MS 9000
Papers of Nadia Wheatley (1949- )



Scope and Content Note

  • Papers
  • 1977-95
  • 2.52m. (18 boxes) + 1 folio box
  • Partly restricted: correspondence with Barbara Mobbs (series 1 folders 13-14) restricted until Wheatley's death.
The papers were purchased by the Library in 1996.

The collection was arranged in the present series structure by Nadia Wheatley, with the exception of the material relating to the novel, television, film and stage productions of Five times dizzy, which was brought together into the same series by Library staff. This list is strongly based on a list received from Wheatley. Wheatley's background notes to her works have been retained as appendices.

The papers comprise writing and publishing correspondence, correspondence with school children, drafts, synopses, maps, notes research material, cuttings, page and cover proofs, flyers and other papers relating to her novels and children's books Five times dizzy, Dancing in the Anzac deli, The house that was Eureka, The blooding, My place, and Lucy in the leap year. They also include papers relating to her book of short stories The night Tolkien died, her dealings with the ABC over the series The museum of here and now, the stage production of Lucy in the leap year and the stage, film and television productions of Five times dizzy.

Biographical Note

Nadia Wheatley was born in Sydney in 1949. She has written primarily novels, short stories, and scripts for children and teenagers.

Bibliography

Books:

Five times dizzy, Oxford University Press, 1982
Dancing in the Anzac deli
, Oxford University Press, 1984
The house that was Eureka
, Viking Kestrel, 1985
1 is for one
, illus. Helen Leitch, Oxford University Press, 1986
My place
, illus. Donna Rawlins, Collins Dove, 1987
The blooding
, Viking Kestrel, 1987
Lucy in the leap year
, Omnibus, 1993
The night Tolkien died
, Random House, 1994

Books edited:

Charmian Clift, Trouble in lotus land, Harper Collins, 1990
Charmian Clift, Being alone with oneself, Harper Collins, 1991
Landmarks
, Turton & Chambers, 1991

Short Stories in the following anthologies:

Hard feelings, ed. Alison Fell, The Women's Press, 1979
And so say all of us
, ed. Pearlie McNeill and Marie McShea, Second Back Row Press, 1981
Room to move,
ed. Suzanne Falkiner, Unwin Paperbacks, 1985
Absolutely rapt
, Oxford University Press, 1990
The blue dress
, ed. Libby Hathorn, Heinemann, 1991
Landmarks
, ed. Nadia Wheatley, Turton & Chambers 1991
Goodbye and hello
, ed. Clodagh Corcoran & Margot Tyrrell, Viking 1992
The Oxford book of children's stories
, ed. Jan Mark, OUP, 1993
Weddings and wives
, ed. Dale Spender, Penguin, 1994
She's fantastical
, ed. Lucy Sussex & Judith Buckrich, Sybylla, 1995
Ready or not
, ed. Mark Macleod, Random House 1996
Hide and seek
, ed. Jenny Pausacker, Reed, 1996

Chapters in the Following Australian History Collections:

Social policy in Australia, ed. Jill Roe, Cassell, 1976
Twentieth century Sydney
, ed. Jill Roe, Hale & Iremonger 1980
The wasted years?,
ed. Judy Mackinolty, George Allen & Unwin, 1981
Making a life
, ed. Verity Burgmann and Jenny Lee, McPhee Gribble, Penguin, 1988

Scripts:

Charmian Clift and George Johnston, radio documentary, with Garry Kinnane, Radio Helicon, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1985
Five times dizzy
, with Terry Larsen, 12-part television mini-series, Samson Productions/ Special Broadcasting Service, 1986.

Awards:

Five times dizzy (novel)
New South Wales Premier's Special Children's Book Award, 1983
Highly Commended, Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers, 1983
IBBY Honour Award
Five times dizzy (television mini-series)
AWGIE for Best Adaptation, Children's Television Drama, 1987
Dancing in the Anzac deli
Commended, Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers, 1984
IBBY Award 1985
The house that was Eureka
New South Wales Premier's Children's Book Award 1985
Commended, Children's Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers, 1985
Shortlisted Vogel Award, 1984
My place (illustrated by Donna Rawlins)
Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Younger Readers, 1988
Eve Pownall Award for Non-fiction, 1988
IBBY Award, 1988
KOALA Award, 1988
White Raven Award, 1988
Listed US Library Best Books for Young People, 1988
Lucy in the leap year
Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Younger Readers, 1994
Shortlisted New South Wales Ministry for the Arts Awards, 1994
Shortlisted Mulicultural Award, 1994
The night Tolkien died
Honour Book, Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers, 1995

