Context
In the mid 1960s two critical books on Australian poetry were published: Judith Wright’s Preoccupations in Australian Poetry (1965), and Brian Elliott’s The Landscape of Australian Poetry (1967).
They were published at a time of great social and cultural change in this country and globally. While the two books presented quite different perspectives in many regards, both had an enormous impact on the contemporary perception of Australian poetry, and arguably on its future development.
1965 was also the year in which the impact was most keenly felt of the publication of (the then) Kath Walker’s first volume, We Are Going. The responses to this collection are examined in more detail in Chapter 3: suffice to say here that the ramifications of its publication were widespread and ongoing throughout the 1960s and beyond.
Following on from Elliott’s work (which traces various developments in Australian poetry up to the early part of the 1960s), I have taken 1965 as the starting point of the contextual framework of this thesis, and traced developments in poetic consciousness of the landscape from that point up to 1990.
This twenty-five year time frame incorporates the publication dates of important modern work by many of our leading poets (Judith Wright, for example, is mentioned, only briefly, as a young up-and-coming by Elliott), as well as the celebration of the Bicentennial.
Importantly, it takes us up to the beginnings of mainstream political debates during the 1990s over ‘Reconciliation’, the Native Title Act, and the Wik and Mabo judgements. Given the centrality to these discussions of Aboriginal peoples’ connections with their country, the general issues with which this thesis is concerned have taken on a broader significance in Australian political life in this decade, and possibly beyond. Hence from the perspective of the late 1990s, the broader impact of the early political and creative work of poets such as Oodgeroo and Wright can be seen in a timely historical (and even causal) relation to the mass public debates of the current year.
All poems considered in the research fall within the time-frame of 1965 to 1990, unless otherwise indicated. Some of the critical works to which I refer, however, may have been written outside that time-frame. Fortunately, a growing number of works in the area have been published recently (such as Veronica Brady’s biography of Judith Wright, Simon Schama’s Landscape and Memory, and George Seddon’s Landprints), and these have been able to be considered where relevant.
In addition, 1998 has afforded the luxury of two major exhibitions (and ensuing academic discussion) on landscape painting: ‘New Worlds From Old’, at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, and ‘The Modern Landscape 1940—1965’ at the Museum of Modern Art at Heide.
Research frameworks
The basic research began with a preliminary literature search, followed by further more extensive literature searches throughout the preparation of this document. Primary sources, such as the journals of Joseph Banks and the writings of early colonists such as Watkin Tench (recently republished) were consulted where possible.
This initial process was followed by the framing of a structure for examination of some central themes which quickly emerged from the reading, identification of key references, and the selection of a number of individual poems (approximately one hundred) which would assist in illustrating some of the issues at hand.
The Bibliography was maintained throughout the research as part of this process, and became a useful research tool.
The poems selected were examined in detail, and indexed. Those finally chosen for discussion within the text are generally placed in the context of each poet’s work, and usually in chronological order (if the works considered span a significant time-frame, as in the case of Judith Wright). Cross-referencing is incorporated where appropriate.
Issues
In my initial reading for this thesis I became aware of several general questions I wished to raise.
Those questions included: Are there differences between the ways in which Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal poets perceive and describe the landscape? If so, are these differences political, cultural, aesthetic or linguistic?
How do a sense of place and/or belonging impact upon the imagery and even the language of particular poets? Specifically, how has the nation’s yearning to belong to the land influenced its poetry?
What are the connections between these questions, and the historical development of cultural identities in Australia?
Thus this thesis is structured in a way which allows a survey of these questions. A necessarily brief historical and political framework informs the study of specific poems by modern poets, whose work is then considered in two separate sections, one focusing on indigenous poets, and the second on those non-Aboriginal poets whose work directly touches upon the experience of colonisation and the Aboriginal people. A specific section covers the development of Aboriginalism in poetry (see 4.2).
I should note here that I was also interested in the questions of whether or not the gender of a poet had an impact on the ways in which they relate to landscape, and also the ways in which different regions (and urban areas) of the country have been described by poets, but regretfully decided that separate theses would probably be required to investigate those issues thoroughly. Hence, lengthy discussions of the work of Gwen Harwood, Robert Adamson, Vincent Buckley, Dorothy Hewett and David Malouf have had to be discarded.
Selection of poems for analysis
While the research for this thesis considered a broad range of poems, and several schools throughout the development of Australian literature, I have chosen a number of poets and their work for specific analysis. This approach enabled examination of a number of differing regional and thematic concerns in some depth, rather than being limited to a brief survey of poems supporting the thesis.
I have chosen several key poets for discussion in this paper because their poetry engaged with those questions outlined above. Likewise, the individual poems selected for discussion may not include each poet’s most famous or best work, but rather those which indicate most clearly the poet’s situation in relation to his or her landscape.
Hence, the poets whose work is specifically considered in this research are: Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Lionel Fogarty, Jack Davis, Judith Wright, Lee Cataldi, Billy Marshall-Stoneking, and Les Murray. These poets’ positions in regard to the questions raised (above) are clarified on an individual basis within the text.
This thesis examines the work of Wright, Davis, Fogarty and Cataldi at some length because many of their poems are amongst the best representations of certain thematic threads in the development of Australian poets’ understanding of landscape.
Overall, I believe that the selection of individuals and their poems provides a useful range of backgrounds, concerns, styles and demographic variables with which to examine some of the complex ways in which Australian poets relate to the landscape.
Bibliography
A Bibliography forms part of this work, and all references can be found therein.
The Bibliography is divided into three broad sections: collections of poetry directly or indirectly considered in the thesis; poetry anthologies and other collections which provided background information; and other texts to which I have referred directly or which have informed the research.
Style
I have chosen to write this thesis in language and terms as clear and reader-friendly as possible, without compromising some of the complex concepts involved in the discussion. This is a decision designed to enable the paper to be accessible to potential readers across various disciplines; therefore technical terms unfamiliar to the general reader have been avoided in some instances, or explained where their use is of value to the discourse.
I have used the Harvard system of referencing in the body of the text and Bibliography, and have avoided the use of footnotes. Publication dates cited in the text are of first publication, to place the quote in its contemporary context: publication dates of the editions to which I have referred are included in the Bibliography.
For ease of reference, bibliographical notes on poems considered at any length in the text appear at the end of the chapter in which they are discussed.
Book titles are in italics, poem or article titles in single inverted commas, and direct quotations are in double inverted commas. Longer extracts from texts or poems are indented.
Style in the Bibliography is the same as that used in the body of the text, except that book or publication titles are underlined in the Bibliography. A number of internet sites are listed either as references, or for general reading. I have provided only the home page URL for each, as web sites often restructure individual page addresses without adequate redirection, and specific references can be lost.
Note of clarification:
During the writing of this thesis there has been some public debate over the Aboriginality, and hence the critical credibility, of Mudrooroo. I have chosen to continue to make reference to critical work published prior to 1996, particularly Writing From the Fringe.
I would argue that his critique of writing and publishing in this country continues to hold currency regardless of his personal background, and many of his published opinions have also been voiced or echoed by others, including many Aboriginal writers and activists. However troublesome, it remains a central part of the discourse around Aboriginal writing, and is treated as such.