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May - June 2002 No. 259 Of f ic ia l Newslet ter o f The L ibrar y and In for mat ion Ser v ice o f Wester n Aust ra l ia

- Y o u r G u i d e t o K n o w l e d g e

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Editorial Enquiries: Dana Tonello (Public Programs) ph:(08) 9427 3449 fax: (08) 9427 3152 email: dtonello@liswa.wa.gov.au

ISSN 1328-7176

Editorial published may only be reproduced with the permission of Public Programs.Join The Western Australian Library Society and you automatically receive knowit every two months. Membership enquiries (08) 9427 3150.

knowit reserves the right to edit all articles. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of knowit or The Library and Information Service of Western Australia. All articles must be supplied with aname and contact details for verification.

Deadline for issue no. 260 (Jul - Aug ‘02) - 28 June 2002

Claire Forte (Acting CEO andState Librarian)

The Library and Information Service of Western AustraliaAlexander Library Building, Perth Cultural Centre, Perth WA 6000 Tel: (08) 9427 3111 Fax: (08) 9427 3256Website: www.liswa.wa.gov.au

Official Newsletter of The Library and Information Service of Western Australia May - June 2002 No.259

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REThe LISWA Kids’ Catalogue, a useful and appealing search toolfor children, can now be accessed through the LISWA website.

Designed especially for children, the Kids’ Catalogue makes iteasy and fun for children to find books, videos, CD ROMs andother resources held in Western Australian public libraries andthe Alexander Library Building. It provides children with a web-based interface to LISWA’s Junior Collection scope and containsthose items that have been written for and are available tochildren.

The Kids’ Catalogue is based on a product called KidsOnline,withthe graphics and help screens for Western Australian children.

A variety of colourful and appealing graphics lead children throughsubject searches in a range of areas from ‘Animals’ to ‘Sports,Games & Activities’. As well, children can directly link into lists oftitles in their favourite series, search for books by an admiredauthor or seek out a specific title.

The catalogue provides a useful tool for encouraging children tohone their search skills and to improve access to subject areasas well as specific resources. Go to http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/kidscat/home.htm for a direct link to the Kid’s Catalogue.

New Online Catalogue Just forChildren

COVER: This year’s WA Premier’s Book Awards theme reflected the Australian Year of the Outback 2002.

We are pleased tofeature the results ofthe 2001 Premier’sBook Awards in thisissue of knowit. Thepresentation dinnerheld in the AlexanderLibrary Building on24 May was a greatsuccess, with guestsenjoying the ‘Year ofthe Outback’ themeof this year’s setting.We congratulate all

the award winners and our special thanksgo to the judges for their hard work inselecting the shortlist and winners in each ofthe categories.

Another very successful evening recentlyheld in the Alexander Library Building wasthe opening of the Children’s Book Councilsixth national conference. Authors,illustrators, publishers, booksellers,librarians, researchers and book lovers fromall Australian States and overseas enjoyedthe chance to view LISWA’s exhibitionfeaturing a history of Western Australianchildren’s literature, to mingle with otherdelegates and to enjoy an evening of musicand convict mayhem!

This was the first time that the conferencehas been held in Western Australia and itwas a great thrill for LISWA to be involved insupporting the Children’s Book Council forthis important event. The special efforts ofmany LISWA staff were greatly appreciatedby the conference convenors.

We look forward to updating you on otherexciting events on our calendar in the next

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The Children’s Book Council ofAustralia held its National Conferencein Western Australia for the first timefrom 3-6 May this year. Attendanceexceeded all expectations, with over650 speakers and delegates comingfrom all Australian States as well asoverseas.

Keynote speakers included two iconsof Australian children’s literature, PaulJennings and John Marsden, whopresented the opening and closingkeynote addresses. Other keynotesincluded Jane Doonan from the UnitedKingdom, a renowned expert on thedynamics and aesthetics of picturebooks, Ken Catran, a New Zealandauthor of books for young adults,Myrna Machet, a South African expertin language and literacy and DrBarbara Kiefer from New York’sColumbia University, a noted expert inthe area of children’s book awards.

In addition, there were over sixty invitedspeakers including some of Australia’sbest know authors and illustrators foryoung people. Emily Rodda, SonyaHartnett, Alison Lester, Boori MontyPryor, Margaret Wild, Nick Earls andShaun Tan all presented outstandingsessions that fortunate delegates willlong remember.

The Sixth National Conference of TheChildren’s Book Council of Australiaprovided a significant and valuableexperience for delegates and raisedimportant issues for the reading,writing and promoting of resources foryoung people.

