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Tom Keneally at the National Library of Australia

The Library has recently acquired an extensive archive from one of Australia ’s best-known writers, Thomas Keneally, under the auspices of the Cultural Gifts Program.

Running to more than 55 shelf metres (the equivalent of hundreds of archive boxes), the archive includes manuscripts, correspondence and other documents collected over thirty years and relating to 36 novels and 28 television and movie treatments. These include some of Tom Keneally’s best-known works: the 1972 Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, the basis for the 1978 Fred Schepisi movie of the same name; the 1982 Schindler’s Ark, which has been widely translated and was the basis for the multi-award winning 1993 movie Schindler’s List; and the 1989 Towards Asmara, written after Keneally travelled extensively in Eritrea .

It might be thought that such a prolific output would be enough for one man. The archive also documents Tom Keneally’s huge contribution to Australia’s public life, especially in the fields of politics and sport. Before this archive was received, the Library held smaller Keneally collections, including extensive documentation of his role in the Australian Republican Movement. His passion for ‘footy’ (there is only one kind, as far as he is concerned) is evident throughout all of these papers. This should be no surprise to those who saw the Australian writer waxing so eloquently on the sport in the television commercials of a few years ago.

This archive is vast. Before coming to the Library, the Keneally family had stored it in 120 large cartons in two storage rooms in a commercial facility. At the age of 70, Tom Keneally thought it was time to transfer these papers to a public institution where they could be used in the long term. It will be several years before all this creativity is ‘tamed’ by the Library’s archivists – and no doubt there will be further additions as new books and movies are researched and written. At the end of this process, however, the nation’s record of the life of a very public writer will be rich indeed. The Library is deeply grateful for Tom’s generosity of spirit in donating the archive for posterity.

Dr Marie-Louise Ayres

a/g Curator of Manuscripts