Women , including Dorothy Langsford , whose first novel, COO-EE
OF GLENOWIE , published in 1922, dealt with the romance between a Digger who returned from WWl with one arm missing and a farm girl,
recently the subject of an article in Little Darwin , were prominent
in the drive
to promote local talent and interest in reading. Her books and the
Northern Territory classics We of the Never–Never and The Little Black
Princess - by Mrs Aeneas
Gunn - were selling exceptionally
well.
Langsford, daughter of an Adelaide
cleric , came to prominence through “ her
wholesome stories of Australian life.”
She began her writing career
aged 11 when she climbed into a
tree with pencil and paper and wrote
fairy tales, which were published
in a weekly newspaper and then
in a
booklet. A novel she wrote abou t
a sightless young man had
been translated into Braille.
Books written by Australian
writers and available that year covered history , anthropology ,
natural history, myths and legends of the Aborigines, essays ,verse,
novels and stories for children. Mrs
Percival Stow , whose first
husband was Langloh Parker, learned the dialects
of nine tribes of Aborigines when she
was living on Bangate Station, NSW, and wrote about their myths and legends. Katharine Susannah Prichard , of Western Australia, a friend
of Kiwi
activist writer Jean Devanny , who died in Townsville , was
also prominent at the
time.