Welcome ReceptionThe Library and Information Serviceof Western Australia hosted a mostenjoyable Welcome Reception in theAlexander Library Building on Friday3 May. Acting CEO, Claire Forte,welcomed the 500 guests to theLibrary, where they were able to viewa display of more than 150 years ofWestern Australia’s literary history inthe exhibition Write Right Rite at theEdge: An Historical Perspective ofWestern Australian Children’sLiterature. Also on display was originalartwork by award-winning WesternAustralian children’s book author andillustrator, Shaun Tan.

Children’s Book Council Sixth National Conference

The launch of The Legend ofMoondyne Joe, written by MarkGreenwood and illustrated by FraneLessac, was part of the reception, andthe Toodyay Theatre Group provideda lively interlude when police, equippedwith starter pistols, chased MoondyneJoe through the library and up a ladderto the Mezzanine floor. Signed copiesof the book were available for purchaseat the State Library Shop.

Children’s DayAs part of the program for theconference, a Children’s Day was heldin the Alexander Library Building ofTuesday 7 May. This project was theinnovation of Nola Allen from PublicLibrary Services who planned andcoordinated the event to provide anopportunity for the children of Perth tomeet and hear Australia’s top writersfor children. Two of Australia’s mostsuccessful and popular writers, PaulJennings and Emily Rodda, spoke toclasses of children from metropolitanprimary schools.

Paul Jennings, renowned for his quirkyand humorous stories, delighted hisyoung audience with tall tales about hislife and his writing. After seeing thischarming and entertaining man hold anaudience of over 200 children andadults completely spellbound for almostan hour, it is no surprise that his booksare devoured by readers of all ages.

A former editor of the AustralianWoman’s Weekly, Emily Rodda haswritten over fifty children’s books aswell as eight mystery stories for adults,published under her real name ofJennifer Rowe. Emily is the author ofthe award-winning Rowan of Rin booksand the very popular series of DeltoraQuest novels, and she has won theChildren’s Book Council’s Book of theYear Award five times.

Children from Tuart Hill PrimarySchool, Inglewood Primary School andNewman College in Churchlandslistened attentively as Emily shared tipson ‘where she gets her ideas’ as wellas gaining an insight into her life as anauthor of award winning novels.

The Children’s Day attracted excellentsupport from public libraries andschools and provided a trulymemorable experience for over fourhundred children. A number of theparticipating schools also took theopportunity to view the Write Right Riteat the Edge exhibition and to completea worksheet highlighting particularworks in this display. The Children’sDay was an outstanding success,linking writers and readers andproviding the opportunity to personalisetheir relationship.

“Convicts” invade the podium at LISWA’s welcoming reception for the Children’s Book Council 6thNational Conference.

Sue North,Consultant: Library Advisory Services

Public Library Services

42001 WA Premier’s Book AwardsWinners announced at gala Presentation DinnerThe Hon Geoff Gallop, Premier of WesternAustralia, announced the winners of the 2001Western Australian Premier’s Book Awardson Friday evening 24 May 2002.

Tim Winton was awarded the $20,000Premier’s Prize for his book Dirt Music atthe presentation dinner in the AlexanderLibrary Building

The judging panel described his work as ‘thequintessential West Australian novel: a sagaof love, deception and desire set in thevastness of this State… Written in a vigorousstyle that captures West Australian lingo toperfection, this is a novel that one can’t putdown as it carries within its narrativemomentum such forthright issues asmigration, Aboriginal claims to the land, thedreariness of urban lives and the importanceof the one act that redeems us.’

The Premier also announced an increase infunding for the 2002 awards, with the prizemoney in each category increasing by 50% to $7,500.

This year’s awards attracted 96 entries in the 6 categories, with 27 worksshortlisted. Scripts once again have their own category, with Sally Rileyand Archie Weller taking out the award for their work Confessions of aHeadhunter.

Deborah Lisson (winner of the Children’s Book category for her book The Yankee Whaler) withThe Hon Geoff Gallop, Premier of WA, at the awards presentation in the Alexander LibraryBuilding on May 24.

The other winners were John Bailey (The White Diversof Broome) and Jan Gothard (Blue China) in the Non-Fiction category; Dorothy Hewett for Halfway Up theMountain in the Poetry category; The Yankee Whalerby Deborah Lisson won the Children’s Book category;and Julie Lawrinson won the Perth IndependentNewspapers’ Young Adults Award for Obsession.

The Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards aremanaged and presented by the Library and InformationService of Western Australia (LISWA).

