Manuscript Name	Papers of Eric Rolls
Manuscript Number	MSS 139
Last Updated	May 2020
Extent	22 boxes 5 oversize 2 AV
Location	Special Collections, UNSW Canberra
Abstract	Correspondence, working notes, news clippings, drafts and typescripts written or collected by Eric Rolls

 

Collection Subject Type

Literary

Scope and Content

This collection relates to Eric Rolls and his work as an author and poet, including correspondence, notes, news clippings, drafts, typescripts, magazines and cassettes. Works include 'The green mosaic', 'A million wild acres', 'Celebration of the senses', 'Doorways' and Rolls’ history of the Chinese in Australia

Date Range of Content

1950s-1988

Biographical Note

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Charles_Rolls

Eric Rolls was born to a farming family in Grenfell, New South Wales in 1923. After attending Fort Street High School, he served with the Australian Imperial Force as a signaller in Papua New Guinea and Bougainville. From 1948 until 1986 he farmed in north-west New South Wales as well as writing, often spending time researching at the Mitchell Library in Sydney. As a writer for children and adults, he wrote poetry and prose works on a variety of topics including Australia’s natural history, food and China’s relationship with Australia

References:
Austlit  : Eric Rolls https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A10160 retrieved 14 April 2020

 

Administrative Information

 

Access and Copying Conditions

Access: Open Access

This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy

Copying: Copying of material for private study and research is approved

Preferred Citation

Papers of Eric Rolls, Special Collections, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, MSS 139, Box [Number], Folder [Number]

Provenance

This material was acquired from Eric Rolls in two consignments in 1989

Related Material

Further papers of Eric Rolls are held by the National Library of Australia at MS 7027, and the State Library of New South Wales at MLMSS 1583

 

Subject Keywords

 

Subjects

Australian Poetry – 20^th Century

Eric C. Rolls, 1923-2007 – Archives

Nature in literature

Personal Names

Eric C. Rolls, 1923-2007

Occupations

Poets

Naturalists

Authors

 

Container List

 

Box 1

Folders 1-3

Correspondence regarding A Million Wild Acres

Folders 4-6

Correspondence: Joan; John Tierney’s first letter; John Thompson; miscellaneous correspondence

Folders 7-8

Celebration of the Senses - working notes and correspondence

 

Box 2

Folder 9

Notes – mining

Folders 10-11

China - notes, correspondence and miscellanea

Folders 12-13

Chinese – notes

Folder 14

Hong Kong – expenses; Notes - Volumes I and II, Chapters 1 and 2

 

Box 3

Folder 15

Notes - Chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Folders 16-17

Celebration of the Senses - manuscript plus first typescript

Folder 18

‘New Guinea Mosaic’ (The Green Mosaic : Memories of New Guinea)

Folder 19

‘The Fortean’ - High School Magazine

Folder 20

Correspondence

School Books

 

Box 4

Folder 21

A Million Wild Acres – galleys

Folders 22-23

A Million Wild Acres

 

Box 5

Folders 24-26

A Million Wild Acres

Folders 27-29

‘Smallpox and Leprosy’

Folder 30

‘Leprosy’

Folder 31

‘Smallpox and Leprosy’

Folder 32

‘Opium’

 

Box 6

Folders 33-34

Chapter 1 material

Folder 35

‘Opium’

Folder 36

Chapter 1 material

Folder 37

Celebration of the Senses - alterations to second edition

Folder 38

A Million Wild Acres - master set

 

Box 7

Folders 39-41

A Million Wild Acres - correspondence

Folder 42

Early correspondence and works

Folder 43

A Million Wild Acres - treatment

Folder 44

Celebration of the Senses - manuscript

Folders 45-46

Photocopies of articles published in newspapers and magazines

 

Box 8

Folders 47-48

Photocopies of articles published in newspapers and magazines

Folder 49

‘Food’ - first typescript and photocopy

Folders 50-51

‘Smallpox and Leprosy’ - first typescript

Folder 52

‘Gambling’, ‘Opium’

Folder 53

‘Food’ - clippings and notes

Folder 54

Chinese - correspondence and miscellanea

Folder 55

‘Opium’ - modern news clippings

 

 

Box 9

Folder 56

‘Opium’ - modern news clippings

Folder 57

Chapter 4 - N.T.