Series List

  1. Writing and publishing correspondence, 1981-93
  2. Correspondence with children, 1983-95
  3. Five times dizzy, 1977-83
  4. Dancing in the Anzac deli, 1982-83
  5. The house that was Eureka, 1982
  6. The blooding, 1986
  7. My place, 1986-87
  8. Lucy in the leap year, 1984-96
  9. The night Tolkien died, 1978-93
  10. The museum of here and now, 1988-89
  11. Short stories, 1977-95

    Series Description

    Series 1 Writing and Publishing Correspondence, 1981-93

    Correspondence dealing with all Wheatley's fiction books from Five times dizzy (1982) to The night Tolkien died (1993), as well as some short stories, the non-fiction works Adolescent and family problems: books for young people (1988) and Landmarks (1991), the television and stage productions of Five times dizzy and My place; and progress on Wheatley's unpublished biography of Charmian Clift.
     
    The correspondence canvasses business matters such as writing grants, royalty payments, book awards, publishing agreements, foreign editions, editorial comments on books, permission to publish short stories, negotiations over book covers, copyright requests, public lending right payments, requests for articles and book reviews, Wheatley's comments on other writers' proposals for works, and invitations for visits, talks and book launches. The correspondence also contains a quantity of biographical information as well as comments by Wheatley on Australian juvenile fiction, the status of children's authors, politics, the Bicentenary, other children's authors works, Garry Kinnane's biography of George Johnston, and her involvement in the Unemployed People's Union in 1979-80. The 1990 and 1991 files contain some correspondence with students and the 1993 files contains a file on Wheatley's objections to the NSW Teachers' Federation's use of (and addition of a McDonalds logo to) an illustration from My place for its Year 3 Basic Skills test.
     
    Major correspondents include Oxford University Press, Barbara Mobbs (Wheatley's agent from 1988), Children's Book Council of Australia, International Board on Books for Young People, Penguin Books, Collins Angus & Robertson Publishers, Redress Press, SBS, Rosalind Price (Pixel Publishing), Omnibus Books, Belle Alderman, Margaret Aitken, Katherine Scholes, Donna Rawlins, Edel Wignell, Toss Gascoigne, Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, Julie Lewis, Barbara Jefferis, and Theatre South.
     
    Folders 1-7: Writing and publishing correspondence 1981-89
    Folders 8-12: Writing and publishing correspondence 1990-93
    Folders 13-14: Correspondence with Barbara Mobbs, 1988-93 (Restricted)
    Folder 15: Assorted correspondence with Children's Book Council of Australia and the International Board on Books for Young People, 1983-89

    Series 2 Correspondence with Children, 1982-95

    Letters from school children together with replies containing background information on Wheatley's books.
    Folders 16-19: Correspondence, 1983-92
    Folder 20-21: Correspondence, 1992-95

    Series 3 Five Times Dizzy, 1977-83

    Published by Oxford University Press in 1982. The novel was adapted for the stage by Des Davis of Theatre South and for film and television by Wheatley and Terry Larsen (see also Appendix for Wheatley's background notes).
     
    The series contains papers relating to the novel Five times dizzy (working title 'A job for yaya') and later adaptations for the stage, film and television.
     
    Novel
    Folder 22: Copy of original typescript 'A job for yaya', written in Crete in 1977 and submitted to various Australian publishers 1977-78 (A few pages missing). Also includes Wheatley's background notes to the novel and stage, film and television adaptations.
    Folder 23: A complete photocopy (pages 1-75), plus incomplete photocopy 'A Job for yaya'. Latter has some changes made during next re-write.
    Folder 24: Substantial handwritten and typed drafts, synopses etc, for re-written version done in Sydney 1979-80.
    Folder 25: (i) Photocopy of clean typescript, chapters 1-4, revised version, 'A Job for yaya'. This is essentially the same as a later version titled Five Times Dizzy. (ii) Photocopy of Five Times Dizzy as submitted to and accepted by Oxford University Press, 1981. Epilogue considerably different from published version. (iii) Two copies first stage galley proofs of Five Times Dizzy. Full set with corrections copied in by Nan McNab, OUP editor; with handwritten corrections by Wheatley.
    Folder 26: (i) 2 copies second stage galley proofs, Five Times Dizzy, April 1982, handwritten corrections by Nan McNab. (ii) Shooting schedule for ABC Education program on the writing of Five Times Dizzy, directed by Sophia Turkiewitz. (iii) Early correspondence relating to 'A Job for yaya' and Five Times Dizzy, including letters from Wayne Davies 1977 re chemistry, anonymous Penguin rejection, notes by Wheatley to OUP re the first illustrator chosen and a 1982 letter from second illustrator, Neil Phillips.
     
