The Great South Land : An Epic Poem

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The Great South Land : An Epic Poem
Author Rex Ingamells
Country Australia
Language English
Publisher Georgian House, Melbourne
Publication date
 1951
Media type Print (hardcover)
Pages 352
Preceded byCome Walkabout

The Great South Land : An Epic Poem (1951) is a poem by Australian author Rex Ingamells. It consists of a sequence of twelve books, with an "Overture" and an epilogue, "The Timeless Covenant". [1] It won the ALS Gold Medal, [2] and the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry, [1] both in 1951.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Rex Ingamells Early twentieth century Australian nationalist poet

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The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged.

Contents

Outline

The poem is an examination of the history of the Australian continent: from the beginning of the creation of the world, through the arrival of the Aborigines, down to the European exploration and colonisation.

Notes

Contents

Reviews

James Devaney, in his review for The Advocate noted: "To say that a poem stirs the mind and heart is to give it high praise. To be able to say that it gives a new and truer significance to a subject means that it has the greatness of creative writing. This is my judgment of The Great South Land, which is Rex Ingamells' major work and a notable achievement in Australian poetry. The greatness of it is first of all in the vision, and its special interest to us is that it is an epic—an epic for Australia." [3]

The Age reviewer found that the book's subject was history, and also that "Mr. Ingamells' picture of Australian history is incomplete, but nobly conceived." They continued: "THE GREAT SOUTH LAND" is, in its way a splendid poem. This is not to say that in any single aspect it is perfect, or that it is splendid poetry. Its splendor is in its pride in Australia, a valid pride for, which Mr. Ingamells adduces strong reasons strongly expressed." [4]

Awards and nominations

The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry is an annual poetry award in Australia, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by William Baylebridge who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress Grace Leven' and for the publication of his own work". Grace was his mother's half-sister.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Austlit - The Great South Land by Rex Ingamells
  2. 1 2 "Crouch Prize for Literature to R. Ingamells" The Age, 7 April 1952, p5
  3. ↑ "Rex Ingamells' The Great South Land" by James Devaney The Advocate, 14 February 1952, p9
  4. ↑ "Poet as Historian" by I. M. The Age, 4 August 1951, p11
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