Guide to the Papers of Dal Stivens, late 1800s-1997 (bulk 1960s-1970s)

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 4713
Creator:
Stivens, Dallas George (1911-1997)
Extent:
13.25 metres and (88 ms boxes + 3 folio boxes + 1 folder in shared security binder + 76 sound/av carriers)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Dal Stivens, National Library of Australia, MS 4713, [series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Part available for research; part permission required for research. Not for loan.

Background

Biographical Note:

Dallas George Stivens was born in Blaney, New South Wales, on 31 December 1911, the son of F.H. Stivens, a country bank accountant and later bank manager. His mother was a relative of J.H.M. Abbott, a prolific contributor to The Bulletin and The Lone Hand. Stivens was educated at West Wyalong Public School and Barker College, Hornsby. He had hoped to study either law or architecture at University, but the Depression meant his parents could not afford to send him there. In 1945 Stivens married Winifred Wright, with whom he had two children. They were divorced in 1977.

Initially Stivens followed in his father's footsteps, commencing his working life as a clerk in the Commercial Bank. He left this work soon after the publication in 1936 of his first book of short stories, The tramp and other stories, and began to work as a freelance journalist. In 1939-1942 he was on the staff of the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Stivens' real interest was in writing short stories and novels. To finance this interest, he wrote articles that did not require his emotional involvement with events and people, thus preserving his integrity and style as a creative writer.

From 1943 to 1944 Stivens was employed by Army Education, editing and writing pamphlets. Later in 1944 he joined the Department of Information, writing for the Department about sport and literature and producing an Australiana column. While with the Department, Stivens was seconded as Press Officer to the Labor Minister Arthur Calwell, during which time he wrote the text of the book How many Australians tomorrow?

In 1949 Stivens took up the position of Press Officer at Australia House in London. He resigned from this job in 1950 to become a freelance writer and his short stories were regularly published in Lilliput, The Times Literary Supplement, The Observer and John O'London's Weekly, as well as being broadcast on the BBC. A Commonwealth Literary Fund Grant in 1951 enabled him work on a collection of short stories, later published as The gambling ghost. While in London, he began writing special interest articles on natural history and travel for American and European magazines.

With his young family, Stivens returned to Australia in 1958, where he continued to write articles and short stories. His association in London with the British Society of Authors led him to lobby for the establishment of an equivalent Australian body. In 1963, the Australian Society of Authors was formed, with Stivens being appointed as its first President.

Apart from the short stories and articles which appeared in newspapers, magazines and journals, Stivens published several collections of his short stories and four novels, one of which, A horse of air, won the Miles Franklin Award in 1970. He also published a children's book, The bushranger (1978) and a book on natural history entitled The incredible egg. Stivens' fiction is widely admired for its humour and descriptions of the bush, especially his tall tales and cricketing stories.

In 1981 Stivens won the Patrick White Award for his contribution to Australian Literature and in 1994 he was honoured with a Special Achievement Award in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. The Australian Folklore Association honoured Stivens' achievements with publication of a 35-page tribute to him in its journal Australian Folklore, No. 11, July 1996.

Dal Stivens died in Sydney on 15 June 1997.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

  • Graeme Kinross-Smith. Australia's writers. Melbourne: Nelson, 1980.
  • Barbara Jefferis. 'Folklorist who loved the land', The Age 30 July 1997
Provenance:

The papers were purchased from Stivens in several small instalments from 1971 to 1973 and in one large instalment from Stivens' companion, Juanita Cragen, in 1999.

Arrangement:

The Library has grouped like papers into series, with any files created by Stivens kept intact within the relevant series. A list of major correspondents is attached at Appendix 1 (see Related Documentation section) and a list of papers held by the Fisher Library is attached at Appendix 2 (see Related Documentation section).

When received, the papers were mostly in files created by Stivens' companion, Juanita Cragen, many of which she annotated with notes about the contents.

Box List:
Series File Box
1 1-7 1
2 1-4 2
2 4a Housed separately
2 5-8 2
2 9-16 3
2 17-24 4
2 25-32 5
2 33-40 6
2 41-47 7
3 1-8 8
3 9-15 9
4 1-8 10
4 9-16 11
4 17-24 12
4 25-33 13
4 34-37 14
5 1-5 14
6 1-5 15
7 1-5 16
7 6 17
8 1-2 17
9 1-2 17
9 3-4 18
10 1-4 18
10 5-11 19
10 12-13 20
11 1-5 20
11 6 21
12 1-4 21
12 5-11 22
12 12-19 23
12 20-25 24
12 26-33 25
12 34-41 26
12 42-49 27
12 50-56 28
12 57-62 29
13 1-4 30
13 5-8 31
13 9 32
13 Folio 1 Folio box 3
14 1-5 32
14 6-11 33
14 12-16 34
14 17-22 35
14 23-26 36
14 27-32 37
14 33-38 38
14 39-44 39
14 45-50 40
14 51-55 41
14 56-60 42
14 61-69 43
14 70-77 44
14 78 45
15 1-4 45
15 5-8 46
15 9-12 47
15 13-17 48
15 18-21 49
15 22-27 50
15 28-34 51
15 35-38 52
16 1 52
16 2-5 53
16 6-12 54
16 13-19 55
16 20-27 56
16 28-34 57
16 35-38 58
16 39-42 59
17 1-3 59
17 4-11 60
17 12-20 61
17 21-28 62
17 29-35 63
18 1-3 64
19 1-6 64
19 Folio 1 Folio Box 3
20 1-5 65
20 6-9 66
20 10-14 67
20 15-19 68
20 20-24 69
20 25 70
21 1-13 70
21 14-20 71
22 1-4 72
22 5-11 73
22 12-14 74
23 Items 1-5 Folio Box 1
23 Items 6-12 Folio Box 2
23 Items 13-16 Folio Box 3
24 1 74
24 2-3 75
25 1-2 76
25 3 77
26 1-7 78
26 8-15 79
26 16-21 80
27 1-8 81
28 1-5 81
28 6-12 82
29 1-6 83
29 7-12 84
29 13-19 85
29 20 86
29 Folio 1 Folio Box 3
30 1-6 86
30 7-10 87
30 11-18 88

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1109537).
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 Dal Stivens, National Library of Australia, MS 4713, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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