    Stage play
    Folder 27: Two versions of the stage play Five Times Dizzy, adapted by Des Davis, with handwritten suggestions, changes, and dialogue by Wheatley.
     
    Film scripts
    Folder 28: (i) 2 copies typed treatment of 'How Are You?' (44p) submitted to the Australian Film Commission, May 1979. Parts of novel 'A Job for yaya' incorporated into submission. Plus some draft material: including typed draft character notes and Greek notes essentially by Wheatley, with some handwritten additions by Terry Larsen and Wheatley and translations of passages from Greek mantinadhes by Martin Johnston. (ii) Chopped fragments treatment 'How Are You?', with notes for first draft screenplay.
    Folder 29: First draft screenplay, Five Times Dizzy, 195 pp.
    Folder 30-31: 2 copies second draft screenplay, Five Times Dizzy -- 179 scenes.
    Folders 32: Photocopies of cartoons by Patrick Cook, commissioned by Terry Larsen and Wheatley, as a way of opening up the written text of the film script. Drafts from stage after second draft screenplay.
    Folder 33: Draft re-working of Five Times Dizzy screenplay, 74 pp. (complete), plus notes and drafts.
    Folder 34: Bound copy Five Times Dizzy third draft screenplay, 128 pp.
    Folder 35: Fourth draft screenplay, Five Times Dizzy, pages 1-117 complete; second copy pages 22-117.
    Folder 36: Australian Film Commission assessors' reports; contract; photographs of Greek girls and grandmothers, Newtown, about 1981.
     
    Scripts for TV mini-series
    Folder 36: Notes and synopses, first funding submission to Australian Children's Television Foundation, 1982
    Folder 37: Episodes 1-5: second draft; episodes 6-13: treatments. Written at Ebor, NSW, September 1983.
    Folder 38: Episodes 1-5: Third draft?
    Folder 39: Episodes 6-12: First draft?
    Folder 40: Episodes 6-12, plus slightly different copies of episodes 10-12.
    Folder 41: Chopped up fragments and drafts from various stages.
    Folder 42: Handwritten and cut-and-paste version episodes 8 and 11 from quite a late stage.
    Folder 43-44: Pre-production scripts, episodes 6-11, from a late stage. (1985?)
    Folder 45: Post-production: synopses and Mareka's voice-overs. Correspondence with and submissions to Australian Children's Television Foundation; correspondence with producer Tom Jeffrey.

    Series 4 Dancing in the Anzac Deli, 1982-83

    Sequel to Five times dizzy. Published by Oxford University Press, 1984.
    Folder 46: Handwritten and typed drafts, synopses etc, September 1982 - April 1983. Also one page of handwritten Greek translations of dialogue by Martin Johnston. First typed draft, approx. 84 pages, Sept 1982 - March 1983
    Folder 47: Full original typescript plus 2 full photocopies of the novel, as submitted to OUP mid 1983.
    Folder 48: Handwritten and typed changes to novel after editing -- especially new prologue. Editorial revision containing Wheatley's additions and changes, plus editor Rita Hart's suggestions and handwritten mark-up and copying in of changes.
    Folder 49: Photocopy of editorial revision and photocopy of corrected first stage galley proofs.

    Series 5 The House That was Eureka, 1982

    Published by Viking/Kestrel in 1985.
     
