Summary |
MS 9924 consists largely of research material compiled by Bill Wannan during his career as a writer and anthologist. The collection includes correspondence, publications, cuttings, photocopies of articles, notes and notebooks, scrapbooks, pictorial material and a comprehensive selection of Wannan's own publications. A large part of the correspondence scattered throughout the collection is from readers of his Australasian post column, "Come in Spinner", 1955-1980. Writers and folklorists with whom Wannan associated and who are well-represented in the correspondence include Alan Marshall, Len Fox, Mona Brand, Olaf Ruhen, Stephen Murray-Smith, Cyril E. Goode, Judah Waten, F. Bert Vickers, Ron Edwards, John Ryan, Edgar Penzig, Wendy Lowenstein, Gwenda Davey, Gary Shearston, Bill Scott and Barry Jones. Other correspondents include agent Tim Curnow, family members and various publishers (56 boxes, 6 cartons, 1 fol. item).
The Acc10.081 instalment comprises publications, typescript and manuscript writings, correspondence and news cuttings. They include papers of Wannan's father, William Llewellyn Fearn, consisting of his published and unpublished writings and letters from his literature course students; together with typescript, manuscript and published writings of Bill Wannan, including poetry, short stories, cartoon captions and children's stories. Amongst the papers are several handbound typescript volumes, including a collection of Wannan's father's poems, an anthology of children's verse by various poets, a volume of Bill Wannan's own poems titled "Plum bloom and other songs and broadsheets", and a children's story by Wannan, "The wonderful adventures of Moppet" (1 box).
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Biography/History |
Folklorist, newspaper columnist, editor, writer and anthologist. William Fielding Fearn-Wannan was the author or editor of more than 50 books on Australian folklore and history and also compiled the Australasian post column, "Come in Spinner", which ran from 1955-1980. In 1938, Wannan travelled to Japan to work as a freelance journalist. During the Second World War he joined the AIF and served in Darwin, New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies. In 1991, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to literature and folkore. Wannan died in Melbourne in 2003.
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