MS 7935
Papers of Olaf Ruhen (1911-1989)



Scope and Content Note

  • 1926-86
  • 10 metres (70 boxes + folio package)
  • Available for reference

Biographical Note

Olaf Ruhen was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1911 and served with the RNZAF during the Second World War. In 1947 he moved to Sydney and worked as a journalist for eight years. He became established as a freelance writer during the 1950s, having a number of short stories published in the Saturday evening post. From then until his death in 1989 he published a prolific quantity of documentary and fictional writing, based largely on his extensive travels in Australia, New Guinea and the South Pacific.

His books include five novels, Naked under Capricorn (1958), Whiteman's shoes (1960), The Flockmaster (1963), The Broken wing (1965) and Scan the dark coast (1969); documentary accounts of New Guinea, Mountains in the clouds (1963), of the South Pacific, Tangaroa's godchild (1962) and of the whale hunters of Tonga, Harpoon in my hand (1966); an account of a Japanese shipwreck in the South Pacific, Minerva Reef (1963); a novel for children, Corcoran's the name (1967); and a manual for writers, Writing: the craft of creative fiction (1964).

Series List

  1. Correspondence, 1926-86
  2. Photographs
  3. Subject files, 1938-85
  4. Newspapers cuttings, 1938-1980s
  5. Literary drafts, 1940s-1980s
  6. Printed material, 1947-81

Series Description

SERIES 1 CORRESPONDENCE

BOX 1

Family letters, 1926-7
Letters to wife and son, 1942-3

BOX 2

Letters to wife and son, Dec. 1943-1945
Letters received from various people, 1941-5
Letters to sister Doris, 1943-82

BOX 3

Correspondence with first wife, 1950s
Papers re death of first wife (1958), including letters of sympathy
Letters from son Carl, 1951-66
Letters from and photographs of Adrienne Germaine, 1952-6
Miscellaneous correspondence with friends, 1947-67

BOX 4

Letters from friends, 1968-86
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1953-83

BOX 5

Correspondence with friends in the USA, 1971-84
Correspondence re Papua New Guinea, 1972-82
Correspondence with universities and libraries, 1972-86
Correspondence with Australian governments, 1974-83
Correspondence re teaching activities, 1963-6, 1972-81

BOX 6

Miscellaneous correspondence, 1957-63
Fan mail, 1956-69
Correspondence re films of Ruhen's work including Naked under
Capricorn

BOX 7

Correspondence with publishers and agents including Laurence Pollinger,         
Sanford Greenburger, the Saturday evening post, William Sloan, Little Brown     
and Co.,                                                                        
McDonald Chesire, Minerva Bookshop and Lippincott, 1950s-1960s.                 

BOX 8

Correspondence with publishers, 1960-71, including Sun Books, Rigby,
National geographic and The Writer.

BOX 9

Correspondence with publishers and agents, 1970-86, including Cassell,          
William Collins, Curtis Brown, Greenburger (some 1960s), Hodder and             
Stoughton, Viking Press, JCA Associates, Angus and Robertson, Readers Digest,   
Rigby, Pollinger and the Encyclopedia Britannica.                               

BOX 10

Melbourne Harbour Trust, 1963-77
Joanne Greenberg, 1979-84
Australian Society of Authors, 1985-6
Miscellaneous literary correspondence, 1972-86

SERIES 2 PHOTOGRAPHS

BOX 11

Second World War photographs depicting squadron personnel and aerial views of   
   bombing missions, family photographs and other photographs taken in the      
                          course of Ruhen's travels.                            

SERIES 3 SUBJECT FILES

N.B. Some files include correspondence

BOX 12

Personal biographical miscellania, 1938-67
Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, 1957
Financial papers, including taxation records, 1953-63
Travel documents and papers re overseas trips, 1960s-70s
Archaelogy of dinosaurs
Port of Melbourne Centenary presentation folder
Melbourne Harbour Trust report on National War Organisation, 
typescript with photographs, 1944
USA Copyright certificates, 1957
Sketch book of M Smith, 1896-98
P.E.N. Congress, 1977-8
Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions
for Television, 1963

BOX 13

The Soka Gakkai, Japan, 1968-80
Roseville Writing Group, 1968 Anthology
University of Sydney Dept. of Adult Education Creative Writing
Course, 1968-9
Notes on the Myall Lakes, 1977
R.M. Williams, 1980-85
Air Force and aeronautics, 1940s
ACLAS Conference, Fiji, 1980

