Mary Grant Bruce
Encyclopedia
Mary Grant Bruce also known as Minnie Bruce, was an Australian children's author and journalist
. While all her thirty-seven books enjoyed popular success in Australia
and overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom
, she was most famous for the Billabong series, focussing on the adventures of the Linton family on Billabong Station in Victoria
and in England and Ireland during World War I
.
Her writing was considered influential in forming concepts of Australian national identity, especially in relation to visions of the Bush
. It was characterised by fierce patriotism
, vivid descriptions of the beauties and dangers of the Australian landscape, and humorous, colloquial dialogue celebrating the art of yarning. Her books were also notable and influential through championing of what Bruce held up as the quintessentially Australian Bush values of independence, hard physical labour (for women and children as well as men), mateship
, the ANZAC spirit
and Bush hospitality against more decadent, self-centred or stolid urban and British values
. Her books simultaneously celebrated and mourned the gradual settlement, clearing and development of the Australian wilderness by Europeans.
The Official website for Mary Grant Bruce can be found here http://www.marygrantbruce.com.au/
, Victoria (Australia)
as Minnie Grant Bruce, was the daughter of Eyre Lewis Bruce and Mary (Minnie) Atkinson.
After being educated at Miss Estelle Beausire's Ladies High School, Bruce worked as a secretary before establishing a career as a journalist, poet and writer for Australian magazines. In 1903 she helped form the Writer's Club, which later was submerged into the Lyceum Club (Australia)
. A Little Bush Maid, her first major success, was originally published as a serial in the children's page of the Lead. Its success enabled her to work as a full-time writer and journalist, and spawned the Billabong series.
In 1913 Bruce visited London
, where she met and became engaged to her distant cousin and fellow writer Major George Evans Bruce. She returned to Australia, where they were married and had two sons, Jonathan and Patrick, and a daughter, Mary, who died shortly after birth. On the outbreak of World War I she stayed in County Cork
, Ireland
for the duration of the war, while her husband served. Once peace was declared, they returned to Australia, where she briefly acted as the editor of Women's World. From 1927 to 1939, and following the death of her younger son in a shooting accident, Bruce, her husband and their surviving child, Jonathan, travelled in Europe
, before returning yet again to Australia.
During World War II, Bruce worked for the Australian Imperial Force Women's Association. Following her husband's death in 1949, Bruce returned for the last time to England
, to spend the rest of her life there. She died in Bexhill and was cremated at Hastings.
, The Sydney Mail
, the Lone Hand the Auckland Weekly Press, Woman's World, West Australian and the British Australasian. She claimed to have written on every subject save that of dress. Bruce edited Woman's World for six months in 1926. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070459b.htm
Golden Fiddles was made into a television miniseries by the South Australian Film Corporation
in 1991.
Peter & Co was one of four books selected by Australian children's author John Marsden
for the John Marsden presents Australian Children's classics imprint.
and Chinese
and Irish
immigrants, and her earlier belief in the theory of Social Darwinism
. More recent reprints of the Billabong series have been edited to remove controversial material.
This footnote appears in the Afterword of all the Angus and Robertson Blue Gum Classics reprints (beginning with "A Little Bush Maid" reprinted in 1992). The Afterword is written by Barbara Ker Wilson.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. While all her thirty-seven books enjoyed popular success in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, she was most famous for the Billabong series, focussing on the adventures of the Linton family on Billabong Station in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
and in England and Ireland during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Her writing was considered influential in forming concepts of Australian national identity, especially in relation to visions of the Bush
The Bush
"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries.-Australia:The term is iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" describes a wooded area, intermediate between a shrubland and a forest, generally of dry and nitrogen-poor soil, mostly...
. It was characterised by fierce patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, vivid descriptions of the beauties and dangers of the Australian landscape, and humorous, colloquial dialogue celebrating the art of yarning. Her books were also notable and influential through championing of what Bruce held up as the quintessentially Australian Bush values of independence, hard physical labour (for women and children as well as men), mateship
Mateship
Mateship is an Australian cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship. There are two types of mateship, the inclusive and the exclusive; the inclusive is in relation to a shared situation , whereas the exclusive type is toward a third party...
, the ANZAC spirit
ANZAC spirit
The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers possess shared characteristics, specifically the qualities those soldiers are believed to have shown on the battlefield in World War I. These qualities cluster around several ideas, including...
and Bush hospitality against more decadent, self-centred or stolid urban and British values
Britishness
Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours...
. Her books simultaneously celebrated and mourned the gradual settlement, clearing and development of the Australian wilderness by Europeans.
The Official website for Mary Grant Bruce can be found here http://www.marygrantbruce.com.au/
Biography
The close descendant of Irish and Welsh Australians and the fourth of a family of five, Mary Grant Bruce, born in GippslandGippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
, Victoria (Australia)
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
as Minnie Grant Bruce, was the daughter of Eyre Lewis Bruce and Mary (Minnie) Atkinson.
