by Graham Seal
The boss
This item, still emailed around, is based on a fable at least as old as Aesop:
When the Lord made man, all the parts of the body argued over who would be the BOSS.
The BRAIN explained that since he controlled all the parts of the body, he should be the BOSS.
The LEGS argued that since they took the man wherever he wanted to go, they should be the BOSS.
The STOMACH countered that since he digested all the food, he should be the BOSS.
The EYES said that without them, man would be helpless, so they should be BOSS.
Then the ARSEHOLE applied for the job.
The other parts of the body laughed so hard that the ARSEHOLE got mad and closed up.
After a few days the BRAIN went foggy, the LEGS got wobbly, the STOMACH got ill and the EYES got crossed and unable to see.
They all conceded defeat and made the ARSEHOLE the BOSS.
This proves that you don’t have to be a brain to be BOSS . . .
JUST AN ARSEHOLE.
Daisy Bates (standing) with Aboriginal women and children
Photograph by A.G. Bolam, 1919–1926
South Australian Museum, Bolam Collection
Lost in the Bush
Samuel Calvert (engraver), Nicholas Chevalier (artist), 1864
State Library of Victoria, image no. IMP24/09/64/1
The Bunyip
J. Macfarlane (engraver), 1890
State Library of Victoria, image no. IAN01/10/90/12
‘Inland Sea’ from T. J. Maslen, The Friend of Australia: Or, a Plan for Exploring the Interior, and for Carrying On a Survey of the Whole Continent of Australia, By a Retired Officer of the Hon. East India Company’s Service, Hurst, Chance and Co., London, 1830.
Battye Library of Western Australian History
Fisher’s Ghost Creek, Campbelltown, c. 1909
Campbelltown City Library, Local Studies Collection
Copy of Children’s Hour
Photograph of painting by William Ford, 1870
State Library of Victoria, image no. H96.160/1621
Captain Hurley spins some yarns, 1929–1931
Commander Blair, W.J. Griggs, Scout Marr, Mr Tyler, Captain Hurley and A.J. Hodgeman
Part of Frank Hurley B.A.N.Z. Antarctic Research Expedition photographs
National Library of Australia, image no. 10932811-95
‘Damn your explosive bullets’ cartoon
From Hartt, C.L, Humorosities, Australian Trading & Agencies Co. Ltd., London, 1917
‘Dad’ (character from On Our Selection)
Alfred Vincent (artist) from first edition of Arthur H. Davis (Steele Rudd) ‘On Our Selection’, Bulletin newspaper, Sydney, 1899
Eulo Queen, 1920
Creator unknown
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, image no. 195153
The Bullocky (postcard)
Harry John Weston (artist) 1874–19?
State Library of Victoria, image no. H87.358/15
1. STORIES IN THE HEART
Bates, D., The Passing of the Aborigines: a lifetime spent among the natives of Australia, John Murray, London, 1938
Berndt, R. & C., The Speaking Land: myth and story in Aboriginal Australia, Penguin, Ringwood VIC, 1989
Faurot, J. (editor), Asian-Pacific Folktales and Legends, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1995
Hassell, E., revised by Davidson, D., ‘Myths and Folktales of the Wheelman Tribe of South-Western Australia’, in Folklore vol. 45, no. 3, September 1934; vol. 45, no. 4, December 1934; vol. 46, no. 2, June 1935; vol. 46, no. 3, September 1935
Lawrie, M. (collected & translated), Tales from Torres Strait, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia QLD, 1972
Mathews, J. (compiler) & White, I. (editor), The Opal That Turned Into Fire and other stories from the Wangkumara, Magabala Books, Broome, 1994
McConchie, P. (collected & edited), Elders: wisdom from Australia’s Indigenous leaders, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2003
Palmer, K., ‘Aboriginal Oral Tradition from South-west of Western Australia’, in Folklore, vol. 87, no. 1, 1976
Parker, K. Langloh (collected & edited), Australian Legendary Tales, David Nutt, London, 1896
Rose, D., Dingo Makes Us Human: life and land in an Aboriginal Australian culture, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1992
Ryan, J., ‘Australia’s Best-Known Folkloric Text and its Several Fates’, in Australian Folklore, vol. 16, 2001
Spencer, B., The Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia, Macmillan, London, 1914
2.PIONEER TRADITIONS
