Tales of the Austral Tropics

With an introduction by Cheryl Taylor. Tales of the Austral Tropics (1894) is a collection of short stories published in the Sydney Bulletin in the 1890s. Set in tropical northern Australia, Favenc brings to life the half-unknown and mysterious regions of this part of Australia at this time. The tales exude themes of the bush and bring together elements of the sensational and supernatural that are characteristic of Favenc's work. This is one of a number of works that have earned him a place in Australian literary history. This new edition of Tales of the Austral Tropics, with an introduction by Cheryl Taylor, is a part of the Australian Classics Library series intended to make classic texts of Australian literature more widely available for the secondary school and undergraduate university classroom, and to the general reader. The series is co-edited by Emeritus Professor Bruce Bennett of the University of New South Wales and Professor Robert Dixon, Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, in conjunction with SETIS, Sydney University Press, AustLit and the Copyright Agency Limited. Each text is accompanied by a fresh scholarly introduction and a basic editorial apparatus drawn from the resources of AustLit.

Ernest Favenc (1845-1908) was an explorer, journalist and historian.

Introduction
Cheryl Taylor

Tales of the Austral Tropics
Preface
1. A cup of cold water
2. The Rumford Plains tragedy
– I. Statement made by Gilbert Vaughan, manager of the L.S.D. Bank, Wattleville
– II. Statement made by John Muspius, superintendent of Merridale Station
– III. Extract from the diary of Miss Selina Lawrence
– IV. Statement of Ah Foo, cook at Rumford Plains (translated into ordinary English)
3. A haunt of the Jinkarras (a story of Central Australia)
4. Tranter’s shot
5. Spirit-led
6. The mystery of Baines’ dog
7. The hut-keeper and the cattle-stealer
8. The parson’s blackboy
9. A lucky meeting
10. That other fellow: a tale of the seventies
11. The stolen colours
12. Bunthorp’s decease
13. The story of a big pearl

About the author
Selective bibliography of the published works of Ernest Favenc

Format: paperback
Size: 210 × 148 × 8 mm
138 pages
Copyright: © 2009
ISBN: 9781920898991
Publication: 17 Jun 2009
Series: Australian Classics Library