After being educated at Miss Estelle Beausire's Ladies High School, Bruce worked as a secretary before establishing a career as a journalist, poet and writer for Australian magazines. In 1903 she helped form the Writer's Club, which later was submerged into the Lyceum Club (Australia)
Lyceum Club (Australia)
The Lyceum Club , also known as the Australian Association of Lyceum Clubs and formed in 1972 from several smaller clubs, is an Australian arts, literature and social activism group for women only...
. A Little Bush Maid, her first major success, was originally published as a serial in the children's page of the Lead. Its success enabled her to work as a full-time writer and journalist, and spawned the Billabong series.
In 1913 Bruce visited London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where she met and became engaged to her distant cousin and fellow writer Major George Evans Bruce. She returned to Australia, where they were married and had two sons, Jonathan and Patrick, and a daughter, Mary, who died shortly after birth. On the outbreak of World War I she stayed in County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
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...
for the duration of the war, while her husband served. Once peace was declared, they returned to Australia, where she briefly acted as the editor of Women's World. From 1927 to 1939, and following the death of her younger son in a shooting accident, Bruce, her husband and their surviving child, Jonathan, travelled in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, before returning yet again to Australia.
During World War II, Bruce worked for the Australian Imperial Force Women's Association. Following her husband's death in 1949, Bruce returned for the last time to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to spend the rest of her life there. She died in Bexhill and was cremated at Hastings.
- Maurice Saxby, "the doyen of critical commentators on Australian Children's Literature" said that "what Ethel TurnerEthel TurnerEthel Turner was an Australian novelist and children's writer.She was born Ethel Mary Burwell in Doncaster in England. Her father died when she was two, leaving her mother Sarah Jane Burwell with two daughters . A year later, Sarah Jane married Henry Turner, who was twenty years older and had six...
did for the city family, Mary Grant Bruce did for the bush family."
- An English designer of warplanes, concerned that Australian pilots would be too tall to fit in the cockpits, asked his daughter for the heights of Bruce's characters Jim Linton and Wally Meadows.
Journalistic career
Bruce was a contributor to many magazines, including Blackwood's Magazine, the Morning Post, the Daily Mail, Windsor Magazine, Cassell's Magazine, Strand, Argus, Age, the Melbourne Herald, the Australasian, the Leader, The Sydney Morning HeraldThe Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
, The Sydney Mail
The Sydney Mail
The Sydney Mail was an Australian magazine published weekly in Sydney. The weekly edition of The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, it ran from 1860 to 1938....
, the Lone Hand the Auckland Weekly Press, Woman's World, West Australian and the British Australasian. She claimed to have written on every subject save that of dress. Bruce edited Woman's World for six months in 1926. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070459b.htm
The Billabong Series
- A Little Bush Maid (1910)
- Mates at Billabong (1912)
- Norah of Billabong (1913)
- From Billabong to London (1914)
- Jim and Wally (1915)
- Captain Jim (1916)
- Back to Billabong (1919)
- Billabong's Daughter (1924)
- Billabong Adventurers (1928)
- Bill of Billabong (1933)
- Billabong's Luck (1931)
- Wings Above Billabong (1935)
- Billabong Gold (1937)
- Son of Billabong (1939)
- Billabong Riders (1942)
Other popular works
- Glen Eyre (1912)
- Timothy in Bushland (1912)
- Grays Hollow (1914)
- Possum (1917)
- Dick (1918)
- Dick Lester of Kurrajong (1920)
- Rossiters Farm (1920)
- The Cousin from Town (1922)
- Stone Axe of Burkamuka (1922)
- The Twins of Emu Plains (1923)
- House of the Eagle (1925)
- Hugh Standford's Luck (1925)
- Robin (1926)
- Tower Rooms (1926)
- Andersons Jo (1927)
- Golden Fiddles (1928)
- The Happy Traveller (1929)
- Road to Adventure (1932)
- Seahawk (1934)
- Circus Ring (1936)
- Told By Peter (1938)
- Peter & Co (1940)
- Karalta (1941)
- Peculiar Honeymoon (1986)
Golden Fiddles was made into a television miniseries by the South Australian Film Corporation
South Australian Film Corporation
South Australian Film Corporation is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972. Former State Premier Don Dunstan played an instrumental role in the foundation of the Corporation and its early film production activities....
in 1991.
Peter & Co was one of four books selected by Australian children's author John Marsden
John Marsden (writer)
John Marsden is an Australian writer, teacher and school principal. Marsden has had his books translated into nine languages including Swedish, Norwegian, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Italian and Spanish....
for the John Marsden presents Australian Children's classics imprint.
Controversies
Some of Bruce's earlier works are considered to have had offensive and dated content, particularly in regards to racial stereotypes of Australian AboriginesAustralian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
and Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
and Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrants, and her earlier belief in the theory of Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
. More recent reprints of the Billabong series have been edited to remove controversial material.
This footnote appears in the Afterword of all the Angus and Robertson Blue Gum Classics reprints (beginning with "A Little Bush Maid" reprinted in 1992). The Afterword is written by Barbara Ker Wilson.