Durack also continued to write children's literature, most notably the story of the Nyungar man, Yagan, which was published in 1964 as The Courteous Savage: Yagan of the Bibbulmun and Tjakamarra: Boy between two worlds. A biography, To Be Heirs Forever, also used Eliza Shaw as a subject. Other important works include the saga of the Durack family, Kings in Grass Castles (1959) and its sequel, Sons in the Saddle and a play, Swan River Saga: Life of Early Pioneer Eliza Shaw (1976). In 1950 she wrote the novel Keep Him My Country.
The column represented some of the first work Durack published as a paid writer, however, she felt limited by the demands of her readers and would often hide in her office to avoid meeting with fans of 'The Corner'. Mary Durack wrote under the name "Virgilia" for The Western Mail between 1934–38, in a column for women and children in rural areas called Virgilians' Friendly Corner. The collaboration was to produce a number of children's books: Chunuma in 1936 Son of Djaro and the Way of the Whirlwind in 1940–1941 The Magic Trumpet in 1946 and To Ride a Fine Horse (1963). The text in All About: The Story of a Black Community on Argyle Station was supplied by Mary and the illustrations were by Elizabeth. In 1935 Mary and her sister, Elizabeth, were to publish their first collaboration. The story of her family's history, beginning with the mid-19th century migration from Ireland, is presented by Durack in Kings in Grass Castles, and its sequel, Sons in the Saddle. The Durack family were pioneers in the settlement of the area by Europeans. They learnt from the local indigenous women everything from how to cook to how to muster cattle. During these times they would live and work very closely with the indigenous people who worked on, and lived near the station.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s Mary and her sister Elizabeth would manage the Ivanhoe cattle station, whilst their brother would leave to manage Argyle Downs. Mary Durack, born in Adelaide, South Australia, to Michael Patrick Durack (1865–1950) and Bessie Durack (née Johnstone), and her siblings lived at the remote Argyle Downs and Ivanhoe cattle stations in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. She wrote Kings in Grass Castles and Keep Him My Country. Dame Mary Durack AC DBE (20 February 1913 – 16 December 1994) was an Australian author and historian.
0 kommentar(er)
