Other Works by Patrick White

Weaver Hawkins, Dance of the football field (1947)

Novels | Plays | Short Stories | Memoir | Screenplay | Essays | Music | Poems | Letters | Speeches | Interviews | Other works| Unpublished works

Below are a number of miscellaneous pieces which Patrick White wrote in his life, running the gamut from 1922 to 1988. These are pieces that don’t easily fit into the categories elsewhere on this website.

1. A Moonlight Picnic (1922, ^{Landscape Writing}): PW makes his writing debut at age 9 under the nom-de-plume “Red Admiral” in the Comic and Children’s Section. Here he describes life at Withycombe on Mount Wilson. Printed in the 22 Jan 1922 edition of the Sunday Times. JPG File 1 | JPG File 2
2. Mount Wilson (1922, ^{Landscape Writing}): as above, printed in the 29 Jan 1922 edition of the Sunday Times. JPG File 1 | JPG File 2
3. Across the Wire (1945, ^{Military Report}): a special military report published for the Public Record Office AIR20/5845 123974 [cf Marr 677]. Not publicly available.
4. A Third-Person Autobiographical Sketch (1956, ^{Autobiography}): PW wrote this upon request to accompany Marjorie Barnard’s article, the first mainstream scholarship on his work. This was published in Meanjin‘s June 1956 issue.
5. The Makers – Jerusalem Snapshot, piece for the Australian Jewish Times (1958 ^Educational), reflecting on a 1957 trip to Israel. JPG File 1 | 2
6. Biographical snippet from W.H. Smith’s “The Newsbasket” (1959, ^{Autobiography}): PW agreed to fill in this questionnaire for the W.H. Smith in-house magazine, December 1959 issue, as part of his award win for Voss. But he refused to do an audio interview or any other publicity – an option he would only accept in later life for his theatrical productions.
7. “About the play” (1961, ^{Theatrical note}): a program note for the first performance of The Ham Funeral at Adelaide University Theatre. PDF file

“…Now that it is to be seen on the stage we only hope the courage of the Adelaide University Theatre Guild and the skill of John Tasker as a producer will have dissolved my stubborn groups of statuary into the fluid lines of workable theatre.”

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8. “What books did you know and like most in your childhood?” (1962, ^{Autobiography}): Response in the Australian Book Review Educational Supplement 1962 (p.4). Cited in Hubber/Smith but have not seen this to verify
9. Gerry Lewers has left us (1962, ^Obituary): Obituary published in the Sydney Morning Herald (18/8/1962). Gerald Francis (Gerry) Lewers was a sculptor born in 1905 who, with his wife Margo, a painter, became friends with PW. PW owned pieces of Lewers’ sculpture including a fountain. Lewers died “in Queensland, after a fall from a horse”. One of only two public obits PW would ever write. PDF File
10. Epitaph for Ben Huebsch (1964, ^Obituary): A short piece honouring his American editor, who had been the first major literary figure to believe in PW, and had championed his work for 25 years. Published in: Ben Huebsch 1876-1964, A Record of a Meeting of His Friends at the Grolier Club, New York City, on December 9 1964 (privately printed). Published in Letters pp 264-265.
11. Endorsement of Janet Frame’s Owls do Cry (1967, ^Promotional): Endorsement on the back cover of The Sun Books edition, 1967. PW was an advocate for Frame’s work, even suggesting she should receive the Nobel Prize.
12. The Cynthia I Knew (1976, ^Obituary): An obituary for Cynthia Nolan, published in Australian, 7 Dec 1976. Nolan had taken her own life. PW had been friends with Nolan and her husband for two decades. PW reflects on Nolan’s memory, and on the challenges she faced in the everyday world. This obituary for now was focused on the woman. But privately PW reserved anger for her widower Sir Sidney, PW White felt had not helped Nolan enough, and whom he now felt was moving on with his life too quickly. This piece began the fierce public decline of the two men’s relationship.

 “I know that my own life and work have been enriched since my path was crossed by this king-fisher of the spirit who suddenly left us while still ashimmer.”

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13. Patrick White’s Choice (1981, ^{Art catalogue})

In 1981, PW was asked to curate an exhibition of his favourite works in the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection. The exhibition ran from 22 December 1981 to 31 Jan 1982. David Marr notes that many of PW’s favourite works were pulled out of the basement for this… and promptly returned afterward. The catalogue note by PW was published in Selected Writings.