    Folder 50: Exercise book: first handwritten draft opening (57 pp.); structural notes, calendars, house maps, photocopies historical material; first typed draft of opening sections, re-typed for submission to Literature Board.
    Folder 51: Typescript submitted to Literature Board, May 1982 (95 pp.).
    Folders 52-53: Handwritten and typed drafts of latter section of novel (mostly written after May 1982 submission).
    Folder 54: Typescript of virtually finished novel, with corrections, Sept 1982.
    Folder 55-56: 2 photocopies complete typescript as submitted to Vogel/Australian Award and Penguin.
    Folder 57: Photocopy edited typescript with comments by Kay Ronai and Wheatley.
    Folder 58: 2 photocopies edited typescript with comments by Kay Ronai and Wheatley.
    Folder 59: 2 photocopies edited typescript with comments by Kay Ronai and Wheatley.
    Folder 60: Original typescript, with agreed editorial changes written in; marked up for typesetter.
    Folder 61: Sample settings, galleys and covers.

    Series 6 The Blooding, 1986

    Published by Viking/Kestrel in 1987.
     
    Folder 62: Handwritten first draft, including opening pages, maps, notes and other handwritten drafts.
    Folder 63: First word-processed draft.
    Folder 64: Second word-processed draft.
    Folder 65: Third word-processed draft.
    Folder 66: Fourth word-processed draft
    Folders 67-68: Fifth draft: text as submitted to Penguin, November 1986; with inserts after editing by Kay Ronai, marked up with typesetting.
    Folder 68: Correspondence with Penguin re editing, permissions and first cover.

    Series 7 My Place, 1986-87

    Published by Collins Dove in 1987. Illustrated by Donna Rawlins.
     
    Folder 69: First draft: handwritten, in exercise book: April 1986; first typed draft, as sent to Donna Rawlins, April 1986.
    Folder 69-70: Early drafts, research notebooks and notes.
    Folder 71-72: Sample historical records.
    Folder 73: Sample of historical maps; research from Sands Directory, and roughs (mainly photocopies) for maps for book, with notes.
    Folder 74: Typed and handwritten drafts, done in Sydney early 1987.
    Folder 75: Late drafts: March/April 1987; mark-up for typesetting; glossary and editorial notes for Pat Woolley for American edition My place; correspondence (mainly with publishers) re My place.
    Folder 76: Two sets page proofs; one cover proof
    Folder 77: Correspondence (mainly with publishers) re My place.

    Series 8 Lucy in the Leap Year, 1984-96

    Published by Omnibus Books in 1993. The novel was adapted for the stage by Wheatley in 1995 for production by Theatre South in 1996.
     
    Novel
    Folder 78: First handwritten drafts, 1984; first typed draft (first third of text only), 1984.
    Folder 79: Handwritten drafts chapters 10-25 (1991).
    Folder 80: First computer typescript complete novel: chapters 1-9 typed c. 1986; chapters 10-25 typed 1991.
    Folder 81: Clean copy complete typescript as sent to Barbara Mobbs, Jenny Pausacker, Libby Gleeson, November 1991;
    Folder 82: Item in Folder 81, with considerable later revision.
    Folder 83: First interim revisions January/April 1992; second interim revisions January/April 1992
    Folder 84: Complete typescript, with revisions January/April 1992.
    Folder 85: Photocopy version submitted to Aidan Chambers, 28 April 1992 and sent to Jenny Pausacker May 1992 with her handwritten comments, revised Sept/Oct 1992
    Folder 86: Copy of complete revised typescript, 21 October 1992.
    Folder 87: Copy (same as in Folder 86) marked for illustrator and revised Oct 1992.
    Folder 88: Bits replaced late Oct 1992; clean copy typescript submitted to Omnibus November 1992 and accepted December 1992.
    Folder 89: Copy typescript submitted to Omnibus in November 1992 and accepted December 1992, flagged for illustrator.
    Folder 90: Edited text, Lucy in the Leap Year. Posted to Omnibus, 10 March 1993
    Folder 91: Correspondence re Lucy with Jenny Pausacker, Libby Gleeson, Barbara Mobbs, Aidan Chambers; correspondence with Omnibus re editing (text and illustrations).
     
    Stage Play
    Folder 92: First and second drafts, playscript, 1995; handbills and performance schedules, Theatre South, 1996

    Series 9 The Night Tolkien Died, 1978-93

    Short stories published by Random House in 1994.
     
