Australian Folklore: A Dictionary Of Lore, Legends And Popular Allusions
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Long before the internet age democratised the sharing of stories, Australia's rich oral traditions — its bush yarns, larrikin legends, and colourful colloquialisms — lived in pubs, shearing sheds, and campfires across the continent. Australian Folklore: A Dictionary of Lore, Legends and Popular Allusions by W. Fearn-Wannan presents a comprehensive and authoritative compendium of these traditions, cataloguing the myths, sayings, folk heroes, and cultural touchstones that have defined the Australian national character from the convict era through to the twentieth century. Arranged in accessible dictionary format, it chronicles everything from the legend of Ned Kelly and the mythology of the swagman to everyday idioms and the colourful figures who populated the colonial frontier, making it an indispensable reference for anyone curious about the stories that shaped a nation. Fearn-Wannan's work stands as a landmark contribution to Australian cultural studies, weaving together history, linguistics, and anthropology into a single, richly rewarding volume. His prose is authoritative yet deeply affectionate toward its subject matter, treating the bush ballad and the tall tale with the same scholarly rigour afforded to formal history. For readers with an interest in how a nation constructs its identity through storytelling, Australian Folklore remains an essential — and endlessly fascinating — primary source.
Author: W. Fearn-Wannan
Format: Hardback
Published: 1973, Lansdowne Press
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Long before the internet age democratised the sharing of stories, Australia's rich oral traditions — its bush yarns, larrikin legends, and colourful colloquialisms — lived in pubs, shearing sheds, and campfires across the continent. Australian Folklore: A Dictionary of Lore, Legends and Popular Allusions by W. Fearn-Wannan presents a comprehensive and authoritative compendium of these traditions, cataloguing the myths, sayings, folk heroes, and cultural touchstones that have defined the Australian national character from the convict era through to the twentieth century. Arranged in accessible dictionary format, it chronicles everything from the legend of Ned Kelly and the mythology of the swagman to everyday idioms and the colourful figures who populated the colonial frontier, making it an indispensable reference for anyone curious about the stories that shaped a nation. Fearn-Wannan's work stands as a landmark contribution to Australian cultural studies, weaving together history, linguistics, and anthropology into a single, richly rewarding volume. His prose is authoritative yet deeply affectionate toward its subject matter, treating the bush ballad and the tall tale with the same scholarly rigour afforded to formal history. For readers with an interest in how a nation constructs its identity through storytelling, Australian Folklore remains an essential — and endlessly fascinating — primary source.