The Australian Women's Register

A collection of papers relating to the literary careers of Ruth Park and D’Arcy Niland. Among Ruth Park’s papers are documents relating to her books including The Road Under the Sea, Swords and Crowns and Rings, Playing Beattie Bow, The Muddleheaded Wombat series, The Big Brass Key, The Harp in the South and Callie’s family. D’Arcy Niland’s papers include notebooks, short stories and journalism. BOX 1 Notebooks, including those from Boronia Street, Redfern, 1939-1943 and pocket notebooks re: Les Darcy, 1930s-1960s / D’Arcy Niland Printed books, being a Sunday missal and a ninepenny dictionary / D’Arcy Niland BOX 2 Registers of manuscripts (4), including title, when and where submitted for publication, result (accepted or rejected), comment and price paid, 1942-1966 / D’Arcy Niland Register of i.e. Royalties re English and Foreign editions, 1955-1961 / D’Arcy Niland CHILDREN’S BOOKS Callie’s Family (edited typescript) /Ruth Park The Road Under the Sea Includes corrected typescript, notes, newscuttings of research articles and letter received from Ure Smith Pty Ltd, 2 Mar. 1962 re manuscript, 1959-1962 / Ruth Park Quiet Holiday Include outline of story; 1st, 2nd and final versions, being corrected typescript and carbon typescripts; printed copy from School Magazine, Vol. 42, No. 8, Oct. 1957-Part 3, pp. 248-253; enlarged version, being corrected typescript, for Hodder and letters received from NSW Dept. of Education, 1952-1953, 1957; with a radio play, The New Year at Billyboona, being carbon typescript; and synopsis of The Mystery of Acorn Hill, 1952-1957 / Ruth Park Merchant Campbell [Robert Campbell] Includes working notes, chronology, corrected and edited typescripts and correspondence with Anne Bower Ingram, Collins, 1974-1975 / Ruth Park BOX 3 CHILDREN’S BOOKS The Gigantic Balloon Includes corrected typescript and correspondence with Anne Bower Ingram (Collins), 1974 / Ruth Park When the Wind Changes Includes corrected typescript / Ruth Park The Big Brass Key Edited typescript and letter received from Jane Ferrier, Hodder & Stoughton Australia, 14 Dec. 1983 / Ruth Park Roger Bandy (This was published but never appeared in bookshops) Includes corrected and final typescript versions; original artwork; correspondence, 1975-1976, with Tess van Sommers, Editorial Consultant, and Rigby Ltd; with note by Ruth Park, 12 Oct. 1993, 1970-1976 / Ruth Park Come Danger, Come Darkness Edited typescript and letter received from Margaret D. Hamilton, Hodder & Stoughton Australia, 16 Sep. 1985 BOX 4 Swords and Crowns and Rings (1977) Working notes, chronology, copies of agreement between Ruth Park and Nicholas Beauman assigning rights to Swords, 1984, and film script of ‘Cushie & Jack’ by Peter Smalley (typescript) based on the novel (option lapsed) / Ruth Park Publisher’s shorter edited copy, typescript, carbon typescript, 812 pp. / Ruth Park BOX 5 The Jackaman Archives [One Man’s Kingdom], being television script for 13 episodes. Includes working notes, drafts and final version, One Man’s Kingdom, being typescript and correspondence, 1962-1969, with i.e. Australian Broadcasting Commission, Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and Henri Safran, 1962-1973 / Ruth Park, D’Arcy Niland No Decision (winner of the Associated Television Ltd Play Competition, 1961) Includes corrected typescript, reviews, and correspondence with Curtis Brown Ltd., London, 1961-1962 / Ruth Park, D’Arcy Niland Correspondence, being mainly letters received, re Harp in the South (1948) (winner of the 1946 Sydney Morning Herald novel competition). Correspondents include Jon Cleary, Eleanor Dark, Beatrice Davis, Jean Devanny and Tom Hungerford, 1945-1953 / Ruth Park, D’Arcy Niland Newscuttings mainly re SMH Competition, and of The Harp in the South, and Sunday Herald posters advertising serialisation of Poor Man’s Orange, 1946-1950s / Ruth Park Newscuttings of articles and reviews re Ruth Park and her work, with b&w photograph of book display of Ruth Park’s Pink Flannel (1955), 1946-1977 / Ruth Park BOX 6 How I survived the Scott Ordeal by Prof. Griffith Taylor as told to D’Arcy Niland. Cavalier Magazine, Sep. 1961, pp. 27-31, 70-76, with typescript note by Ruth Park [1993] / D’Arcy Niland Aerial Pioneers Printed. Walkabout, 1 May 1951, pp. 33-37 / D’Arcy Niland Champion Axemen (Typescript) / D’Arcy Niland Men of the Shed, The Reveller’s Homecoming and Christmas Eve at Whissonsett, being signed typescript verse / D’Arcy Niland Shearing Shed Days: Aventures in the Outback (III), King Among the Jumbuck Barbers (Shearing Shed Days) being typescripts / D’Arcy Niland Blue Tongues and Greasiers and The Jumbucks Are … Number 2′, being rough typescripts on reverse of letters received, 1943-1944, from i.e. ABC, Angus & Robertson and Australia National Journal / D’Arcy Niland