    Folder 93: 'Land/scape': drafts July-August 1993; historical resource material.
    Folder 94: 'The Blast Furnace': drafts January-February 1991; historical resource material.
    Folder 95: 'The Prodigal': drafts April 1992.
    Folder 95: 'The Known Soldier': drafts September 1991
    Folder 96: 'The Most Unforgettable Character I Have Ever Met': drafts July 1993
    Folder 96: 'Pastoral': drafts 1978-1993
    Folder 97: 'Quicksand', drafts January - April 1991; offer letter and galleys re The Blue Dress.
    Folder 98: 'Listening to Mondrian': drafts November - December 1991; notes.
    Folder 98: 'Women's Business': drafts 1976 - 1993
    Folder 99: 'Melting Point': drafts August 1993 -- March 1994; translation notes: Latin: Gig Ryan; Greek: Petro Alexiou.
    Folder 100: 'The Convict Box': drafts December 1990 - February 1991; historical resource material (including letters, Sam Searle's history project); correspondence and galleys re 'Hello & Goodbye'.
    Folder 100: 'The Night Tolkien Died': drafts May - June 1993.
    Folder 101-102: Texts of the twelve stories as submitted to Mark Macleod, Random House, 1993.
    Folder 103-104: Edited copy.
    Folder 106: Editorial correspondence re anthology

    Series 10 The Museum of Here and Now, 1988-89

    Script produced for ABC Education Unit TV series, 1988.
     
    Folders 107-109: Various drafts four episodes of the miniseries.
    Folders 110-115: Various drafts four episodes of the miniseries.
    Folder 115: Correspondence with ABC Educational Unit, 1988-1989

    Series 11 Short Stories, 1977-95

    Typescript drafts and some correspondence relating to three published short stories.
    Folder 116: (i) 'The young priestess from the west house': drafts 1977-1984
    (ii) 'Chameleon's dish', 1977-1980
    (iii) 'Widow Wilberforce and the lyrebird': drafts 1985-1995

    Box List

    Box Series Folder/ piece
    1 1 1-7
    2   8-12
    2a   13-14
    3   15
    3 2 16-18, 20-21
    Folio   19
    3 3 22-23
    4   24-29
    5   30-35
    6   36-41
    7   42-45
    7 4 46-48
    8   49
    8 5 50-54
    9   55-58
    10   59-61
    10 6 62-63
    11   64-66
    12   67-68
    12 7 69-74
    13   75-77
    13 8 78-82
    14   83-90
    15   91-92
    15 9 93-96
    16   97-102
    17   103-106
    17 10 107-109
    18   110-115
    18 11 116

    Appendix: Background Notes Supplied by Nadia Wheatley

    Writing and Publishing Correspondence

    13 Folders are my writing and publishing correspondence from 1981 -- virtually the beginning of my publishing career -- until 1993. This does not include correspondence regarding visits to schools and talks at conferences and festivals et cetera, which I cull out of my files every couple of years.

    In the period 1980 to 1986 my work was handled by the literary agent, Rosemary Creswell. None of her correspondence is included here.

    From January 1988, the agent Barbara Mobbs began to handle new work of mine, from My Place and The Blooding onwards. In July 1990 I asked her to take over the earlier titles, Five Times Dizzy, Dancing in the Anzac Deli, The House that Was Eureka, 1 is for One, and the Charmian Clift biography.

    Folder 14 includes my correspondence with Barbara Mobbs, and her correspondence on my behalf. I have informed Barbara that I am depositing this material with the National Library, but of course if anyone were to wish to use this particular material, they should seek permission from Barbara Mobbs.

    Five Times Dizzy: Novel

    In 1977 I was living in the town of Chania, Crete, with Martin Johnston. At Easter I began a novel for children titled A Job for Yaya, concerning a Greek-Australian girl called Mareka and her quest to provide a goat for her yaya -- her grandmother.

    I completed the first draft in about three months. Revised it for some time. Finally typed a clean version (within certain limitations: typewriter ribbons were scarce in Chania, and had to be used to the last drop of ink). Sent typescript back to a librarian friend in Australia, asking her to send it around publishing companies. I believe she sent it to a few, but I have no record of this.

    When I returned to Australia in late 1978, the typescript had sat for a year at Hodder & Stoughton. In February 1979 I had them return it to me. Immediately afterwards, I began to adapt it for film (see below). I also continued to work on revising the novel. In about 1980, my agent Rosemary Creswell sent the outline of a new version plus the old version to Penguin, who rejected it (cf reader's report folder 26).

