1925–29
LR works as a journalist on The West Australian
1926–28
CC attains a Bachelor of Arts, UWA
1927
CC and LR meet when LR is editor of The Black Swan (UWA literary magazine) and CC is appointed sub-editor; May, CC plays lead in University Dramatic Society’s The Whole Town’s Talking and LR reviews her favourably in The West Australian
1928
LR and CC meet on holiday on Rottnest Island and their ‘future was sealed’; CC’s play Shielded Eyes published in The Black Swan;
1929
LR works as the drama and art critic on The West Australian; CC becomes editor of The Dawn; 2 December, LR departs for London on RMS Orford
1930
LR studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London; 1 June, CC departs for London on SS Orsova
1931
CC studies dramatic theory at London University; LR appointed drama critic of The Era; CC becomes sub-editor of The Children’s Sketch; 19 September, CC and LR marry at St Pancras Town Hall
1931–35
LR writes a weekly column, This Week at the Playhouse, for The Era
1932–35
Coralie Clarke Rees (CCR) writes London Woman’s Diary, syndicated in Australian major dailies, and other freelance journalism published in England and Australia
1936
February, Coralie and Leslie (C&L) leave London with Eileen Joyce; April to June, EJ and CCR travel across five Australian states on ABC concert tour; June, C&L settle in Sydney; LR works for The Sydney Morning Herald as drama, art and film critic; CCR freelances and broadcasts on the ABC; December, LR joins the ABC as federal drama editor
1937
March, C&L move to Shellcove, their home for almost thirty years; LR co-founds the Playwrights Advisory Board, Sydney
1938–63
LR is chairman of the Playwrights Advisory Board
1938
30 August, Megan Clarke Rees born at Saba Hospital, Neutral Bay
1940
5 November, Stella Dymphna Clarke Rees born at Saba Hospital, Neutral Bay
1942
LR appointed air-raid warden; CCR, M and D evacuated to Glenbrook, then Young, NSW
1944
1 January, CCR’s brother Max Clarke killed in Canada
1946
C&L’s first trip to Alice Springs and Northern Territory; LR’s Karrawingi the Emu awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s first Children’s Book of the Year
1947
LR’s Sarli the Barrier Reef Turtle Australian Book Society’s Choice
1949
1 January, CCR’s father, Guildford Clarke, dies; 24 April, LR’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Rees, dies; May, M&D stay with Jess in Bridgetown, WA, while C&L hitchhike around remote north Australia, researching for Spinifex Walkabout
1950
October, CCR diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis; deep ray treatment on spine
1951
C&L’s New Guinea trip; research for Danger Patrol
1953
October, C&L’s Spinifex Walkabout on bestseller lists
1954–55
May to February, C&L’s Westward from Cocos trip (Mauritius, Cocos Islands, Africa, Europe, America, New Zealand); M&D board in Sydney
1956
LR’s play Sub-Editor’s Room on ABC TV produced by LR (first Australian play produced on Australian television)
1957–66
LR is deputy director of drama, ABC
1957
C&L’s Coasts of Cape York adventure
1960
C&L visit APY Lands, Simpson Desert, Uluru, researching for People of the Big Sky Country
1966
22 July, LR retires from the ABC; 1 August, C&L move from Shellcove to Balmoral Beach
1967–75
LR is president of the Sydney Centre of International PEN
1968
C&L’s radio series London Life in the 1930s broadcast on ABC (based on Seven and Sevenpence, Please)
1970
Dora Toovey paints C&L’s portrait, which is a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award and then purchased by Dymphna
1972
14 February, Coralie Clarke Rees dies in her Balmoral home
1979
LR’s two-volume History of Australian Drama awarded a Foundation for Australian Literary Studies award
1981
LR awarded the Order of Australia (AM) for services to Australian literature
1999
LR awarded NSW Premier’s Special Prize for his contribution to Australian literature
2000
10 August, Leslie Rees dies in Sydney in his 95th year; Dymphna Stella Rees becomes manager of her parents’ literary archive
2012
LR’s classic Shy the Platypus published by the National Library of Australia in a heritage edition and with an introductory essay by Dymphna (wins the Australian Museum’s Whitley Award)
2016
2021
A Paper Inheritance by Dymphna Stella Rees is published
Select Bibliography
Brennan, Christopher (1960) The Verse of Christopher Brennan, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Brunton, Paul (editor) (2004) The Diaries of Miles Franklin, Allen & Unwin in Association with State Library of NSW, Sydney.
Davidson, Dianne (1997) Women on the Warpath: Feminists of the first wave, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley.
Davis, Richard (2001) Eileen Joyce: A portrait, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle.
Davison, Frank Dalby (1936) Children of the Dark People: An Australian folk tale, illustrations by Pixie O’Harris, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Davison, Frank Dalby (1944) Man-Shy (10th edition), Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Fox, Mem (1990) Mem’s the Word: The inspiring story that created Possum Magic, Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood.
Franklin, Miles & Cusack, Dymphna (1939) Pioneers on Parade, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Inglis, KS (2006) This Is the ABC: The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1932–1983, Black Inc., Melbourne.
Kinnane, Garry (1986) George Johnston: A biography, Nelson, Melbourne.
Lane, Richard (1994) The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama (1923–1960), Melbourne University Press, Carlton South.