Darian-Smith, K., Poignant, R., Schaffer K., Captive Lives: Australian captivity narratives, Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, 1993
Moore, G.F., Diary of Ten Years Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia, with an introduction by C.T. Stannage, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands WA, 1978
Perth Gazette, 5 July 1834, 12 July 1834, 19 July 1834, 26 July 1834, 9 August 1834, 6 September 1834, 4 October 1834
Port Phillip Herald, 10 March 1846
Torney, K., Babes in the Bush: the making of an Australian image, Curtin University Books, Fremantle WA, 2005
——‘Jane Duff’s Heroism: the last great human bush story?’ in La Trobe Journal, vol. 63, Autumn 1999
3. MAKING MONSTERS
Bauer, N., ‘A Mystery Unsolved: the story of the Min Min Light’, in Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland) Bulletin, vol. 7, no.1, January 1982
Beatty, B., A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales and Traditions, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1960
Birch, R., Wyndham Yella Fella, Magabala Books, Broome, 2003
Clarke, P., ‘Indigenous Spirit and Ghost Folklore of “settled” Australia’, in Folklore vol. 118, no. 2, August 2007
Dixon, R., Oceanic Mythology, Marshall Jones Co., Boston, 1916
Dunlop, W., ‘Australian Folk-Lore Stories’, in Journal of the (Royal) Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. xxviii, 1899
Edwards, R., Fred’s Crab and Other Bush Yarns, Rams Skull Press, Kuranda QLD, 1990
Farwell, G., Land of Mirage: the story of men, cattle and camels on the Birdsville Track, Cassell, London, 1950
Hassell, E., ‘My Dusky Friends’, undated typescript, Battye Library of Western Australian History
Henry, J., ‘Pumas in the Grampians Mountains: a compelling case?’, an updated report of the Deakin Puma Society, Deakin University Press, 2001
Holden, R., Bunyips: Australia’s folklore of fear, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2001
Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia, vol. 29, no. 2, 1991
Journal of the Anthropological-Institute, vol. xxx, 1900
Leeds Mercury, 25 January 1834
Massola, A., Bunjil’s Cave: myths, legends and superstitions of the Aborigines of south-east Australia, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1968
Morgan, J., The Life and Adventures of William Buckley, Archibald Macdougall, London, 1852
North Australian Monthly, January 1961
Parker, K. Langloh, The Euahlayi Tribe: a study of Aboriginal life in Australia, Archibald Constable, London, 1905
Praed, Mrs Campbell, ‘The Bunyip’, in Coo-ee: tales of Australian life by Australian ladies, Mrs Patchett Martin (editor), Griffith Farran Okeden & Welsh, London and Sydney, 1891
Robinson, R. (editor), Aboriginal Myths and Legends, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1966
Scott, B., Pelicans and Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia QLD, 1996
Short, K.,
Echoes of the Clarence, International Colour Productions, Stanthorpe QLD, 1980
Sorenson, E., Life in the Australian Backblocks, Whitcomb & Tombs, Melbourne, 1911
South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register, 28 November 1853, 31 January 1889
Sunday Mail Magazine, 2 March 1941
Unaipon, D., Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines, Muecke, S. & Shoemaker, A. (editors), The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2001
Walkabout, 1 April 1937
4. LEGENTS ON THE LAND
Anzac Day Commemoration Committee, Queensland, www.anzacday.org.au, February 2009
Australian National Dictionary Centre, www.anu.edu.au/andc/ozwords/April_2000/Anzacs.html, December 2005
Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au, December 2005
Beatty, B., A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales and Traditions, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1960
Committee for Geographical Names in Australia, www.icsm.gov.au/icsm/cgna/lesson/story_001.html, September 2008
Department of Defence, www.defence.gov.au/anzacday/history.htm, February 2009
Edwards, R., Fred’s Crab and Other Bush Yarns, Rams Skull Press, Kuranda QLD, 1989
Idriess, I., Lasseter’s Last Ride: an epic of central Australian gold discovery, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1931