    I worked on with this new version. It was the same story, but streamlined, and told more from within Mareka's point of view (though still narrated in the third person). The title eventually changed to Five Times Dizzy, to fit with potential film. Eventually the text was submitted to Oxford University Press, and was accepted in late 1981/82. There were some editorial queries about the epilogue, which I completely re-wrote, as well as doing a small amount of editorial change throughout. In March 1982 the children's literature consultant Margaret Dunkle gave the version with the new ending a glowing recommendation (see folder 28) -- and from this stage the whole thing became plain sailing. As I have discussed this in a number of publications I won't go into it here, but basically I believe that the change was not just to do with my improvements to the text, but to the change of political climate, which led to the encouragement of this as one of Australia's first multicultural novels for children.

    Five Times Dizzy: Stage Play

    In about 1989 I was approached by Des Davis, Director of Theatre South, who wished to write and direct a stage adaptation of Five Times Dizzy. I gave my permission. Though the script is by Des, it has been essentially a happy collaboration, in which I have written bits of additional dialogue during the many different productions of the play which have taken place over the last few years.

    Five Times Dizzy: Film and Television Scripts

    In early 1979 -- soon after I had returned from Greece -- I began to work with an old friend, Terry Larsen, on a film adaptation of my children's novel, A Job for Yaya (for which I had not been able to find a publisher).

    We prepared a treatment which we submitted on 1 May 1979 to the Australian Film Commission for script development funding. The project at that stage was called How Are You?

    We received some funding, and proceeded to develop the film script. Fairly soon the producer Don Catchlove took on the project; he received $28,000 pre-production funding from the Australian Film Commission in 1980 (of which $11,000 was allocated to script development). Terry and I kept working through various treatments and drafts -- workshopping with a couple of different directors, including Phil Noyce. The project acquired the name Five Times Dizzy, from the Greek dance O Pentozalis, which translates as 'five times dizzy'.

    In the nature of film work at that time of the 10BA tax provisions, there would be a flurry of work towards the end of the financial year as the producer looked for investment, and then everything would tend to go quiet when he failed to get enough money to make the film. After a two or three years, the film project just sort of dwindled away.

    In 1982 I moved to Melbourne, and started to hear about a new organisation -- the Australian Children's Television Foundation. I went along one day to meet the project officer, Jon Stephens, and gave him a sample bag of some of Terry Larsen's and my work, including the Five Times Dizzy film script. Jon expressed interest in this, and we applied for funding to turn it into a television series. The application was successful -- a payment of $15,000, to be split between us, was approved in August 1983. Later that year I worked on the script with Terry in rural New South Wales for a couple of months.

    Soon after this, we acquired a new producer -- Tom Jeffrey, of Samson Productions, who had connections with the ACTF.

    We continued work on the television script over 1984 and 1985. Tom Jeffrey was successful in raising investment funding (including money from SBS).

    The House that was Eureka: Novel

    The subject for my History Masters Honours thesis (completed 1975) was the social and political organisations of NSW unemployed workers, 1929-36. In the course of researching this, I unearthed information regarding the major anti-eviction battles fought in Sydney in 1931. In the early 1980s I researched these eviction battles again, when writing a chapter titled 'Meeting Them at the Door' for Twentieth Century Sydney, edited by Jill Roe.

    My interest in the Newtown battle was particularly re-sparked at this time because, quite by coincidence, a friend of mine -- the poet, John Forbes -- had just rented the house in which the battle had occurred. Visiting the house gave me quite a new feeling about the battle. At this same time, I went to the house where the Bankstown battle had occurred, and managed to visit the house, where the original landlady was still living. She told me her side of the story. From this time, the house and story of the battles began to work their way into a novel.

    In April 1982 I moved to Melbourne. At this time I was myself homeless and on the dole -- and even indeed without a typewriter. I began to write the eviction-battle novel in an exercise book. After a few weeks I borrowed a typewriter and continued, writing by hand, typing out the handwritten passages, laying out the sections each day like a giant tarot, working out the way the thing flowed. I did quite a lot of the plotting with architectural maps and calendars.

    I kept revising as I went, and was able to submit 95 pages as support material in an application to the Literature Board in May 1982. I finished the novel by about September/October, then decided to enter the work in the Australian/Vogel award. This would effectively mean that the work was held up for quite a while, as I could not submit it to a publisher in the meantime. (And so, while I was waiting, I wrote Dancing in the Anzac Deli, which was published before Eureka, through written after.)

