Literary drafts
- Component identifier:
- Series 4
- Content Summary:
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O'Shaughnessy's writings range from classical works to Australian and Irish history and folklore. His theatrical productions include original Files as well as adaptations of works by such writers as Samuel Beckett Geoffrey Chaucer Nikolai Gogol Eugene Ionesco William Shakespeare and August Strindberg.
This series includes draft material relating to various plays musicals novels memoirs lectures articles and other writings including works that have not yet been published or produced. Much of the material comprises single photocopied drafts with few annotations.
The bulk of the draft and research material relates to Joseph Holt a United Irish military leader involved in the 1798 rebellion in County Wicklow (Ireland). Featured among the other writings are drafts and notes for Rock 'n reel revue a 'controversial' representation of the reality of Australian life. This production had its origins in O'Shaughnessy's pioneering lunchtime theatre productions in Melbourne in the 1950s. There are also autobiographical writings that relate to various aspects of O'Shaughnessy's life and career including his family his work with Barry Humphries the 1967 libel suit involving Katharine Brisbane and Mirror Newspapers and a proposed libel suit in 1996 involving Barry Oakley and Mirror Newspapers.
Further draft material may be found in the notebooks in Series 3. Related reviews sound recordings and photographs may be found in Series 8-10.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- Drafts of The restless years (1968) were donated to the National Library in 1969. Extracts from a transcript of a 1986 interview with O'Shaughnessy were added to the collection in 1986. The bulk of the collection was purchased from O'Shaughnessy in five instalments between November 2000 and May 2001, with a further donation of material in June 2001.
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2788067).
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: