Guide to the Papers of Richard Beilby
Overview | Administrative Information | Container List
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Manuscript Name | Papers of Richard Beilby |
Manuscript Number | MSS 5 |
Last Updated | March 2007 |
Extent | 83 cm (8 boxes) |
Location | Academy Library, UNSW Canberra |
Abstract | This collection comprises manuscript papers and related material produced and accumulated by Richard Beilby. |
Collection Subject Type
Literary
Scope and Content
The papers of Richard Beilby include typescript drafts, notes, notebooks, research material, newspaper clippings and photographs.
Date Range of Content
1967-1988
Biographical Note
Richard Courtney Beilby was born in Malacca, Malaysia 18 July 1918 and died in 1989. He moved to Western Australia in 1928. During the Second Warld War he served in the AIF in North Africa, Greece, Crete and New Guinea. Prior to becoming a full-time novelist in 1970, Beilby worked in a number of occupations including truck driver, painter, insurance salesman and part-time union organiser.
Beilby's novels have explored such issues as the experiences of war, and the tensions between aboriginal and white cultures in an urban environment. Beilby became Vice President of the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Society of Authors in 1972, and continued to serve that organisation for many years. He was later made an Honorary Life Member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.
Richard Beilby's publications include:
The sword and the myrtle (1968)
No medals for Aphrodite (1970)
The brown land crying (1975)
Gunner : a novel of the retreat from Crete (1977)
The bitter lotus (1978).
References:
AustLit Australian Literature Gateway database, 2004.
Administrative Information
Access and Copying Conditions
Access: Check with Curator
Copying: Check with Curator
Preferred Citation
Papers of Richard Beilby, Academy Library, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Box [Number], Folder [Number].
Provenance
The collection was acquired from Richard Beilby in 1986.
Subject Keywords
Subjects
Novelists, Australian novelists
Personal Names
Richard Beilby 1918-1989
Corporate Names
Occupations
Novelist
Container List
Series 1 Novels, 1969-1978
This series comprises notes, notebooks, research material and manuscript and typescript drafts for The sword and the myrtle(1968), No medals for Aphrodite (1970), The brown land crying (1975), Gunner : a novel of the retreat from Crete (1977) and The bitter lotus (1978). The drafts are often extensively annotated and edited. The notes, notebooks and research material reveal the depth of Beilby's preparation and research, particularly for The brown land crying.
1.1, The sword and the myrtle (1968)
Comprising typescript drafts of the novel, published by Michael Joseph, London, 1968, and a copy of the shortened version entitled 'The Philobarbaros'.
Folder 1-4
Final typescript draft returned by the publisher for shortening, 1160 p., c. 1967-1968
Folder 5
'The Philobarbaros' shortened version of The sword and the myrtle - annotated carbon typescript, 790 p., c. 1967-1968
1.2, No medals for Aphrodite (1970)
Comprising typescript drafts of the novel, published by Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1970.
Folder 1
Carbon typescript draft, 604 p., c. 1970
1.3, The brown land crying (1975)
Comprising notebooks, research material and typescript drafts of the novel, published by Angus & Robertson, London; Sydney, 1975. Photocopies of research material held in Folios in Series 2 and Photographs in Series 3.
Folder 1-2
Annotated typescript notebooks containing copies of notes, interviews with and about Australian Aborigines and newspaper clippings, together with an index, 1969-1975
Folder 3
Annotated typescript draft, 620 p., c. 1975
Folder 4
Annotated carbon typescript draft, 577 p., c. 1975
Folder 5-7
Newspaper clippings of research notes, 1969-1973
Folder 8
Research material, 1968-1975
1.4, Gunner : a novel of the retreat from Crete (1977)
Comprising three typescript drafts of the novel entitled 'King-pawn one', 'Fool's mate' and 'Pawns pay now', published by Angus & Robertson, London, 1977.
Folder 1
'King-pawn one' - annotated carbon typescript draft, 543 p., c. 1976-1977
Folder 2
'Fool's mate' - annotated typescript draft, 378 p. and 154 p., c. 1976-1977
Folder 3
'Pawns pay now' - carbon typescript draft, 367 p., c. 1976-1977
1.5, The bitter lotus (1978)
Comprising typescript drafts of the novel, published by Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1978.
Folder 1
Annotated typescript and carbon typescript draft, 346 p., 29/8/1976
Folder 2
Annotated carbon typescript draft, 319 p., January-June 1977
Folder 3
Annotated page proofs, 283 p., 1978
Series 2 Folios, 1969-1973
This series comprises photocopies of research material for Series 1 The brown land crying and a newspaper clipping relating to 'The ice cream eaters' a novel in progress.
Box-folder 1
Photocopies of research material for The brown land crying and a newspaper clipping relating to 'The ice cream eaters' a novel in progress, 1969-c. 1988
Series 3 Photographs, 1970
This series comprises photographs of research material for Series 1 The brown land crying.
Box-folder 1
Black and white photographs of research, 1970
Including:
Six photographs of Aborigines in different locations
Two photographs of Statutory Declarations by Reginald Gillespie and Austin Edward Dodd
Photograph of a letter to Mrs Trainor from Peter Stewart