The Maker of Cities by Rupene Ruapapere [pseud]. Includes notes, typescript and printed copy from Argosy magazine with a radio feature, A Maker of Cities’ (carbon typescript), with note by Ruth Park, Oct. 1993 / D’Arcy Niland The Shiralee – Ballads Includes fragments and draft of letter from Darcy Niland to Beatrice Davis, 20 Feb. 1955, with note by Ruth Park, Oct. 1993 / Darcy Niland, Ruth Park Papers re South Australian Film Corportion’s television rights to The Shirilee Includes correspondence, 1987-1988, with Phillips Fox, Solicitors and Curtis Brown, London and letters received by Darcy Niland from Angus and Robertson Ltd, London , 1959, 1964 / Ruth Park, D’Arcy Niland The Tasmania We Love (1987) by Ruth Park and Cedric Emanuel Includes notes, worksheets, maps, index roughs, photocopied typescript and correspondence with Cedric Emanuel, 1985-1987 / Ruth Park BOX 7 3 Muddleheaded/Wombat Books/complete files: The Muddlehearted Wombat Stays at Home. Includes notes, rough drafts, corrected and edited typescripts Wombat Picturebooks Nos 1-3: 1. The Muddleheaded Wombat and The Bush Band Carbon typescript and copy of letter from Ruth Park to Angus & Roberson Ltd., 27 July 1972 3. The Muddleheaded Wombat and Clean-Up Day Carbon typescripts (2) (finished 2.7.74) The Muddleheaded Wombat and the Invention Carbon typescript and Wombat in the Dry Weather, being corrected typescript of earlier version The Muddleheaded Wombat is Very Bad (carbon typescript) Playing Beatie Bow (1980) Includes notes, family tree of characters, corrected and edited typescripts and letters received / Ruth Park Correspondence re Beatie Bow tour of The Rocks, Sydney, 1985 / Ruth Park Papers re: dispute over payment from South Australian Film Corporation, 1985-1986 / Ruth Park BOX 8 Short Stories Include ‘The Last Assignment’, and ‘A Cargo for Topacki’ with notes by Ruth Park, 1978, 1993, 1930-1960s / Darcy Niland Short Stories 2, being further stories, with notes by Ruth Park, 1978, 1993 / Darcy Niland Reviews of D’Arcy Niland’s stories and mentions in newspapers, with programme for ‘Harp in the South’ a play in 3 Acts’ by Ruth Park and Leslie Rees at The Independent Theatre, North Sydney, 1949, 1944-1966 / Darcy Niland The Penguin Best Stories of D’Arcy Niland (1987) Includes edited photocopied typescript / Ruth Park BOX 9 The Harp in the South, being television scripts for six episodes, dramatised by Eleanor Witcombe, with revisions by Ruth Park and George Whaley (photocopied typescript) / Ruth Park BOX 10 Papers re television production of ‘The Harp in the South’ by Anthony Buckley Films Pty Ltd. Includes script amendments, shooting schedule, memoranda to cast & crew and ‘News Bulletin No. 2 : A report to our Investor, March 1986’ / Ruth Park Further papers re television production of ‘The Harp in the South’, inscribed ‘File Commenced 30.10.83’, with notes by Ruth Park / 1983-1986 / Ruth Park Scripts, including cast offs of ‘Harp in the South’ (photocopied typescript) / Ruth Park BOX 11 Ghosts Along The Quay (Famous old clipper ships in Sydney Harbour) by Cyril Hume and D’Arcy Niland, being a radio documentary Corrected typescript and carbon typescript D’Arcy Niland Walkabout folder: Correspondence, 1965-1966, with Brian McArdle, Editor. Walkabout; notebook and photographs re Frank Hurley and boxing / Darcy Niland Boy With A Dream Carbon typescript and printed copy from A.M., Jan. 1953 Ruby Robert and the Rubber Ball MS., corrected typescript and carbon typescript, and printed copy from A.M., 12 Jan. 1954 The Great Hackensmidt Corrected typescript, carbon typescript. Published as ‘The Russian Lion’ in A.M., 31 Mar. 1953 Old Battlers Lived Longer Typescript, carbon typescript and printed copy from A.M., 21 July 1953 A Nice Boxing Day All Round Includes notes, drafts of earlier versions ‘ A Very Nice Xmas All Round’ and ‘An Unusual Xmas Round’, and letter received from Walkabout, 11 Mar. 1966 The Small World of Jamesy Rice Notes, drafts and printed copy from Walkabout, Dec. 1966 Geraldine by Ruth Park and D’Arcy Niland (shortlisted ATV competition) (typescript) Printed Books (10) The Adventures of the Muddle-Headed Wombat (A&R Commemorative edition, 1986), and Swedish, German, Norwegian and Finnish editions BOX 12 Reviews and publicity material mainly, Call me When The Cross Turns Over (1957), Make Your Stories Sell (1955), Be Your Own Editor (1959), The Big Smoke (1959), Pairs & Loners (1966), The Apprentices (1965) and Dead Men Running (1969) / Darcy Niland Reviews of The Muddle-Headed Wombat in the Tree Tops (1965) and The Muddle-Headed Wombat at School (1966) / Ruth Park The Drums Go Bang (1956) Includes notes, corrected typescript and carbon typescript of previously titled ‘A Welcome To Wits’ End’; correspondence, 1954-1955, with Woman’s Choice; and corrected proof copy / Ruth Park, D’Arcy Niland