Born Townsville in 1899 , Edith Mary England had her first poems run in the Australian Town and Country Journal in 1915 . Illustrated above is her first published collection of poems, The Happy Monarch and Other Verses (1927) , one of her eight novels , House of Bondage , and a collection of short stories ,Tornado ,circa 1945.
These examples of this now little known writer's output surfaced at a garage sale on Magnetic Island . Described as a pioneer poet of the Queensland landscape , England's first novel was run as a serial in The Queenslander in 1928 -29. The books had belonged to a well read woman , born 1900, a teacher of typing and shorthand , who had attended school with Edith England in Queensland and was also said to have gone hiking with her.
THE HAPPY MONARCH
The England book of verse , held together with tape, is dedicated to her mother. Of special interest is the taped in E.M. England bookplate showing a sailing ship with the caption that the inspiration for this bookplate "of the well known Queensland woman writer "may have been the opening lines of the poem on a certain page ....The plate by Pixie O'Harris, illustrator of delightful Australian children's books .
Apart from containing poems about Queensland -Queensland Night, Queensland in December -there are thoughts on Sydney (where she spent some time and was married ) , the joy of any scribe working away in a room , wanderlust , the teamster's wife , the bare brown land ( a touch of Dorothea Mackellar-l885 to 1968 ), Moon magic , Venice.
HOUSE OF BONDAGE
Published about 1950 , the novel is set in a town north of Brisbane .The dustjacket illustration of a car racing through the town causing people to scatter could well represent Townsville today , where car stealing is rife . The blurb says the background to this drama of human relations centres around some characters frustrated by their environment ; a New Australian family is worried about a son rapidly becoming a dinkum Aussie; the editor of the local paper gathers interesting people about him ; there is secret love , a sadistic ex-husband .One of the group is a talented musician . England is said to have taken a degree in music .
A taped in review , apparently from a Queensland paper , said the novel was about love and unhappiness, set in a small town. The author had centred her story on an unhappy marriage and a collection of artistically minded people who gather round the editor of the local newspaper and feel a common frustration of their interests .
A great deal of sincerity was behind the writing and despite the fact that it was " free of the sickness of many a woman's magazine story ,"the depiction of emotion and character was not above that level . Penned along the side of the review was the comment ...sounds like "Strange Sequence " she wrote for Mirror
Published about 1950 , the novel is set in a town north of Brisbane .The dustjacket illustration of a car racing through the town causing people to scatter could well represent Townsville today , where car stealing is rife . The blurb says the background to this drama of human relations centres around some characters frustrated by their environment ; a New Australian family is worried about a son rapidly becoming a dinkum Aussie; the editor of the local paper gathers interesting people about him ; there is secret love , a sadistic ex-husband .One of the group is a talented musician . England is said to have taken a degree in music .
A great deal of sincerity was behind the writing and despite the fact that it was " free of the sickness of many a woman's magazine story ,"the depiction of emotion and character was not above that level . Penned along the side of the review was the comment ...sounds like "Strange Sequence " she wrote for Mirror
ENGLAND'S BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
When our resident family history researcher was given the task of fleshing out the life of Edith England , on July 1 , she came up with the coincidence that she had been born on July 1,1899 , so it was her 119th birthday .
When our resident family history researcher was given the task of fleshing out the life of Edith England , on July 1 , she came up with the coincidence that she had been born on July 1,1899 , so it was her 119th birthday .
At the age of six , Edith left Townsville with her parents and went to live in Boonah ,south east Queensland , attended Ipswich Girls' Grammar and became a teacher .
In 1922 , in Christ Church , St. Leonards, North Sydney , Edith, 23, married Boonah farmer Schomberg Montague Bertie , 34. The marriage certificate gave her occupation as teacher , her father a poultry inspector at Boonah .
The marriage produced two daughters; her husband died in 1937. In 1941, she married Harry August Anders, another Boonah farmer , who had been born the same year as her, 1899, on August 16.
She was a keen member of the Queensland Authors and Artists Association up into her 70s, her last publication in 1970 . England is covered in the Old Queensland Poetry website and is mentioned in By the Book , A Literary History of Queensland , edited by Patrick Buckridge and Belinda McKay, University of Queensland Press , 2007.
The National Library of Australia has a taped, extensive interview with Edith late in life , transcribed it fills 31 pages , described thus :
The National Library of Australia has a taped, extensive interview with Edith late in life , transcribed it fills 31 pages , described thus :
Edith M. England, poet, talks of her family background; parents; education; childhood; WWI; ambition to become a writer; entry into freelance journalism; various jobs held; her poetry and novels writing; research done for novels and use of own experiences; characterisation; opinion of Patrick White as a novelist; life in the country and effect on her writing; method of working in collaboration with Ray Albion for "Road Going North", satisfaction with own work; contact with other writers; inspiration for stories and poetry; problems encountered when writing and having work published; attitude to criticism; literary grants. Works include: The Happy Monarch, Queensland Days (verse), The Sealed Temple, Where the Turtles Dance, Road Going North (with Ray Albion), House of Bondage, Where the Ded Road Ran (poems).
The novel Road Going North ( with R. Albion ) , a romantic work with exciting scenes set in the great Australian loneliness , written in a racy style , revealed the contrast between Sydney's King's Cross and Kanangra ; Where the Turtles Dance , about a woman who inherits her uncle's vast cattle station in Queensland , described as a book certain to interest woman readers who enjoy a romance well told .
The novel Road Going North ( with R. Albion ) , a romantic work with exciting scenes set in the great Australian loneliness , written in a racy style , revealed the contrast between Sydney's King's Cross and Kanangra ; Where the Turtles Dance , about a woman who inherits her uncle's vast cattle station in Queensland , described as a book certain to interest woman readers who enjoy a romance well told .
England's short stories and poems were published widely. As proof of this , her 1927 book of poems thanked the following periodicals for permission to use her verses : Sydney Bulletin, Woman's Mirror, Australasian,Triad Magazine ( originated in New Zealand ) , Smith's Weekly, Daily Mirror ( Brisbane ), Aussie Magazine and The Spinner .
It also thanked the organisers of the Australian Natives' Association Eisteddfod , Brisbane , indicating she may have made a recitation there .
TORNADO
Set up and printed in Australia by the Worker Newspaper Pty. Ltd., Dunstan House , Elizabeth Street, Brisbane , the cover illustration by Ian Gail , bearing the handwritten name of a previous owner in East Ipswich, dated 1945, it contains a penned message on an inserted envelope , signed E, which could have been the author. Acknowledgements include the London Evening News , the Sydney Mail, Sydney Morning Herald , the Australasian ,Melbourne and the Brisbane Telegraph .-( By Peter Simon ).
TORNADO
Set up and printed in Australia by the Worker Newspaper Pty. Ltd., Dunstan House , Elizabeth Street, Brisbane , the cover illustration by Ian Gail , bearing the handwritten name of a previous owner in East Ipswich, dated 1945, it contains a penned message on an inserted envelope , signed E, which could have been the author. Acknowledgements include the London Evening News , the Sydney Mail, Sydney Morning Herald , the Australasian ,Melbourne and the Brisbane Telegraph .-( By Peter Simon ).