Jack, A., ‘I’d had it in mind . . .’, in Wartime, no. 46, 2009
Marshall-Stoneking, B., Lasseter: the making of a legend, G. Allen & Unwin, Australia, 1985
Martin, G., Western Australian Folklore Archive, John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, Curtin University of Technology
Norledge, M. (editor), Aboriginal Legends from Eastern Australia: the Richmond–Mary River area, Reed, Sydney, 1968
Parramatta RSL, www.parramattarsl.com.au/rsl9/DS38.htm, December 2005
Robinson, R., The Man Who Sold his Dreaming, Currawong Publishing, Sydney, 1965
Trollope, Anthony, Australia and New Zealand, Chapman & Hall, London, 1873
5. THE HAUNTED LAND
Anon., ‘Fisher’s Ghost: A legend of Campbelltown’, in Tegg’s Monthly Magazine, vol. 1, March 1863
Beatty, B., A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales and Traditions, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1960
Beckett, J., ‘A Death in the Family: some Torres Strait ghost stories’, in Hiatt, L. (editor), Australian Aboriginal Mythology, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1975
Clarke, P., ‘Indigenous Spirit and Ghost Folklore of “Settled” Australia’, in Folklore, vol. 118, no. 2, August 2007
Cusack, F. (editor), Australian Ghosts, Angus & Robertson, London, 1975
Davis, R., The Ghost Guide to Australia, Bantam Books, Moorebank NSW, 1998
Freeman’s Journal, Sydney, 1891
Emberg, B. & J., Ghostly Tales of Tasmania, Regal Publications, Launceston, 1991
Gale, J., Canberra, A.M. Fallick & Sons, Queanbeyan NSW, 1927
Hasluck, P. ‘Travels in Western Australia 1870–74: extracts from the journal of Thomas Scott’, in Early Days, vol. 2, part 15, 1934
Lang, A., ‘The Truth About Fisher’s Ghost’, in Lang, A., The Valet’s Tragedy and Other Studies, Longmans, London, 1903
Scott, B., The Long and the Short and the Tall: a collection of Australian yarns, Western Plains Publishers, Sydney, 1985
Western Australian Folklore Archive, John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, Curtin University of Technology
6.TALES OF WONDER
Anderson, H., Time Out of Mind: the story of Simon McDonald, National Press, Melbourne, 1974
Bettelheim, B., The Uses of Enchantment: the meaning and importance of fairy tales, Knopf, New York, 1976
Briggs, K. (editor), A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, vols 1 & 2, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1970–1971
Calvino, I., Italian Folk Tales: selected and retold by Italo Calvino, Martin, G. (translator), Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1980
Household Words, vol. 5, no. 124, London, August 1852
Jacobs, J. (compiled and annotated), English Fairy Tales: being the two collections English Fairy Tales and More English Fairy Tales, Bodley Head, London & Sydney, 1968
Klipple, M., African Folktales with Foreign Analogues, Garland, New York & London, 1992
Zipes, J., Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion: the classical genre for children and the process of civilization, Heinemann, London, 1983
7. BULLDUST
Brennan, M., Reminiscences of the Goldfields, and Elsewhere in New South Wales: covering a period of forty-eight years’ service as an officer of police, William Brooks, Sydney, 1907
Edwards, R., Fred’s Crab and Other Bush Yarns, Rams Skull Press, Kuranda QLD, 1989
Fields, M., Dinkum Aussie Yarns, Southdown Press, Melbourne, nd (early 1990s)
Gammage, W., The Broken Years: Australian soldiers in the Great War, Penguin, Ringwood VIC, 1975
Howcroft, W., Dungarees and Dust, Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1978
Mills, F.J., Square Dinkum: a volume of original Australian wit and humour / by ‘The Twinkler’ (Fred J. Mills), Melville & Mullen, Melbourne, 1917
Northern Territory News, 18 September 1997
Scott, B., Complete Book of Australian Folklore, PR Books, Sydney, 1988
Sydney Morning Herald, 31 August 1988
Wannan, B., Crooked Mick of the Speewah and Other Tales, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1965
——A Dictionary of Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1981
——Come in Spinner: a treasury of popular Australian humour, Rigby, Adelaide, 1976
