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Australia's Greatest Books

In The Australian Collection: Australia's Greatest Books, published in 1985, writer and editor Geoffrey Dutton selected and reviewed almost one hundred classic Australian books.Whilst Dutton chose only one book from each author, his book nevertheless provides a very useful starting point for any study of Australian literature. Project Gutenberg and Project Gutenberg Australia have, in their eBook collections, a number of titles from Mr Dutton's selection. These are listed below. Most of the other titles selected by him are still copyright in Australia, and therefore cannot be provided here as eBooks.

As Mr. Dutton remarks, the definition of 'classic' is relevant to both time and place. "There are" he says, "many books in each country's literature that are cherished as classics in their homeland but little known elsewhere." Then, too, Australia has only had just over two hundred years to accumulate a body of literature. Miles Franklin, an author included in Dutton's selection, wrote in a foreword to The Australian Novel, edited by Colin Roderick, "People settling in new lands need novels and dramas closely concerned with their own time, place and community to support and lighten the great classics and world masterpieces in literature. Certain stories relate to our own soil, and when such works find universal acceptance, they still retain greater significance for the people of their own origin than for other readers by imparting a comforting glow which springs from the intimacy of home."

It goes without saying, that many of the writers listed here were not born in Australia. The early explorers, for example, came mostly from England. Nevertheless, for Australians, the themes covered in many of the following works impart that "warm glow" to which Ms Franklin alludes.

E J BANFIELD The Confessions of a Beachcomber
Louis BECKE By Reef and Palm
Rolf BOLDREWOOD Robbery Under Arms
Raffaello CARBONI The Eureka Stockade
David CARNEGIE Spinifex and Sand
Marcus CLARKE For the Term of his Natural Life
Tom COLLINS (Joseph FURPHY) Such is Life
Edward John EYRE Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia
Miles FRANKLIN My Brilliant Career
Ernest GILES Australia Twice Traversed
William Gosse HAY The Escape of the Notorious Sir William Heans
Rachel HENNING The Letters of Rachel Henning
Henry LAWSON Joe Wilson and his Mates
Lennie LOWER Here's Luck
Frederic MANNING Her Privates We (The Middle Parts of Fortune)
Jack McLAREN My Crowded Solitude
Ethel PEDLEY Dot and the Kangaroo
Brian PENTON Landtakers
Henry Handel RICHARDSON The Fortunes of Richard Mahony
Steele RUDD On Our Selection
Louis STONE Johah
Charles STURT Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, 1828-31
Watkin TENCH A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson/A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay
James TUCKER, Ralph Rashleigh

Last modified 31 Oct 2006