Folder 58

1888

Folders 59-60

‘Gambling’

Folder 61

Personal correspondence (90 letters)

Folder 62

Correspondence from writers (44 letters)

 

Box 10

Folder 63

Correspondence: regarding talks or in appreciation (76 letters)

Folders 64-65

Correspondence: agents, publicity, Literary Board (148 letters in folders 64 and 65)

Folder 66

Correspondence: regarding natural history (62 letters)

Folder 67

Correspondence: general business (64 letters)

Folder 68

Correspondence: family (50 family letters)

Folders 69-71

Correspondence: Chinese letters pre 1984 - research

 

Box 11

Folder 172

Correspondence: Chinese letters pre 1984 - research

Correspondence in folders 69-72 includes letters to and from Ian Mudie, Gavin Souter, Ronald McKie, Geoffrey Blainey, Anne Bell, Douglas Stewart, Angus and Robertson (agent Richard Walsh), applications re grants, referees for grants (Professor CP Fitzgerald, Alex Chisolm)

Folders 73-76

Correspondence: Chinese letters after 1984 - research and general

Correspondence in folders 73-76 includes letters to and from Lady Ebury, Professor Wang Gungwu, Richard Walsh, Joh Hallows, Brian Castro, Richard Kimber, Ed Duyker, Professor CB Thornton-Smith, Nancy Keesing, Geoffrey Dutton

Folder 77

Chinese correspondence

Folder 78

Celebration of the Senses - manuscript

 

Box 12

Folder 79

‘Doorways’, Cumberland Diary

Folder 80

Celebration of the Senses - correspondence

Folder 81

‘Dairy’ - handwritten notes

Folder 82

Celebration of the Senses - correspondence

Folder 83

Literary towns

 

Box 13

Folder 84

A Million Wild Acres - index

Folder 85

‘Dairy’ - notes

Folder 86

‘Joan’

Folder 87

Celebration of the Senses - Eric Rolls’ copy

Folder 88

A Million Wild Acres - notes

 

Box 14

Folder 89

A Million Wild Acres - corrections

Folder 90

‘Chinese’ manuscript - Volume 1, Chapters 4-10

Folders 91-93

‘Chinese’ manuscript - Chapters 1-3, handwritten

Folder 94

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - Volume I ‘Sojourners’, Chapter I ‘Adventurers and Shepherds’

Folder 95

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - Chapter 2 ‘Gold Mountain Guests’

 

Box 15

Folder 96

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - Chapter 3 ‘Gold and Tin’

Folder 97

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - Chapter 4 ‘Mining in the Northern Territory’, Chapter 5 ‘Smallpox’

Folder 98

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - Chapter 6 ‘The Plague and Leprosy’, Chapter 7 ‘Gambling’, Chapter 8 ‘Opium’

Folder 99

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - Chapter 9 ‘Food’, Chapter 10 ‘1888’

Folders 100-101

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - notes, photocopies, chapter 2

Folder 102

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - notes, photocopies, chapter 3

 

Box 16

Folder 103-109

Flowers and the Wide Seas: China and Australia (biography) - notes, photocopies, chapter 3

 

Box 17

Folder 110

The Bulletin: 3 April 1957; 22 May 1957; 19 June 1957; 4 September 1957; 11 September 1957; 18 September 1957; 9 October 1957; 8 January 1958; 7 January 1959; 6 May 1959; 24 June 1959; 1 July 1959

Folder 111

The Bulletin: 20 April 1960; 27 April 1960; 25 May 1960; 29 June 1960; 3 August 1960; 17 August 1960; 24 August 1960; 14 September 1960; 12 October 1960; 30 November 1960; 7 December 1960; 28 December 1960

 

Box 18

Folder 112

The Bulletin: 4 January 1961; 15 March 1961; 29 March 1961; 12 April 1961; 3 May 1961; 17 May 1961; 17 May 1961; 24 May 1961; 10 June 1961; 24 June 1961; 8 July 1961; 15 July 1961; 22 July 1961; 29 July 1961; 5 August 1961; 12  August 1961; 19 August 1961; 23 September 1961

Folder 113

The Bulletin: 17 March 1962; 15 June 1963; 31 March 1973

Folder 114

Journals: Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 60 Part 2, June 1974; Australian Studies, Number 15, November 1984; Australian Museum Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, August 1921; Fraser Island by Angela Burger

 

Box 19

Folder 115

Reviews

Folder 116

Photocopies of material in Folder 115

Folders 117-118

They All Ran Wild - notes

Folder 119

The River - galleys

Folder 120

‘Folk in Perth’ - February 1985

Folder 121

National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife

Folder 122

The Fatal Shore - review, May 1987

Notes for The Age article ‘The Great Australian Beach’

 

Box 20

Folder 123

‘Islands in the Stream’ - manuscript

Folder 124

Article for The Sydney Morning Herald, January 1988

Folder 125

Selected poetry

Folder 126

Poetry - sixteen manuscripts - published and unpublished - mostly 1950s

 

Audio Visual material

 

Box 1

Nine (9) Cassette Tapes - see Box 12, Wallet 83

Two (2) Cassette Tapes - see Box 12, Wallet 84

Four (4) Cassette Tapes - see Box 4, Wallet 21

 

Folio 1

‘Doorways’