping to complete my first draft by the end of the year. I thought it timely to re-publish what has already been published. The following is from my presentation at the University of Kassel, Germany. In 1904 Olga Ernst, a pupil teacher, wrote Fairy Tales from the Land of the Wattle. Although she was just sixteen years old, Ernst was one of a small group of writers in Australia who attempted to nationalise the fairytale towards the end of the nineteenth century, signalling quite clearly that they intended to affix the elves and fairies of Europe onto the Australian landscape aiming to fill a void that was keenly felt by the children of emigrants and the Australian-born children of emigrants. (Walker, 1988) The beginnings of the Australian bush fantasy genre can be linked with the desire to bring the comfortable and familiar into the new and distinctly non
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