From the frontier : outback letters to Baldwin Spencer, (2000)

Component identifier:

Series 25

Content Summary:

A small selection of correspondence, manuscript and typescript draft material and notes relating to the book. From the frontier was compiled by Mulvaney, together with Alison Petch and Howard Morphy, and published in St. Leonards, NSW by Allen Unwin in 2000.

The letters featured in From the frontier were written between 1894 and 1925 from Ernest Cowle and Paddy Byrne to Baldwin Spencer. Spencer was part of the 1894 Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, which at one point was led by Mounted Constable 3rd Class Ernest Cowle of Illumurta Springs. Spencer and Cowle formed an enduring friendship, and Cowle's letters to Spencer were a rich source for Spencer's anthropological research. Patrick Byrne, telegraph station master at Charlotte Waters and brother-in-law of F.J. Gillen, was also a significant contact for Spencer.

This series contains letters of Kate Alport and Jo Bushby. Further correspondence relating to research and publication of this book is included in Series 24.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The original instalment of this collection (MS 9615) was donated by Professor Mulvaney under the Cultural Gifts Program in September 1999. Further instalments were received in 2013 and 2017.

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