The Foundations of Culture in Australia (P. R. Stephensen 1936)

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 30 Cultural manna Formal education, as dispensed in class-rooms by pedagogues, furnishes ultimately, no doubt, but a small part of the individual’s mental outlook and … [Read more...] about Section 30 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 29 The anti-Australians Vital Australian history, vital Australian lore, is not being taught, at present, to our Australian youth. We are employing pedagogues from … [Read more...] about Section 29 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 28 “History is bunk!” The Aborigines, our admirable predecessors in sovereignty over the territory of Australia Felix, had their Bora ceremonies, their Initiation … [Read more...] about Section 28 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 27 Preservation of lore And so, if even the Great War of 1914-18 is being forgotten, save by those cheerful Old Kaspars, the surviving “Diggers” of the period (fast … [Read more...] about Section 27 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 26 Children of the abyss In this year of continuing calamity, 1935, if we are to take stock of realities, the reality is that there are already hundreds of thousands … [Read more...] about Section 26 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 25 The world gone mad The Twentieth Century came in with a fanfare of the trumpets of peace, optimism, progress, prosperity, and human certainty. Everything was for … [Read more...] about Section 25 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 24 “Yours For Australia” During five decades, from 1850 to 1900, we grew swiftly towards our nationhood, more swiftly than any other nation in history has grown. … [Read more...] about Section 24 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 23 Isolated From Europe This act of cultural self-definition, in Australia at the present time, may mean a great deal more than emancipation from the Dictatorship of … [Read more...] about Section 23 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 22 No dearth of genius An act of intellectual self-consciousness, an act of thought performed now, by those equipped to do the thinking for this nation, is necessary … [Read more...] about Section 22 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 21 All is in flux The task now, or interesting duty, which falls upon the minority of Australians who know that growth of mind, or intellectual culture, is even more … [Read more...] about Section 21 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 20 Painting the place Art, in Australia, provides a truer gauge of national growth in culture than does literature. Convictism and larrikinism never intruded into … [Read more...] about Section 20 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 19 “Archibald, certainly not!” “The Bulletin,” in the ’eighties and ’nineties, provided a rallying point for Australian literary nationalism. J. F. Archibald gathered … [Read more...] about Section 19 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 18 Convict writers I have spoken to an old man who had joined in the gold rush from Sydney to Bathurst and thence to Araluen in the 1850’s. I asked him about the … [Read more...] about Section 18 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 17 Flogging the lags Convictism, in Australian literature, has been mainly the prerogative of English-minded writers. “Yah, convict!” has been a form of retort to … [Read more...] about Section 17 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 16 Where are the antipodes? The effect of English culture upon Australian culture during the nineteenth century is well worth attempting to trace. I showed, in the … [Read more...] about Section 16 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 15 Decline and fall The history of all empires and cultures has been a history of rise, zenith, decline, fall. The changes occur slowly, in centuries rather than in … [Read more...] about Section 15 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 14 Prophecy fulfilled Wentworth, in the concluding stanza of his poem, had the audacity to suggest, in effect, that culture and power in the British Islands might … [Read more...] about Section 14 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 13 A patriotic prophecy Wentworth’s poem concludes with prophecies and hopes for the future of Australasia, a patriot’s prophecies and hopes, the intensely … [Read more...] about Section 13 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 12 The Austral muse William Charles Wentworth’s poem, on the other hand, contains the germs of our indigenous Australian literature. It begins passionately with what … [Read more...] about Section 12 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 11 Convicts and sinners Praed’s poem, characteristically English from the very beginning, opens with a description of a convict ship leaving England, while a busy … [Read more...] about Section 11 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 10 A poetry competition The two different cultures, English and Australian, found an early definition and contrast in the celebrated Prize Poem for the Chancellor’s … [Read more...] about Section 10 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 9 Sentimental exiles Throughout the nineteenth century in Australia, from the earliest writers, whether they were convict gentlemen or military gentlemen, or black … [Read more...] about Section 9 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 8 Birth of a new idea Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson may be regarded as typical pioneers of indigenous culture in Australia. Whatever their faults, their work has an … [Read more...] about Section 8 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 7 No place like home The culture of a country is the essence of nationality, the permanent element in a nation. A nation is nothing but an extension of the … [Read more...] about Section 7 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

[Editor: This is a chapter from The Foundations of Culture in Australia (1936) by P. R. Stephensen.] § 6 Imported literature There are two elements in every nation’s culture — the imported and the indigenous. English literature, for instance, developed through … [Read more...] about Section 6 [The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]