Australian author and playwright (1902?1981)
Dymphna Cusack
|
---|
Dymphna Cusack, 1947
|
Born
| (
1902-09-21
)
21 September 1902
|
---|
Died
| 19 October 1981
(1981-10-19)
(aged 79)
|
---|
Nationality
| Australian
|
---|
Alma mater
| University of Sydney
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| Author, playwright
|
---|
Ellen Dymphna Cusack
AM
(21 September 1902 ? 19 October 1981) was an Australian writer and playwright.
[1]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Born in
Wyalong
, New South Wales, Cusack was educated at Saint Ursula's College,
Armidale, New South Wales
[2]
and graduated from the
University of Sydney
with an honours degree in arts and a diploma in Education. She worked as a teacher until she retired in 1944 for health reasons. Her illness was confirmed in 1978 as
multiple sclerosis
.
[1]
She died at
Manly
, New South Wales on 19 October 1981.
Career
[
edit
]
Cusack wrote twelve novels (two of which were collaborations), eleven plays,
[3]
three travel books, two children's books and one non-fiction book. Her
collaborative novels
were
Pioneers on Parade
(1939) with
Miles Franklin
, and
Come In Spinner
(1951) with
Florence James
.
[4]
The play
Red Sky at Morning
was filmed in 1944, starring
Peter Finch
.
[5]
The biography
Caddie, the Story of a Barmaid
, to which Cusack wrote an introduction and helped the author write, was produced as the film
Caddie
in 1976. The novel
Come In Spinner
was produced as a television series by the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
in 1989, and broadcast in March 1990.
[6]
Family
[
edit
]
Her younger brother, John, was also an author, writing the war novel
They Hosed Them Out
under the pseudonym
John Beede
, which was first published in 1965; an expanded edition under the author's real name, John Bede Cusack, was published in 2012 by Wakefield Press, edited and annotated by Robert Brokenmouth.
[7]
Activism
[
edit
]
Cusack advocated social reform and described the need for reform in her writings. She contributed to the world peace movement during the
Cold War
era as an antinuclear activist.
[1]
She and her husband Norman Freehill were members of the Communist Party and they left their entire estates to the Party in their wills.
[8]
Contribution and recognition
[
edit
]
Cusack was a foundation member of the
Australian Society of Authors
in 1963. She had refused an
Order of the British Empire
,
[1]
but was made a
Member of the Order of Australia
in 1981 for her contribution to
Australian literature
.
[9]
In 2011, Cusack was one of 11 authors, including
Elizabeth Jolley
and
Manning Clark
, to be permanently recognised by the addition of brass plaques at the Writers' Walk, Sydney.
[10]
Plays
[
edit
]
- Safety First
, 1927
- Shallow Cups
, 1933
- Anniversary
, 1935.
[11]
The play won first prize for an Anzac Fellowship competition for a play on a war theme. Cusack researched it in part on papers of her uncle who died at Gallipoli.
[12]
[13]
The play premiered at the Sydney Conservatorium.
[14]
It was performed again the following year.
[15]
In the play, an
old digger
meets the ghosts of his comrades.
- Red Sky at Morning
, performed 1935; published 1942
- Morning Sacrifice
, 1943
- Comets Soon Pass
, 1943
- Call Up Your Ghosts
, with
Miles Franklin
, 1945
- Stand Still Time
, 1946
- Pacific Paradise
, 1955
Novels
[
edit
]
Radio plays
[
edit
]
Nonfiction
[
edit
]
- Chinese Women Speak
. Angus & Robertson. Sydney. 1958.
- Holidays Among the Russians
. Heinemann. London. 1964.
- Illyria Reborn
. Heinemann. London. 1966.
- Mary Gilmore A Tribute
. Australasian Book Society. London. 1965.
- A Window in the Dark
. National Library of Australia. Canberra. 1991.
Children's literature
[
edit
]
- Kanga-Bee and Kanga-Bo
. Botany House. Sydney. 1945.
- Four Winds and a Family
with Florence James. Shakespeare Head Press. London. 1947.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Marilla North
(2007),
"Cusack, Ellen Dymphna (Nell) (1902?1981)"
,
Australian Dictionary of Biography
, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
, retrieved
18 May
2015
- ^
[1]
Archived
6 June 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
, middlemiss.org; retrieved 22 March 2008.
- ^
Croft, Julian, 1941-; Bedson, Jack; Campbell Howard Collection; University of New England. Centre for Australian Language and Literature Studies; Dixson Library (University of New England) Australian plays in manuscript (1993),
The Campbell Howard annotated index of Australian plays 1920-1955 / compiled and edited by Jack Bedson and Julian Croft
, Centre for Australian Language and Literature Studies, University of New England.
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
pp.68-78.
- ^
Spender (1988) p. 219
- ^
"Red Sky at Morning (1944)"
. IMDb
. Retrieved
9 March
2008
.
- ^
IMDB ?
Come In Spinner
(1990)
- ^
Cusack, J.B. (2012),
They Hosed Them Out
, Wakefield Press,
ISBN
9781743051061
- ^
Peter Coleman, "Memento Moscow",
Weekend Australian
, 16?17 January 1999, Review, p. 10
- ^
"It's an Honour ? 26 January 1981"
. Australian Government
. Retrieved
9 March
2008
.
- ^
"Tribute to Literary Greats on Sydney Writers’ Walk"
, 24 October 2011; retrieved 10 April 2012.
- ^
Marilla North, 'Cusack, Ellen Dymphna (Nell) (1902?1981)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cusack-ellen-dymphna-nell-12385/text22259
, published first in hardcopy 2007, accessed online 14 March 2024.
- ^
"YOUNG WOMAN'S FINE PLAY"
.
Daily Standard
. No. 6948. Queensland, Australia. 25 April 1935. p. 9
. Retrieved
14 March
2024
– via National Library of Australia.
- ^
"Women in the World"
,
The Australian woman's mirror.
,
11
(41 (3 September 1935)), Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper, nla.obj-572096208
, retrieved
14 March
2024
– via Trove
- ^
"ANZAC PLAY FROM WOMAN'S PEN"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. Vol. 5, no. 59. New South Wales, Australia. 25 April 1935. p. 7
. Retrieved
14 March
2024
– via National Library of Australia.
- ^
"ANZAC EVE FESTIVAL"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. No. 30, 668. New South Wales, Australia. 18 April 1936. p. 12
. Retrieved
14 March
2024
– via National Library of Australia.
Sources
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Academics
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|