More information about the awards, including pastwinners, can be found on LISWA’s website athttp://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/pba.html

L-R Glyn Parry (Premier’s Prize winning author in 1995 and current member of theLibrary Board of WA), Alastair Bryant (Director-General, Department of Cultureand the Arts), The Hon Sheila McHale (Minister for Culture and the Arts) and JuliaLawrinson (this year’s winning author in the Young Adults category).

RIGHT: TimWinton, winner of

the Fictioncategory and thisyear’s Premier’sPrize recipient.(photo:Denise

Fitch)

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Bret Christian, CEO of Perth Independent Newspapers,announces the winner of the Young Adults category. Perth

Independent Newspapers have generously sponsored the YoungAdults Award this year.

What the Judges said....For the 2001 awards, 96 books and unpublished scripts weresubmitted. The judges considered these works in six categories,with two awards for the non-fiction section, which once again hadby far the most entries (about half of them). The judges looked forexcellence in writing alongside, where appropriate, commitmentto research, originality of material, experimentation with form andcreative rethinking of existing genres. In all instances, the judgesalso took note of each writer’s work in the context of his or heroutput to date, the intrinsic merits of a work as well as the meritsof a “first book”. The 2001 Judging Panel were Professor VijayMishra (Chairperson), Dr Simon Adams, Mr Zoltan Kovacs andMs Jill Midolo.

JOHN BAILEY The White Divers ofBroomeWinner: Non-FictionThe book offers a wonderful insight intoa panic-ridden nation on matters of raceand miscegenation even as it re-createsthe narrative with immense dramaticforce and immediacy. A wonderful read,this work captures and maintains thereader’s interest throughout.

JAN GOTHARD Blue ChinaWinner: Non-FictionJan Gothard’s book is an invaluablecontribution to our knowledge of themigration of single women to Australiabetween 1850 and 1900. At oncereadable and informative, the bookalso lays to rest some erstwhile mythsabout the reasons behind singlefemale migration.

DOROTHY HEWETT Halfway Upthe MountainWinner: PoetryThis is a forthright and heartfeltexploration of personal journeys as wellas powerfully rendered meditations onthe Australian landscape. Hewett is askilful poet whose verses seek to“contain multitudes” only to find that lifealways escapes the frames we imposeupon it.

TIM WINTON Dirt MusicWinner: Fiction and The Premier’s PrizeA saga of love, deception and desire set in the vastness of thisState. Memories mingle; conflicting thoughts arise as this giftedwriter again writes a book at once epic in scope and detailed in itsobservations of life.

JULIA LAWRINSON ObsessionWinner: Young Adults categoryJulia Lawrinson has achieved a rarebalance here: honest expressions ofa young girl as she negotiates familylife (always difficult) and school life (averitable jungle of jealous passions andbarely suppressed violence)....animmensely readable work that hascaptured the language of the genreperfectly.

DEBORAH LISSON The YankeeWhalerWinner: Children’s BooksA wonderful re-enactment of historicalevents during the latter part of the 19thcentury in Bunbury. The great strengthof the book lies in the way in which realhistorical events are presented from achild’s point of view.

SALLY RILEY & ARCHIE WELLERConfessions of a HeadhunterWinner: ScriptInterwoven into an act of politicalvandalism are murders of actualpeople that, one gathers, signify themurders that lay behind the celebrationof Australian heroism. This work standsout as an original and ingenious meansof making a powerful political point.

2001 WA Premier’s Book Awards

LEFT: Jan Gothard, winner ofone of the two Non-Fictionawards for her book BlueChina.

RIGHT: Archie Weller, prize-winner of the Script Award

(co-author Sally Riley was notable to attend the

presentation) with The HonGeoff Gallop, Premier of

Western Australia.

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The Battye Library was recentlyvisited by Jemima Farwell fromCalifornia, and her son Simeon.Jemima is a descendent of JohnBoyle O’Reilly, and while staying withfriends in Australia, came into theBattye Library to ask if she could lookat MN 1221, which is a notebook ofO’Reilly’s kept in the Private Archivescollection. Staff were delighted toretrieve the slim volume for her tosee. “It is so interesting to find outabout John Boyle O’Reilly and hisadventures, and it is wonderful thatyou have preserved his notebookwhich contains his original writing,”Jemima said. Simeon was equallyimpressed. “This is so cool,” hecommented.

Author, poet, patriot, raconteur, journalist, newspaperproprietor and escaped convict, O’Reilly was one of theFenians, Irish political prisoners transported to WesternAustralia in 1868. He served with the 10th Hussars, an Englishregiment, and was court martialled in 1866 for attempting toenlist his fellow Irish soldiers in the Fenian cause. Originallysentenced to death, his punishment was commuted to 20years and transportation to the Swan River colony. On the

voyage to Australia on the convictship Hougoumont he continued towrite and helped produce anewspaper, The wild goosesubtitled “a collection of oceanwaifs”. He is best known for his partin the daring escape of Fenianprisoners who were picked up bythe US ship Catalpa and taken toAmerica. He was just 24 years old.