BOX 14

Trobriand Islands, 1945-71
Papua New Guinea, 1940s and 1950s
Tonga, 1971-83
New Hebrides, 1967
Fiji, 1967
Solomon Islands, 1967

SERIES 4 NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS

BOX 15

1938-1950s, including reviews of Ruhen's books and articles by and about Ruhen  

BOXES 16-17

Miscellaneous cuttings, 1960s

BOX 18

Cuttings and reviews re Minerva Reef, 1960s-1970s

BOX 19

Miscellaneous cuttings, 1970s-1980s

SERIES 5 LITERARY DRAFTS

BOX 20

 Typescript and handwritten drafts on 14 X 22 cm. sheets of reporters' paper,   
   circa 1940s.  Includes "Roof of dreams" and an autobiographical work on      
                          Ruhen's time in the RNZAF.                            

BOXES 21-28

Unsorted drafts of miscellaneous short stories and articles.

BOX 29

Angels tread lightly
Australia: this changing land, 1972

BOX 30

Australian fisheries, 1968
Australia 200, 1969

BOX 31

Australia 200, 1969
Battleground South Pacific, 1970

BOX 32

Beneath whose hand: the Autobiography of R.M. Williams, 1984

BOX 33

Beneath whose hand, 1984
Broken wing, 1965

BOX 34

Broken wing, 1965
Corcoran's the name, 1967

BOX 35

Bullock teams: the building of a nation  -  research material, 1978-9

BOX 36

Bullock teams  -  drafts, 1979-80

BOX 37

The Flockmaster, 1963
Guardian angel, 1968

BOXES 38-42

Freebooter: the notorious life of the Pacific's Bully Hayes, 1984
(includes research material)

BOX 43

A Harpoon in my hand, 1964 -6   (includes correspondence)

BOX 44

Land of the Dahori, 1957
The Last paradise
Look at him clearly

BOX 45

Laurence Hargrave: explorer, inventor and aviation experimenter,
1977
Macquarie's five towns, 1970
Mountain ranges of Papua New Guinea, article for Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1970    (includes correspondence)

BOXES 46-47

Minerva Reef, 1963

BOX 48

Mountains in the clouds, 1963
Naked under Capricorn, 1958

BOX 49

Opening the oceans, 1983
Port of Melbourne: 1835-1976, 1976

BOXES 50-51

Port of Melbourne: 1835-1976, 1976

BOX 52

Rigby Sketchbook series: Historic buildings of Sydney, 1972
Balmain sketchbook, 1974
Sydney sketchbook, 1977

BOX 53

Sailing free around the world, by Laurence Le Guay, as told to
Olaf Ruhen
Scan the dark coast, 1969
Shark attacks and adventures, 1974-5

BOX 54

South Pacific adventure, 1966-8                            

BOX 55

South Pacific, 1967-8
The Stockman, 1982-3

BOX 56

Syd's pirates: a lifetime with Cathay Pacific, by Charles Eather
[ghosted by Ruhen], 1982

BOX 57

A Swimmer in the surf, 1961
The Traders of Teleia, 1984

BOX 58

Tangaroa's godchild, 1962

BOX 59

White man's shoes, 1960
Writing: the craft of creative fiction, 1964

BOXES 60-61

Book reviews by Ruhen

SERIES 6 PRINTED MATERIAL CONTAINING WORK BY OR ABOUT RUHEN

BOX 62

The Bulletin, 1958-81  (see also folio run for The Bulletin, 1947-56)

BOXES 63-64

People, 1950-69, includes typed index to volume 1 by Ruhen

BOX 65

Saturday evening post, 1954-62

BOX 66

Pix, 1949-58; John Bull, 1954-63; Australian women's weekly, 1959-64; Lektyr, 1959

BOX 67

Various literary magazines, 1957-80

BOX 68

Man, 1956-70; Adam, 1964-6

BOX 69

Clubman, 1950s; Chance international, 1970s; Miscellaneous periodicals

BOX 70

Miscellaneous publications

Box 71

Addition 28 December 1995

South African Defence - Aid Fund, 1963-72

Naked Under Capricorn, - correspondence, 1958-80
Personal correspondence, 1957-59

Contracts, 1935; 1961-75

Contracts, 1968-83

Typescript draft

Addition 6 February 1996

Letters to Ruhen's son Carl, 1957-61

BOX 72

Addition 20 June 2002

Letters from Joanne Greenberg to Ruhen (1984-87), letters from publishers and royalty statements (1984-86), papers on Bread Loaf Writers, 1957