Guide to the Papers of Allan Aldous, 1846-1993

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 9104
Creator:
Allan Aldous
Extent:
1.53 metres and (6 boxes, 2 cartons, 1 file)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Allan Aldous, National Library of Australia [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

These papers represent a small but varied collection of Aldous' personal and professional writing. The personal writing includes the unpublished autobiography completed in 1987 and a long series of wartime letters written to his wife, Jean, from London (1940-44).

The professional writing includes a selection of Radio Australia playscripts from two series, The Storyteller and The Australian Tradition; a series of discussion group book notes prepared for the Council of Adult Education in Victoria, and material relating to son et lumière presentations in Perth and Melbourne (1966-1970).

The collection also contains letters to Aldous from a wide range of correspondents, including Margaret Crosland, Charles Hadfield, James Parish and Nevil Shute Norway.

Biographical Note:

Author and playwright, Aldous was born in Leederville, Perth in 1911. In 1935 he won the Perth Repertory Club's one-act play competition with Enter the author. In England, three of his radio plays were produced by the BBC, of which the best known is Game as Ned Kelly (1939).

During the Second World War he served with the A.I.F. in London and later with Army Education in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Building on his experience in the Army Education Service, in the post-war period Aldous was closely involved in the early years of the Council of Adult Education in Victoria, giving lectures and preparing discussion group book notes.

Aldous was a prolific writer of children's fiction. His children's writings include the McGowan series of five novels, beginning with McGowan climbs a mountain (1945), as well as other novels such as Quitters can't win (1946) and Doctor with wings (1960). As a playwright he wrote many radio plays, particularly for Radio Australia, and produced the first, authentic son et lumière production, 'Western gateway', for the 1966 Festival of Perth, followed by 'Cook of the Endeavour' for the 1970 Cook bicentenary celebrations.

Provenance:

The papers were donated by Allan Aldous on 1 April 1997.

Indexed terms

Names:
Allan Aldous

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1533827).
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Allan Aldous, National Library of Australia [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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