In America, John Boyle O’Reillysoon obtained a position as areporter on the Boston Pilot, anewspaper noted for its Irishsympathies. He married MaryMurphy, a fellow journalist, in 1872and they had four daughters.O’Reilly published works of poetry,essays, and a novel Moondyne

which was set in Western Australia and loosely based on hisexperiences here. He died in Massachusetts USA in 1890, arespected newspaper proprietor.

In addition to the notebook, the Battye Library holds JohnBoyle O’Reilly’s published works and a microfilm copy ofThe wild goose newspaper.

Descendent of John Boyle O’Reilly visits Battye Library

Jennie CarterBattye Library

Jemima Farwell and her son Simeon peruse the John BoyleO’Reilly notebook held in the Battye Library.

The LotteriesCommission of WesternAustralia have made asignificant donationtowards the preservationof deteriorating film in theState Film Archiveslocated in the Library andInformation Service ofWestern Australia.

The WA State LibraryCustodians applied to theLotteries Commission forhelp in preservingWestern Australia’sdocumentary history andthey responded with a$100,000 grant. Mr John Hyde, Member for Perth,representing the Minister for Racing and Gaming,presented the cheque to Mr Ron Sheen, President ofthe WA State Library Custodians. In accepting thecheque, Mr Sheen said that the money will go topreserving around 30 of the most important films in thecollection of the 2,000 that require help.

“It is organisations such as the Lotteries Commission whorespond to help when needed, that help preserve our State’shistory”, Mr Sheen said.

Lotteries money to help State Film ArchivesWestern Australia is the onlyState with its own State filmarchives, although some ofour State’s film archives arehoused in Canberra.

Mr Sheen added, “The StateFilm Archives should remainin Western Australia and theonly way this can happen isfor these films to bepreserved and copies madeavailable for people to enjoyand use for research.”.

Director of the Battye Library,Ronda Jamieson, said thatvaluable historical and

cultural evidence could be lost from the State Film Archivesif vital preservation work is not done. Film makers of thepast used cellulose acetate film which is decaying. Thanksto the Lotteries Commission grant, among the films whichwill now survive are the 1929 centenary activities, the 1945Victory Celebrations, and the Causeway under constructionin 1950.

It is expected work on the 30 films to be preserved will becompleted within 12 months.

Ron Sheen, President of the State Library Custodians, receives the $100,000Lotteries Commission cheque from John Hyde, MP for Perth.

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A l l o f t h e s e b o o k s c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e B a t t y e L i b r a r y

a b o u t b o o k sb a t t y ea tribute to Western Australian AuthorsThis special “Battye About Books” pays tribute to recently deceased Western Australian authors, some well known, others less so. But all have made acontribution to Western Australian history or literature, which will be preserved in the collections of the J S Battye Library of West Australian History.

PHILLIP BLOND,1916-2001.A short history of theCowaramup district,1900-1988.Dynamic Print,(1988?).

RACHELCLELAND, 1906-2002.Pathways toindependence: storyof official and familylife in Papua NewGuinea from 1951-1975.Self published,1985.

LES CODY,1918-2002.

Ghosts in khaki:the history of the

2/4th MachineGun Battalion.

Hesperian Press,1997.

BIG JOHN DODO,ca.1910-2002

Kimberley sculpture /information and text

by Big John Dodo,Kim Akerman and Fr.

Kevin McKelson.Australian City

Properties, 1989.

DENNIS KING,1942-2002.

Goannas: Thebiology of varanid

lizards (2nd ed.)UNSW Press,

1999.

GREGSON, DAVID,1934-2002Praise the egg /Mary Gage,illustrations by DavidGregson.Angus & Robertson,1981.

LEE, JACK (JOHNHERBERT), 1907-2001.Old Easts, 1948 -1975.East FremantleFootball Club, 1976.

OLIVE PELL, 1903-2002.

Patient reaction.Self-published, 1991.

I’d rather be a fig!Hawthorn Press,

1977.

MURIEL UTTING, 1914-2001.

Astronomy in WesternAustralia Vols 1-3

Perth Observatory,1993-2000.

Windows to theSouthern Skies.

Murdoch University /Perth Observatory, 1991.

ELEANOR SMITH,1904-2002.The BeckoningWest.First published in1966. New edition,Hesperian Press,1998.

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2001 WA Premier’s Book Awards Winners