Dymphna Cusack

Dymphna Cusack
Dymphna Cusack, 1947
Born(1902-09-21)21 September 1902
Died19 October 1981(1981-10-19) (aged 79)
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
Occupation(s)Author, playwright

Ellen Dymphna Cusack AM (21 September 1902 – 19 October 1981) was an Australian writer and playwright.[1]

Personal life

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Born in Wyalong, New South Wales, Cusack was educated at Saint Ursula's College, Armidale, New South Wales[2] and graduated from the University of Sydney with an honours degree in arts and a diploma in Education. She worked as a teacher until she retired in 1944 for health reasons. Her illness was confirmed in 1978 as multiple sclerosis.[1] She died at Manly, New South Wales on 19 October 1981.

Career

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Dymphna Cusack memorial plaque in Sydney Writers Walk at Circular Quay

Cusack wrote twelve novels (two of which were collaborations), eleven plays,[3] three travel books, two children's books and one non-fiction book. Her collaborative novels were Pioneers on Parade (1939) with Miles Franklin, and Come In Spinner (1951) with Florence James.[4]

The play Red Sky at Morning was filmed in 1944, starring Peter Finch.[5] The biography Caddie, the Story of a Barmaid, to which Cusack wrote an introduction and helped the author write, was produced as the film Caddie in 1976. The novel Come In Spinner was produced as a television series by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1989, and broadcast in March 1990.[6]

Family

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Her younger brother, John, was also an author, writing the war novel They Hosed Them Out under the pseudonym John Beede, which was first published in 1965; an expanded edition under the author's real name, John Bede Cusack, was published in 2012 by Wakefield Press, edited and annotated by Robert Brokenmouth.[7]

Activism

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Cusack advocated social reform and described the need for reform in her writings. She contributed to the world peace movement during the Cold War era as an antinuclear activist.[1] She and her husband Norman Freehill were members of the Communist Party and they left their entire estates to the Party in their wills.[8]

Contribution and recognition

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Cusack was a foundation member of the Australian Society of Authors in 1963. She had refused an Order of the British Empire,[1] but was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1981 for her contribution to Australian literature.[9]

In 2011, Cusack was one of 11 authors, including Elizabeth Jolley and Manning Clark, to be permanently recognised by the addition of brass plaques at the Writers' Walk, Sydney.[10]

Plays

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Novels

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Radio plays

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Nonfiction

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  • Chinese Women Speak. Angus & Robertson. Sydney. 1958.
  • Holidays Among the Russians. Heinemann. London. 1964.
  • Illyria Reborn. Heinemann. London. 1966.
  • Mary Gilmore A Tribute. Australasian Book Society. London. 1965.
  • A Window in the Dark. National Library of Australia. Canberra. 1991.

Children's literature

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  • Kanga-Bee and Kanga-Bo. Botany House. Sydney. 1945.
  • Four Winds and a Family with Florence James. Shakespeare Head Press. London. 1947.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Marilla North (2007), "Cusack, Ellen Dymphna (Nell) (1902–1981)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 18 May 2015
  2. ^ [1] Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, middlemiss.org; retrieved 22 March 2008.
  3. ^ Croft, Julian, 1941-; Bedson, Jack; Campbell Howard Collection; University of New England. Centre for Australian Language and Literature Studies; Dixson Library (University of New England) Australian plays in manuscript (1993), The Campbell Howard annotated index of Australian plays 1920-1955 / compiled and edited by Jack Bedson and Julian Croft, Centre for Australian Language and Literature Studies, University of New England.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) pp.68-78.
  4. ^ Spender (1988) p. 219
  5. ^ "Red Sky at Morning (1944)". IMDb. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  6. ^ IMDB – Come In Spinner (1990)
  7. ^ Cusack, J.B. (2012), They Hosed Them Out, Wakefield Press, ISBN 9781743051061
  8. ^ Peter Coleman, "Memento Moscow", Weekend Australian, 16–17 January 1999, Review, p. 10
  9. ^ "It's an Honour – 26 January 1981". Australian Government. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  10. ^ "Tribute to Literary Greats on Sydney Writers’ Walk", 24 October 2011; retrieved 10 April 2012.
  11. ^ Marilla North, 'Cusack, Ellen Dymphna (Nell) (1902–1981)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cusack-ellen-dymphna-nell-12385/text22259, published first in hardcopy 2007, accessed online 14 March 2024.
  12. ^ "YOUNG WOMAN'S FINE PLAY". Daily Standard. No. 6948. Queensland, Australia. 25 April 1935. p. 9. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Women in the World", The Australian Woman's Mirror, 11 (41 (3 September 1935)), Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper, nla.obj-572096208, retrieved 14 March 2024 – via Trove
  14. ^ "ANZAC PLAY FROM WOMAN'S PEN". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. 5, no. 59. New South Wales, Australia. 25 April 1935. p. 7. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "ANZAC EVE FESTIVAL". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 668. New South Wales, Australia. 18 April 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 14 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.

Sources

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Further reading

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