# What are the great Australian novels? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333 "2016-01-06T16:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/1 "2016-01-06T16:46:26Z")
In my _Moby Dick_ thread an Australian posted said they’d read it in school, which got me thinking about the books I’ve read from the big English speaking/writing countries of the world. It’s kind of surprising but I don’t think I’ve read very much at all, if I’ve read anything, from Australia. I assume that’s because the great books Australians are producing just don’t really get a lot of publicity in America? I’ve seen a few Australian films, for example, although not nearly as many as I know are made. But then I started thinking and I can’t think of _any_ Australian books I’ve read. I’ve read Canadian fiction, of course, although probably not the Great Canadian Novel. (I’m sure there is one. Margaret Atwood maybe? If so I’ve read the Great Canadian Novel.) I’ve of course read probably as much British fiction as American fiction. I’ve read a few South African books. (_The World That Was Ours_ blew my fragile little mind although I don’t think that’s widely read.) I’ve read some Indian books that were originally in English. (And a few in translation but I really don’t enjoy reading books in translation much, I always feel I’m just not really able to see what the book is really supposed to be.) I even read _Whale Rider_, so I’ve read a Kiwi book. So what’s up in the world of Australian letters? What are the great Australian books everybody has to read in school and hates and then they read them way later and realize how good they are? What’s the Aussie _Fifty Shades of Grey_? (Yes, I know, it’s _Fifty Shades of Grey_, but you know what I’m asking.) What’s _your_ favorite Australian book? (Wait, I remember. I started _Gould’s Book of Fish_ but lost my copy, years ago. Does that count? Also read _The Fatal Shore_ but I’m not sure nonfiction counts and also I think the author moved away from Down Under a long time ago. Also I have seen a LOT of _Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries._) ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/2 "2016-01-06T16:58:07Z")
Nevil Shute was a prolific writer. _On The Beach_ and _A Town Like Alice_ come to mind. Colleen McCullough’s _The Thorn Birds_ was extremely popular if not particularly literary. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/3 "2016-01-06T17:11:55Z")
Australia has always had a strong community of SF authors. But there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly distinctive about Australian SF. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/4 "2016-01-06T17:18:15Z")
Peter Carey is a great Australian novelist. Oscar and Lucinda, Bliss, etc… Illywhacker is a great great book that I have never seen a US version of. ---
**Author:** ![Bonaventure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Bonaventure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonaventure)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/5 "2016-01-06T18:08:49Z")
The two that came to mind immediately: _Voss_ by Patrick White Australia’s only Nobel prize winner for literature. > **[Voss (Penguin Classics): White, Patrick, Keneally, Thomas: 9780143105688:...](https://www.amazon.com/Voss-Penguin-Classics-Patrick-White/dp/014310568X)** > > Voss (Penguin Classics) \[White, Patrick, Keneally, Thomas\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Voss (Penguin Classics) _The Man Who Loved Children_ by Christina Stead Note that the setting is ostensibly “Washington DC” but in reality it is Sydney. > **[The Man Who Loved Children: A Novel: Stead, Christina, Jarrell, Randall:...](https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Loved-Children-Novel/dp/0312280440)** > > The Man Who Loved Children: A Novel \[Stead, Christina, Jarrell, Randall\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Man Who Loved Children: A Novel Any reputable public library should have both of these. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/6 "2016-01-06T18:14:41Z")
Is there a typical answer an Austrlian would give? In America, the common answers(right or wrong) are: Moby Dick Huckleberry Finn Great Gatsby along with others, I’m sure. I don’t think any of those are the greatest or “great” American novel, but they do come up the most. What is the most common Australian answer? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/7 "2016-01-06T18:17:21Z")
For short stories, I’d recommend Henry Lawson’s work, especially such gems as “The Drover’s Wife” and “The Loaded Dog” – two very different pictures of life in the Australian Outback more than a century ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/8 "2016-01-06T18:45:21Z")
Not heavy / highly “worthy” / earnestly intellectual stuff: but – novelist and short-story writer D’Arcy Niland. I’ve read two of his novels, _The Shiralee_ and _Call Me when the Cross Turns Over_ – about “life in the raw” in the remote parts of Australia, mid-twentieth-century. I found the books powerful and moving. And – comical material for kids (“of all ages”): _The Magic Pudding_ by Norman Lindsay. Set in a milieu where, a la _Wind in the Willows_, humans and animals alike are sapient, and talk, and mix with each other on equal terms. The book tells of the doings of Bunyip Bluegum the koala, Sam Sawnoff the penguin, Bill Barnacle the (human) sailor, and their magical ever-self-replenishing pudding: our heroes have assorted crazy adventures while tramping around the Australian bush. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/9 "2016-01-06T18:54:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Australia has always had a strong community of SF authors. But there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly distinctive about Australian SF. What I’ve seen has tended to be heavily apocalyptic, but I don’t know if that is representative. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/10 "2016-01-07T00:59:19Z")
A couple to add in no particular order: _Cloudstreet_, Tim Winton _True History of the Kelly Gang_, Peter Carey _The Narrow Road to the Deep North_, Richard Flanagan _All the Rivers Run_, Nancy Cato _Monkey Grip_, Helen Garner +1 on _The Magic Pudding_ and add _Blinky Bill_, Dorothy Wall and one that gets the mind going on a very different basis _The Eleventh Hour_, Graeme Base And if you are going to get into Lawson’s works you need to balance them with and equal dose of AB “Banjo” Patterson. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/11 "2016-01-07T01:06:53Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Nevil Shute was a prolific writer. _On The Beach_ and _A Town Like Alice_ come to mind. He was the first in my mind, but it turns out that less than half of his novels were written after he moved to Australia. Certainly it was his best period, but I’m uncertain that I’d call him an Australian writer. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/12 "2016-01-07T01:13:30Z")
Another vote for Peter Carey, who was cleaning up the Booker Prize committee in the '90s. _Oscar and Lucinda_ was made into a feature film starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett, before anyone knew who Cate Blanchett was. _Illywhacker_, as previous poster said, is very good. I’d vote it his runner-up novel. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/13 "2016-01-07T01:16:35Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > A couple to add in no particular order: > > Cloudstreet, Tim Winton Yes ---
**Author:** ![Krav\_Manga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krav_manga/32/3153_2.png) [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/14 "2016-01-07T01:41:08Z")
A Fortunate Life - AB Facey My Brother Jack - George Johnston Remembering Babylon - David Malouf Schindler’s Ark - Thomas Keneally ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/15 "2016-01-07T02:28:13Z")
But what’s the Big Book? The Huck Finn? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/16 "2016-01-07T02:36:28Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > But what’s the Big Book? The Huck Finn? > **[True History of the Kelly Gang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_History_of_the_Kelly_Gang)** > > True History of the Kelly Gang is a novel by Australian writer Peter Carey, based loosely on the history of the Kelly Gang. It was first published in Brisbane by the University of Queensland Press in 2000. It won the 2001 Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize in the same year. Despite its title, the book is fiction and a variation on the Ned Kelly story. > Ned Kelly begins his autobiography with a description of his father, John "Red" Kelly, an Irishman transported to Van Diemen's La... > **[Illywhacker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illywhacker)** > > Illywhacker is a novel by Australian writer Peter Carey. It was published in 1985 to commercial and critical success, winning a number of awards and being short-listed for the Booker Prize. > Considered metafiction or magical realism, the novel is narrated by liar, trickster, and confidence man Herbert Badgery, the "illywhacker" of the title, and tells the story of his picaresque life in Australia between 1919 and the 1980s. > The novel is related in broad chronological order by the main protagon... Who are you asking? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/17 "2016-01-07T04:11:51Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > But what’s the Big Book? The Huck Finn? I would at least start with On the Beach. I don’t know Australian literature enough to be definitive, but I know that this is a fantastic book. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/18 "2016-01-07T04:34:06Z")
[Power Without Glory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Without_Glory) gets my vote. Hard to believe it hasn’t been mentioned already. Now, it’s not without flaws, and Frank Hardy was an unreliable narrator with an axe to grind, but it is a remarkable book, and it says a lot about Australia, particularly in terms of politics and social class. ---
**Author:** ![Krav\_Manga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krav_manga/32/3153_2.png) [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/19 "2016-01-07T04:36:46Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > But what’s the Big Book? The Huck Finn? [Chapelli has the last laugh](http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10189575) ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333/20 "2016-01-07T05:25:27Z")
Closely follows by Chapelli laughs again. Better than Max Walkers rubbish. 😛 Most of the classic stuff has been mentioned. Henry and Banjo great poets from the early days. A couple of current day reasonably prolific Aussie writers are John Birmingham and Matthew Reilly. Peter Fitzsimons does a lot of historical writing. Is there a classic Australian novel? Don’t think so, not anything you’d get close to universal agreement on anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-great-australian-novels/742333.md?page=2)