    The House That Was Eureka was shortlisted for the 1993 Vogel award; that was in about September. I then submitted it to Penguin, and Kay Ronai accepted it within twenty-four hours. Though the text presented many technical problems because it required newspaper facsimiles etc -- which were unheard of in those days in Australian children's publishing -- the book had a pretty easy editorial ride -- largely thanks to Kay.

    It was published in 1985.

    The Blooding

    After completing The House That Was Eureka I began to think of a novel about political conflict between the generations of a family, and about a character caught on the horns of a dilemma. I did not know what the political dilemma of the book would be.

    In 1983 I moved to an area of rainforest in southwestern Victoria, where there were a couple of small-scale controversies about logging. Meanwhile, in 1986 (I think) there was the Battle of Farmhouse Creek in Tasmania.

    In the early months of 1986, while on a long overnight bus trip, I realised that the issue of this story would be logging, and I began to work out the characters of Colum and his family.

    I started writing the novel, initially in 3rd person narrative. Meanwhile, I had very recently purchased my first computer, and gave myself three months off work in order to learn to use it. The trouble was, I had to have something to type into it.

    After various false starts of the novel, I wrote the 1st person passage of Colum's statement to his lawyer (Folder 1). I thought this would be a text inside the 3rd person narrative of the novel. As soon as I'd done it, however, I knew I had the voice of the book, and I was away.

    I typed most of the text straight into the computer. This was very odd for me: not only was I unused to computers (and terrified of them), but I had never worked straight onto a typewriter. I found that it helped me achieve the naive style I needed for the narrative of this 17-year-old boy.

    As I have said in interviews, writing this novel was a bit like method acting, as I tried to mimic the narrator's exhaustion. (It only takes Column about 17 days to write down his tale.) I did the first draft in one enormous burst of about three weeks, working up to twenty hours a day.

    After three full revisions, and more revisions of some passages, it was ready to submit to Penguin by November 1986. The Blooding was published towards the end of 1987.

    My Place

    One Sunday night in April 1986 I had an idea for a picture book which would move backwards through the time of one particular place, with 'windows' opening into each decade from 1988 back to 1788. (The aim was to try to counteract Bicentennial glorification of white Australian history.) The story would be narrated in the first person by a series of child narrators, with an Aboriginal girl at the beginning and end. That night I wrote some of the beginning and ending decades in an exercise book, including the last page with reference to the big tree.

    Over the next few days I filled in as much detail as I could, then typed out the decades I had done and sent this, together with draft page layouts for a couple of pages, to Donna Rawlins on April 20. These page layouts included roughs of maps.

    Within another couple of days, Donna rang to say she loved the idea, but didn't have time to illustrate it herself. Over the next few months she tried to find an alternative illustrator. Meanwhile, I continued work on the text and maps. Towards the end of the year, Donna agreed to illustrate the book. At the same time we contracted the book to the small publishing company Dove, where Donna had worked as an in-house designer, because we wanted total artistic and editorial control over the book. We virtually packaged the book to Dove.

    From this time, Donna and I worked in a very close collaboration. Over late 1986/early 1987, I stayed in or near Sydney and did a lot of research and rewriting, including doing the roughs for the maps. At this time, drafts were going back and forth between Donna and myself on a daily basis. Most of these drafts have been lost. Essentially the writing and illustrating were happening simultaneously, with typesetting (by a friend of mine, Gay Kalnins) done to fit in with this process.

    The final artwork was delivered in early May 1987, and the book was launched in November 1987.

    Lucy in the Leap Year: Novel

    In 1984 I began the text of what I thought was going to be a picture book (though a rather wordy one) called Spiders on the Sill. Actually, this began not with text but a map of a city suburb where the hero (a girl of about eight, originally called Sukie) lived.

    I soon realised it was too long for a picture book. Over the next year or so I wrote drafts (handwritten and typed) but the text always seemed to be too long for the potential market. Besides, the subject matter kept concerning itself with death, and I thought this was too grim for the readership. I kept getting the plot to about May and stopping. (I knew the story would follow a year in the girl's life.) In 1986 I re-typed chapters 1-9 into my computer -- but could go no further.

    I put the drafts away, but over the next few years I kept getting them out, trying again, and coming up against the same barriers. At some stage however the hero's name changed to Lucy and the title became Lucy in the Leap Year.

