Ernest O'Ferrall
Encyclopedia
Ernest Francis "Kodak" O'Ferrall (16 November 1881 – 22 March 1925) was a popular Australian poet and short story writer born in East Melbourne.
He contributed numerous articles, stories and poems to The Bulletin
from 1901 and The Lone Hand
, often under the pseudonym "Kodak". He commenced writing as a young single man, working in a bicycle shop then for the International Harvester Company, and living in a series of boarding-houses, which formed the basis of many of his stories.
His stories were mostly ridiculous comic observations of working-class city life, though he could write tenderly and observantly, especially on Irish
subjects. Unlike contemporaries such as Henry Lawson
, he seldom wrote of bush life or of romance. His most famous story is The Lobster and the Lioness of a drunken boarding-house lodger who mistakes a runaway lioness for a large shaggy dog.
An admirer of his writing was Nettie Palmer, who arranged for The Melbourne Pioneer Players, with which she was associated, to stage a play he wrote.
His most famous poem was Chunda Loo of A Kim Foo, illustrated by Norman Lindsay
and used in advertisements for "Cobra" boot polish. The title is most likely the source of the common Australianism "chunder" as rhyming slang for "spew".
He contributed numerous articles, stories and poems to The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
from 1901 and The Lone Hand
The Lone Hand (magazine)
The Lone Hand was a monthly Australian magazine of literature and poetry modelled on The London Strand founded in 1907 by J F Archibald and Frank Fox as a sister magazine to The Bulletin...
, often under the pseudonym "Kodak". He commenced writing as a young single man, working in a bicycle shop then for the International Harvester Company, and living in a series of boarding-houses, which formed the basis of many of his stories.
His stories were mostly ridiculous comic observations of working-class city life, though he could write tenderly and observantly, especially on Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
subjects. Unlike contemporaries such as Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
, he seldom wrote of bush life or of romance. His most famous story is The Lobster and the Lioness of a drunken boarding-house lodger who mistakes a runaway lioness for a large shaggy dog.
An admirer of his writing was Nettie Palmer, who arranged for The Melbourne Pioneer Players, with which she was associated, to stage a play he wrote.
His most famous poem was Chunda Loo of A Kim Foo, illustrated by Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay
Norman Alfred William Lindsay was an Australian artist, sculptor, writer, editorial cartoonist, scale modeler, and boxer. He was born in Creswick, Victoria....
and used in advertisements for "Cobra" boot polish. The title is most likely the source of the common Australianism "chunder" as rhyming slang for "spew".
Sources
- The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature William H Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews Oxford University Press 2nd ed. 1994.