143 research outputs found
Portrait of David Rowbotham, 1958 [picture] /
No full textCondition: good, framed.; Inscriptions: "The Studio, 225 Brunswick Rd, Valley, Bris. David Rowbotham, author poet & journalist" -- verso; Signed "Sibley '58" -- lower c.; Title from accession record.; File no 204/13/64
David Rowbotham addresses the English Association of Queensland (Brisbane Branch) on ‘Some thoughts on Australian Literature and things to come’, 26 Apr 1983
No full textThe English Association was founded in 1906 by a small group of English teachers and scholars, including F.S. Boas, A.C. Bradley and Sir Israel Gollancz. It took a leading part in the movement to develop English studies in schools, while encouraging advanced studies in further education. Past Presidents of the Association have included John Galsworthy, Harley Granville-Barker, Sir Kenneth Clark and George Steiner. The English Association today is an international organisation with branches and members in Britain and throughout the world. The English Association of Queensland was founded in 1923, with branches established in both Brisbane and Townsville. Records of the English Association and English Association of Queensland: receipt books, programmes of meetings, reports, newsletters, correspondence, cash books, syllabi, published material, annual reports and minute books
Fletchers at home in Collettville
No full textMarion Fletcher (Rowbotham), Helen Fletch (?), and George Fletcher
The Victorious King: The Role of Victor Emmanuel III in the Great War
No full textThe First World War disclosed the extraordinary role played by Victor Emmanuel III holding Italy’s fate in his hands. In the first fifteen years of his reign – contrary to what will happen during the two Fascist decades – the Sovereign had carried out an international activity with strong political connotations and the Great War was no exception. At the outbreak of the conflict, Victor Emmanuel forced the hands of his Ministers and played a crucial role in the ratification of the secret Treaty of London. Moreover, after the entrance into the war, he was the protagonist of every military decision (i.e. the dismissal of General Cadorna) and in 1917 at the meeting with the British Prime Minister he was pivotal in obtaining some military help from the Allies (Lloyd George in his memoirs said that the King saved Italy in Peschiera). Lastly, Victor Emmanuel became the ‘living symbol’ of the country and his constant presence at the frontline made him loved by the soldiers who even came to recognize the distinctive roar of the engine of his car. Therefore, through the analysis of newspapers and documents of the time, this paper wants to show how the King acted before and during the Great War, how he contributed to the declaration of war and how he became one of the few icons well-established in the popular imagination throughout the country, a powerful unifying factor for the young nation. In addition to the bibliographical framework, the study is based on the research carried out in Rome at the Central Archives of the State and at the Historical Archives of the Foreign Office
Sir William Collins and Xavier Herbert
No full textSir William Collins, publisher and Xavier Herbert, author. Hand written comment about the photograph by Xavier Herbert on verso. [Gift of David Rowbotham
Australian belonging an introduction to 'Fountains Beyond' /
No full textGeorge Landen Dann was a successful Queensland playwright from the 1930s to 1970s. He wrote many award winning plays, several of which dealt with Indigenous issues of that time. This chapter introduces the background to his work 'Fountains Beyond'. This play was the second of three major works that dealt with the 'Aboriginal issue' exploring Dann's particular concern for what was known as the 'half-caste's dilemma'. Fountains Beyond is one of Dann's most performed works and the one that many key theatre critics including Leslie Rees and David Rowbotham have argued belongs within the 'classic'Australian repertoire
The Windsor Dynasty 1910 to the Present [electronic resource] : 'Long to Reign Over Us'? /
No full textThis book explores the recreation and subsequent development of the British Monarchy during the twentieth century. Contributors examine the phenomenon of modern monarchy through an exploration of the establishment and the continuing impact of the Windsor dynasty both within Britain and the wider world, to interrogate the reasons for its survival into the twenty-first century. The successes (and failures) of the dynasty and the implications of these for its long-term survival are assessed from the perspectives of constitutional, political, diplomatic and socio-cultural history. Emphasis is placed on the use of symbols and tradition, and their reinvention, and public reactions to their employment by the Windsors, including the evidence provided by opinion polls. Starting with George V, and including darker times such as the challenge of the abdication of Edward VIII, this collection considers how far this reign was a key transition in how the British royal family has perceived itself and its role through examination of the repackaging for mass consumption via the media of a range of state occasions from coronations to funerals, as well as modernization of its relations with the military. .Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction: Matthew Glencross, Judith Rowbotham and Michael Kandiah -- Section One: Setting the Scene -- Chapter One: Matthew Glencross George V and the New Royal House -- Section Two: Establishing the Windsor Brand -- Chapter Two: Michael Kandiah, Judith Rowbotham Gillian Staerck The Ultimate Windsor Ceremonials: Coronations and Investitures -- Chapter Three: Judith Rowbotham The Windsors and Ceremonial Events: State Occasions for the National Family -- Chapter Four: Ian Beckett Royalty and the Army in the Twentieth Century -- Chapter Five: Roger Mortimore Measuring British Public Opinion on the Monarchy and the Royal Family -- Section Three: Marketing the Windsor Brand -- Chapter Six: Robert Blackburn Edward VIII’s Abdication: Legal and Constitutional Perspectives -- Chapter Seven: Heather Jones The Nature of Kingship in First World War Britain -- Chapter Eight: Andrew Harrison The Duke and the Dictator: Marshal Tito’s Visit to Britain, March 1953 -- Chapter Nine: Antony Best ‘We Cannot Pretend that the Past Did Not Exist’: The Windsor Dynasty and Japan, 1941-1975 -- Epilogue: Matthew Glencross, Judith Rowbotham, and Michael Kandiah The Rise of ‘The Queen’ -- Index.This book explores the recreation and subsequent development of the British Monarchy during the twentieth century. Contributors examine the phenomenon of modern monarchy through an exploration of the establishment and the continuing impact of the Windsor dynasty both within Britain and the wider world, to interrogate the reasons for its survival into the twenty-first century. The successes (and failures) of the dynasty and the implications of these for its long-term survival are assessed from the perspectives of constitutional, political, diplomatic and socio-cultural history. Emphasis is placed on the use of symbols and tradition, and their reinvention, and public reactions to their employment by the Windsors, including the evidence provided by opinion polls. Starting with George V, and including darker times such as the challenge of the abdication of Edward VIII, this collection considers how far this reign was a key transition in how the British royal family has perceived itself and its role through examination of the repackaging for mass consumption via the media of a range of state occasions from coronations to funerals, as well as modernization of its relations with the military.
Orton and Spooner Works Outing
No full textGeorge Orton, Sons and Spooner Limited works photograph showing works outing. Back row - E. Smith, R. Wilmot, E. Brimley (painter), C. Orton, B. Rowbotham (joiner), J. R. Spooner, G. Peach, W. H. Sabine and F. Wicks. Front row - apprentices and S. Haines
Questions for George
No full textWhat lies at the heart of our creative and research journeys? Are we always seeking to understand something about ourselves no matter what the subject? What makes writing and the creative journey worthwhile? Is it acknowledgement in our own lifetime or a belief in leaving some form of literary legacy? This script ponders such questions as the researcher explores, in creative form, her journey to answer questions about the life of one of Queensland’s early playwrights, George Landen Dann. He came to prominence in 1931 when he won the Brisbane Repertory Theatre playwriting competition with the play In Beauty it is Finished. Dann later became one of Australia’s leading playwrights. Critics, publishers and directors (Brisbane, 1977; McCallum, 2009, Rees, 1973; Rowbotham, 1962) have long argued that Dann’s work deserves greater recognition. This script examines events from the time of a 1930s scandal, making links to events from his final years and the significance of the work of an Honours student who wrote her thesis about him. The researcher’s own questioning frames the investigation, creating a Readers Theatre style of documentary script drawing on evidence from interviews, newspaper clippings, letters and other documents in the Fryer Library collection at the University of Queensland
From Wigan Pier to Airstrip One: a critical evaluation of George Orwell's writing and politics post-September 11
No full textThis thesis summons a contemporary reading of George Orwell, evaluating his current role and function as novelist, essayist, and twentieth century cultural icon. The year 2003 marked the centenary of Eric Blair's birth and proved a productive year for Blair (and Orwell) enthusiasts. After nearly three years of research, my journey through Orwell's words and world(s) has undergone significant re-evaluation, taking me far beyond such an appropriate commemoration. In the tragic aftermath of 9/11 - through Afghanistan and Iraq, Bali, Madrid, and London - Orwell's grimly dystopian vision acquires renewed significance for a new generation. Few writers (living or dead) are as enduringly newsworthy and malleable as George Orwell. The scope and diversity of his work - the sheer volume of his letters, essays, and assorted journalism - elicits a response from academics, journalists, critics and readers. My research, tempered by a 'War' on terror and a televisual Big Brother, shapes these responses at a time when 24-hour surveillance is viewed as the path to instant celebrity.
Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four provides unique insights into a highly pervasive and secretive regime, which in light of post 9/11 political trajectories is highly admonitory. These pathways and connections are produced in my research. I do not make easy links between past and present - Eric and Tony Blair - at the level of metaphor or simile. Indeed, the pages that follow traverse the digital archives and probe the rationale for mobilising Orwell in this time and place. I am focussed on writing a history and establishing a context calibrated to the fictional Oceania.
This doctorate commenced as an investigation of George Orwell's journalism and fiction one hundred years after his birth. At the outset of the candidature, the Twin Towers fell and new implications and interpretations of Orwell arose. My research demonstrates that the Oceania of Orwell's imagining presents an evocative insight into the contemporary alliance forged by the Bush, Blair, and Howard triumvirate in its quest for world peace. Using Orwell as a guide, I move through theories of writing and politics, in the process uncovering capitalism's inherently hostile and negligent attitude towards those who are materially less fortunate. I began my work convinced of Orwell's relevance to cultural studies, particularly in understanding popular cultural writing and the need for social intervention. I concluded this process even more persuaded of my original intent, but shaped, sharpened and compensated by new events, insights, tragedies and Big Brothers.
It is imperative for the future directives of cultural studies that critical, political, pedagogic and intellectual links with Orwell are (re-)formed, (re-)established and maintained. My text works in the spaces between cultural studies and cultural journalism, pondering the role and significance of the critical - and dissenting - intellectual. Memory, History, and Identity all circulate in Orwell's prose. These concerns and questions have provided impetus and direction for this thesis. They have also shaped the research.
Few expect Orwell's totalitarian dystopia to materialise unchallenged from the pages of a book. The wielders of power are more capable and more subtle. Yet it is impossible to deny that the litany of lies and contempt central to Big Brother's Oceania is reproducible by any administration assisted by a complicit media and a malleable citizenry. The emergence of such a phenomenon has been well documented in the post 9/11 United States. This thesis has arisen out of the miasma of hubris, lies and contempt framing and surrounding Mr. Bush's war on terror. My purpose - not unlike Orwell's in Nineteen Eighty-Four - is to warn, not judge or berate. Orwell understood political rhetoric. He was not a prophet but a journalist who interpreted the nuances and temptations of excessive power. He had witnessed the extraordinary 'death' of history in Spain, and thereafter he raised his pen to combat intellectual hypocrisy and dishonesty wherever he found it. Under Orwell's tutelage, plain words pierce, probe and unsettle. They are sharp cutting instruments, fully capable of transcending time. How else are we to explain his enduring popularity as a writer? This thesis offers a critical and interpretative homage to George Orwell, a man who recognised the beauty of well chosen words, who loved and appreciated their enduring complexity and power.
A framing structure has been chosen that places Orwell in close relation to poverty, class and politics, war and journalism. Individual chapter headings (and their contents) exploit Orwell's unique response to the significant talking points of his era. After resolving to write professionally, Orwell starved and struggled in Paris, and frequented 'doss houses' in and around London. I track these wanderings in chapter one. He studied the effects of the Depression and unemployment in Yorkshire and Lancashire (chapter two), and fought and was wounded in Spain (chapter three). Thereafter he turned to political writing and journalism (chapter four). What he failed to anticipate was a post war Britain overwhelmed by despondency and dissolved by internal devolution (chapter five). His concluding apocalyptic discharge, the dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four, was directed at the higher echelons of institutional power and corporate corruption in Britain, America, and Europe, which I explore in chapter six.
The world has changed significantly since Orwell (and J. B. Priestley) went in search of England's faltering 'pulse' in the 1930s. Englishness and traditional working class values have distorted and shifted in unexpected ways. These transformations are partly the result of war and the loss of empire. They are also a response to American cultural and economic hegemony, the privatisation of industry, offshore investments, the emergence of the European Economic Community, and the burgeoning global economy. George Orwell matters, even after this scale of change because he faced his own prejudices on the page and developed a writing style that enabled him to challenge the accepted orthodoxies and hypocrisies of his era. This is evident when returning to his essays and journalism, fifty-five years after his death. He possessed the ability to make readers feel uncomfortable, raising topics and concerns that we would rather not discuss. Denounced as a traitor by the pre-1956 unreconstructed left and feted as a hero by the self-congratulatory right, Orwell resists labelling and easy categorization. We owe him a considerable debt for exposing the likely directions of unchecked political ambition, and this insight should not be treated lightly. As I read him, Orwell was the last man in Europe, 'the canary in the mine.' He is a literary world heritage site of considerable iconic appeal and international significance. He is an outsider's 'outsider' perpetually facing inwards, and we need him now
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