Palotta, Grace (1907) ‘A Woman’s Way’ in The Lone Hand, Vol. 1. No. 4, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Park, Ruth (1993) A Fence around the Cuckoo, Penguin Books Australia, Camberwell.
Park, Ruth (1993) Fishing in the Styx, Viking Australia, Ringwood.
Peterson, Dymphna Rees (1978) Coralie Clarke Edits The Dawn: A chapter in the life of Coralie Clarke Rees, held in State Library of Western Australia, Perth.
Rees, Coralie Clarke (1968) An Interview with Hazel de Berg, Oral History Collection, National Library of Australia, Canberra. (Verbatim transcript.)
Rees, Leslie (1967) An Interview with Hazel de Berg, Oral History Collection, National Library of Australia, Canberra. (Verbatim transcript.)
Rees, Leslie (1980 and 1981) An Interview with Chris Jeffery, Oral History Officer, J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History, Perth. (Verbatim transcript.)
Rees, Leslie (1982) Hold Fast to Dreams: Fifty years in theatre, radio, television and books, APCOL, Sydney.
Rees, Leslie (1988) Interview with Don Grant and Marg McIntyre, Oral History, State Library of Western Australia, Perth.
Roe, Jill (1993) My Congenials: Miles Franklin and friends in letters. Vol. two: 1939–54, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Roe, Jill (2008) Stella Miles Franklin: A biography, Fourth Estate, Sydney.
Von Bissing, Ronimund (1962) Songs of Submission: On the practice of Subud, Latimer, Trend & Co, Great Britain.
Wheatley, Nadia (2001) The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, HarperCollins, Sydney.
Other Non-fiction by UQp
Beyond words
A year with Kenneth Cook
Jacqueline Kent
In 1985 Jacqueline Kent was content with her life. She had a satisfying career as a freelance book editor, and was emerging as a writer. Living and working alone, she relished her independence. But then she met Kenneth Cook, author of the Australian classic Wake in Fright, and they fell in love.
With bewildering speed Jacqueline found herself in alien territory: with a man almost twenty years older, whose life experience could not have been more different from her own. She had to come to terms with complicated finances and expectations, and to negotiate relationships with Ken’s children, four people almost her own age. But with this man of contradictions – funny and sad, headstrong and tender – she found real and sustaining companionship.
Their life together was often joyful, sometimes enraging, always exciting – until one devastating evening. But, as Jacqueline discovered, even when a story is over that doesn’t mean it has come to an end.
Shortlisted, 2020 National Biography Award
‘There is nothing “buttoned” about Jacqueline Kent’s memoir of her brief relationship with Kenneth Cook, author of Wake in Fright (1961). Indeed, she brings a striking degree of verisimilitude – an almost eerie recall – to the project.’ The Sydney Morning Herald
Thea astley
Inventing her own weather
Karen Lamb
Thea Astley: Inventing her own weather is the long-overdue biography of Australian author Thea Astley (1925–2004). Over a fifty-year writing career, Astley published more than a dozen novels and short story collections, including The Acolyte, The Slow Natives and, finally, Drylands in 1999. She was the first person to win multiple Miles Franklin awards – four in total. With many of her works published internationally, Astley was a trailblazer for women writers.
In her personal life, she was renowned for her dry wit, eccentricity and compassion. Although a loving mother and wife, she rose above the domestic limitations imposed on women at the time to carve out a professional life true to her creative drive.
Karen Lamb has drawn on an unparalleled range of interviews and correspondence to create a detailed picture of Thea the woman, as well as Astley the writer. She has sought to understand Astley’s private world and how that shaped the distinctive body of work that is Thea Astley’s literary legacy.
Winner, 2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – Non-fiction
‘An engaging, affectionate account of Astley that relishes the writer’s contradictions and opens up new ways to understand her novels.’ Inside Story
ISBN 978 0 7022 5356 0
First published 2021 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
uqp.com.au
reception@uqp.com.au
Copyright © Dymphna Stella Rees 2021
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
This book is copyright. Except for private study, research, criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in this list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
The excerpt on page 30 from Women on the Warpath by Dianne Davidson (University of Western Australia Press, 1997) reprinted by kind permission of the publisher.
The excerpt on page 109 from Eileen Joyce: A portrait by Richard Davis (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2001) reprinted by kind permission of the author.
The excerpt on page 155 from Miles Franklin’s personal diary (January 1950, ML MSS 364/2/43) reprinted by kind permission of the Mitchell Library.
Cover design by Christabella Designs
Front cover photograph of Coralie and Leslie by Noel Rubie Pty Ltd, 1948
Back cover photographs: Father and Daughter on the Shellcove Waterfront by Charles D Maclurcan, 1948 (top) and Coralie and Leslie in the Bush by Dymphna Stella Rees, 1956 (bottom)
Author photograph by Joe Craig Black Label, 2019
Photograph on page 289: Three of Us by Dymphna Stella Rees, 2020
Typeset in 12/16 pt Bembo Std by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane
The University of Queensland Press is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.
ISBN 978 0 7022 6320 0 (pbk)
ISBN 978 0 7022 6494 8 (epdf)
ISBN 978 0 7022 6495 5 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7022 6496 2 (kindle)