The items in the exhibition, with links to their profile at the AGNSW:

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14. Authors Take Sides on the Falklands : Two Questions On The Falklands Conflict Answered By More Than A Hundred Mainly British Authors (1982, ^{Opinion piece}):

A husband-and-wife couple, Cecil Woolf and Jean Moorcroft Wilson, sent out letters to notable figures asking for their thoughts on the Falklands War, the bitter dispute between Thatcher’s UK and the Argentinian junta. They received more than a hundred answers, ranging from short quips to lengthy essays, and collected them in this volume.

The question: “Are you for, or against, our Government’s response to the Argentine annexation of the Falkland Islands? How, in your view, should the dispute in the South Atlantic be resolved?”

Contributors included: Michael Bogdanov, Roald Dahl, Margaret Drabble, Ruor Godden, Chrstopher Hampton, Patricia Highsmith, David Lodge, Spike Milligan, Anthony Powell, Salman Rushdie, Muriel Spark, Paul Theroux, and Auberon Waugh. Jilly Cooper gives a typically direct answer, pro-Thatcher, and acknowledging the deaths on both sides: “But I have to confess some of those Argentinian officers are so frighteningly good-looking one might almost enjoy being taken prisoner by them!””

PW contributed the following:

“I played a very minor role in the WWII which ended at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From what I saw for myself in the London Blitz and the Western Desert and Libya, and what I have heard tell of the horrors of Japan, I am against war of any kind: conventional weapons are lethal enough and can lead to worse. As for the Falklands Dispute, I see the Argentine Junta as the worst kind of Fascist regime, but Thatcher and her tribe and the unspeakable President Reagan seem to me no better. I shall do everything in my power to discourage Australian youth and the youth of anywhere else from becoming involved in the futilities of war. We must continue talking to one another in the human language we have in common, and avoid letting ourselves be rushed into false patriotism by ambitious or desperate politicians, armaments manufacturers, and scientists whose job is to supply their political bosses with a bigger and better means of destruction.”

-10 June 1982

15. Talking About Angus Wilson (1983, ^Criticism)

A short reflection on the works of Angus Wilson in Twentieth Century Literature 29 (Summer 1983), p. 115-141. (Unseen, reflected in Hubber & Smith).

16. Overheard by the Vivisector (1983, ^Criticism)

In 1983 PW was one of a panel of listeners who spent several weeks listening to ABC radio and television broadcasts at the invitation of the ABC’s Standing Committee on Spoken English. PW took issue with announcers’ pronunciation, syllabic stress and affectations. He was also annoyed by poor grammar, tautologies, and inelegant vocabulary choice.

In 2006, after the announcement that PW’s literary papers had been secretly kept by his former agent, this piece was taken from the archive and published in the Spectrum installment of the Sydney Morning Herald 11-12 November 2006.

A sample passage:

“Mispronunciations are less excusable than wrong stresses. Who can forgive blattant for blaytant? Coral for choral? Tolling for tohling (of a bell), [eydyll] for idyll (am I being elitist?), hammick for hammock, cornet for cornet (from an announcer on a music program), hostel for hostel (as the precious announcer persisted with the wrong pronunciation, the hostel manager continued giving the right one to the organisation he was promoting), influence for influence (too incredible for further comment), bollster for bohlster, bankvollt for bankvault, tew for two, kew for coup, best of all tew typhewns (a New Zealand intake?), colpable for culpable, coltcher for culture, moozeleem (twice) for mausoleum, staunchion for stanchion, patron (as spelt) for paytron (saint, protector etc.), Monahro for Monairo, Merriwer for Merriwaw (I could have noted many more mispronunciations of Australian place-names).”

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17. Message to the 1985 Mardi Gras (1984, ^{Opinion piece}): PW was asked to provide a message for the official guide to the 1985 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, as a notable homosexual Australian. PW was typically dismissive of Mardi Gras, seeing it as a stereotypical event that didn’t help the cause of queer Australians, and an increasingly tourist-focused event which had been overtaken by trendy straight people. Despite this response, the Mardi Gras chose to publish it in the guide nevertheless. Published in David Marr, Letters.
18. My Dog (1986, ^Educational): A pictorial piece apparently published in Australian Studies Project: Bulletin of the Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education 4 (Oct 1986). Not seen but cited in several sources.
19. Credo (1988, ^{Autobiography}): PW’s final written piece: a short reflection on his core beliefs and mentality. He was asked to contribute this to Overland 111 (June 1988). It was reprinted in Blast 13 (Spring 1990). Published in Patrick White Speaks.

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