——The Australian, Rigby, Adelaide, 1954
Western Australian Folklore Archive, John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, Curtin University of Technology
8. HEROES
Anon., Marching On: tales of the diggers, Petersham, nd (1940s)
Anon., Digger Aussiosities, New Century Press, Sydney, 1927
Anzac Bulletin, vol. 64, London, 29 March 1918
Aussie, 15 April 1920, 15 June 1920, 15 October 1920
Australian Corps News Sheet, 6 November 1918
Beatty, B., A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales and Traditions, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1960
Bradshaw, J., The Only True Account of Ned Kelly, Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall and Morgan, Waverly Press, Sydney, 1911
Bryant, N. & J., ‘Captain Thunderbolt’, www.halenet.com.au/~jvbryant/thunderb.html#anchor626534, August 2008
Cooper, A.H., Character Glimpses: Australians on the Somme, Waverly Press, Sydney, 1920
Cuttriss, G., Over the Top with the 3rd Australian Division, Charles H. Kelly, London, 1918
Edwards, R., The Australian Yarn, Rigby, Adelaide, 1978
Fair, R., A Treasury of Anzac Humour, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1965
Gale, J., History of and Legends Relating to the Federal Capital Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, A.M. Fallick & Sons, Queanbeyan NSW, 1927
Harney, W., Tales from the Aborigines, Rigby, Adelaide, 1959
Honk, vol. 11, 7 December 1915
Kennedy, J.J., The Whale Oil Guards, J. Duffy, Dublin, 1918
League Post, 1 October 1932
Longmore, C. (editor), Carry On! The Traditions of the AIF, Imperial Printing Co., Perth, 1940
——‘Digger’s Diary’, in Western Mail, 25 September 1930
Nally, E. (compiler), Digger Tales 1914-1918, 1939-1942, np
——Lest We Forget, 1941, np
Port Hacking Cough, December 1918–January 1919
Seal, G., The Outlaw Legend: a cultural tradition in Britain, America and Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996
‘Semaphore’, in Digger Yarns (and some others) to Laugh At, E.H. Gibbs & Sons, Melbo
urne, 1936
Smith’s Weekly, 15 August 1925, 29 August 1925, 21 November 1925
Tenterfield Historical Society Archives, Dixon Library, University of New England, Armidale NSW
The Cacolet, journal of the Australian Camel Field Ambulance, Palestine, nd
The Digger, vol. 1, no. 6, 8 September 1918
The Karoolian, April 1919
The Listening Post, 17 August 1923
Wannan, B., Crooked Mick of the Speewah and Other Tales, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1965
——A Dictionary of Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1981
——Come in Spinner: a treasury of popular Australian humour, Rigby, Adelaide, 1976
——The Australian, Rigby, Adelaide, 1954
Wells, E., An Anzac’s Experiences in Gallipoli, France and Belgium, W.J. Anderson, Sydney, 1919
9. CHARACTERS
Aussie, 15 December 1920, reprinted from the Third Battalion Magazine, nd, (c. 1917)
Bean, C.E.W. (editor), The Anzac Book, Cassell, London, 1916
Calvert, A.F., The Aborigines of Western Australia, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, London, 1894
Edwards, R., The Australian Yarn, Rigby, Adelaide, 1978
Fields, M., Dinkum Aussie Yarns, Southdown Press, Melbourne, nd (early 1990s)
Hardy, F. & Mulley, A., The Needy and the Greedy: humorous stories of the racetrack, Libra Books, Canberra, 1975
Howcroft, W., Dungarees and Dust, Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1978
Papers of Bill Wannan, manuscripts, National Library of Australia, undated (c. 1960s) letter from Mr A.H. Fisher, Camden Park SA
Parker, K.L., (collected and edited), Australian Legendary Tales, Melville, Mullen & Slade, London & Melbourne, 1896
Quadrant, vol. 13, Summer 1959–60
Rudd, S., On Our Selection, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1899
Salt, 8 April 1946
Seal, G., The Hidden Culture: folklore in Australian society, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1989
Seal, G. & Willis, R. (editors), Verandah Music: roots of Australian tradition, Curtin University Books, Fremantle, 2003
Wannan, B.,The Folklore of the Irish in Australia, Currey O’Neill, Melbourne, 1980
——Come in Spinner: a treasury of popular Australian humour, Rigby, Adelaide, 1976