    At last, in 1991, I began work on the novel again, with the aim of submitting it to Aidan Chambers at Turton & Chambers. I knew he wouldn't mind a text that was long and serious. I completed the text in November 1991, and sent it to my colleagues Jenny Pausacker and Libby Gleeson and my agent Barbara Mobbs. All loved the first two thirds of the book and thought the story went off the rails in the last section. I then proceeded to do virtually a complete re-write of the last half of the book, as well as changing bits of the beginning.

    I finished this in April 1992 and submitted it to Aidan Chambers. He accepted it, but soon afterwards the publishing venture of Turton & Chambers came to an end, so I had to find a new publisher.

    I revised the text again in October 1992, and sent it again to Jenny Pausacker. Meanwhile, I had asked my partner, Ken Searle, to illustrate the book. This caused me to undertake a new sort of revision, as I worked through it with Ken, checking that the visual images worked. Together we found locations for a number of the illustrations, such as the primary school, the electricity substation. Sometimes I would rewrite sections of the novel, to open up visual possibilities.

    I then offered the text to Omnibus in November 1992. They accepted the book in December. Editing etc was done through the early months of 1993. The book was published in May 1993.

    Lucy in the Leap Year: Stage PLay

    Over 1994-5 I had a some discussions with Des Davis, Director of Theatre South, who has directed a number of successful seasons of the play Five Times Dizzy regarding the possible adaptation of Lucy in the Leap Year for the stage. The idea was the he would write the adaptation, but that I would fill in extra scenes and dialogue, as I had with the playscript for Five Times Dizzy. After one of these discussions -- around the middle of 1995 -- I sat down to write a checklist of scenes -- and eight days later found I had written a play. This is going to be produced in August 1996.

    The Night Tolkein Died: Short Stories

    When I first tried to teach myself to write, while living in Greece and London in the period 1976-78, my chosen genre was the short story. I suppose I produced about thirty stories in these three years, which I continued to work on after my return to Australia (as well as starting new stories). Most of these never reached a state which I considered ready to submit for publication, though the four I submitted to various publishers were accepted. Perhaps I should add that these were all intended as stories for adults.

    I gradually began to stop writing short stories, as I concentrated on novels for children and young adults and the biography of Charmian Clift.

    In March 1990 I was asked by the British writer, critic and publisher, Aiden Chambers, to edit an anthology of Australian stories for young adults, to be published by his company Turton & Chambers. I agreed, and the result was the anthology Landmarks. As I edited the stories of other writers, I found myself thinking a lot about the genre of the short story. I even started writing short stories again. And I decided to see if I could get enough together for an anthology of my own. Naturally, I went through my box of old stories to see if anything was salvageable. As definitions of youth literature had changed over the years, I found that two of the stories which I had initially written for adults were now suitable for young adults.

    Over the next few years I collected together the stories that became the collection The Night Tolkien Died (published 1994). The drafts in BOX 9 are in the order in which the stories appear in the book.

    The following stories were initially written for other publications:

    'The Blast Furnace', for Landmarks, ed. Nadia Wheatley, Turton & Chambers, 1991

    'Quicksand', for The Blue Dress, ed. Libby Hathorn, Mammoth, 1991.

    'The Convict Box', Goodbye and Hello, ed. Clodagh Corcoran and Margot Tyrrell, Viking, 1992.

    The Museum of Here and Now: TV mini-series

    In 1988 I was asked by the ABC Education Unit to write a mini-series of four episodes of 30 minutes, to fit broadly with syllabus content in the social science area for upper primary. There were to be fictional stories, with a strong historical basis and multicultural content.

    I researched and wrote the series, but was eventually very dissatisfied with changes made to my material, which had the effect of changing history. I took my name off the series. It has since gone to air a number of times.

    Sundry Short Stories

    These are three short stories written over many years, published in adult anthologies.

    'The Young Priestess From the West House' appears in Room To Move, ed. Suzanne Falkiner, Redress Press, 1985

    'Chameleon's Dish' is in And So Say All of Us, ed. Pearlie McNeill and Marie McShea, Second Back Row Press, 1984.

    Widow Wilberforce and the Lyrebird is in She's Fantastical, ed. Lucy Sussex and Judith Buckrich, Sybylla, 1995

    Guide prepared September 1996. Last updated 29 January 1997.