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Finding Aid Index Request Information
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Each Finding Aid can be keyword searched using the Ctrl F function on your keyboard.
Manuscript Name | Papers of Stephen Muecke |
Manuscript Number | MSS 121 |
Last Updated | July 2021 |
Extent | 2 boxes + 1 oversize + 3 AV boxes |
Location | Special Collections, UNSW Canberra |
Abstract | Original personal papers, draft writings, research and audiovisual recordings relating to Stephen Muecke |
Literary
The bulk of this collection relates to Stephen Muecke and his work on Reading the Country: Introduction to Nomadology (Fremantle, 1984), a postmodern ethnography written in collaboration with Indigenous elder Paddy Roe and painter Krim Benterrak. It contains correspondence, notebook and literary drafts, research papers, reviews, business papers, audio recordings, still images, photographic negatives and maps, some of which did not appear in the published edition. Of note is the additional group of correspondence and draft writings between noted literary academics D C Muecke and Wayne C Booth
1964-1985
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Muecke
An academic in linguistics and semiotics, Stephen Muecke grew up in Newcastle and Melbourne before graduating from Monash University in the 1970s. He moved to Perth to work on his doctorate (a semiotic analysis of oral narratives from the Kimberleys) and it was during his research that his friendship with Indigenous elder Paddy Roe began. Muecke has taught at several Australian universities and written extensively on Indigenous Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, a Faculty member of the Global Center for Advanced Studies, Switzerland and was appointed Professor Emeritus of Ethnography at UNSW Sydney in the 2010s
References:
Author record, Stephen Muecke, AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au), St Lucia: The University of Queensland, 2002- https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A10587 retrieved 04 November 2020
Access: Check with Curator
This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.
Copying: Check with Curator
Papers of Stephen Muecke, Special Collections, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, MSS 121, Box [Number], Folder [Number].
The collection was acquired in 1990 and 1998
Further material relating to D C Muecke is located at The University of Adelaide, Rare Books and Manuscripts: Douglas Colin Muecke, Playscripts and papers 1954-2007, MSS 0220
Stephen Muecke, 1951- –Archives
Aboriginal Australians – Western Australia – Roebuck Plains.
Geographic perception
Roebuck Plains (W.A.) – Maps, Mental
Irony in literature
Stephen Muecke, 1951-
Paddy Roe, 1912-2001
Krim Benterrak, 1952-
Wayne C Booth, 1921-2005
D C Muecke, 1919-2015
Ethnologists
Linguists
Literary critics
Academics
Correspondence, notebook and literary drafts
Folder 1
Correspondence. D C Muecke, Wayne C Booth [1970-1974]
The Rhetoric of Irony I by Wayne C Booth, Chapters I and II
Folder 2
The Rhetoric of Irony I by Wayne C Booth, Chapters III and IV - draft
Folder 3
The Rhetoric of Irony I by Wayne C Booth, Chapters V and VI - draft
Folder 4
The Rhetoric of Irony I by Wayne C Booth, Chapters VII and IX - draft
Folder 5
Reading the Country
Letters/Correspondence
Letter, typed, 18 November 1982 from Bureau of the Northern Land Council to Stephen Muecke (SM)
Correspondence between SM and Freemantle Arts Centre Press 3 August 1982 – 24 October 1984 re project Reading the Country
Handwritten letter from ‘Ray’ 10 May 1984 regarding slides and photographs for inclusion in Reading the Country
Letter 11 September 1985 from Jean Daly OBE to SM
Unfinished, typed letter in French to ‘Christiane’, unsigned and undated
Folder 6
Journal – Field trip notebook
1 x Spirax Students Note Book (no. 592). Front cover – ‘Stephen Muecke c/- Paddy Roe, Broome’ Contains rough notes at front and back of notebook [April 198-]
Folder 7
Reading the Country
Literary drafts – background/working notes
File of notes on Reading the Country, includes annotated draft of Table of Contents; annotated photocopies of photographs and slides being considered for inclusion; annotated drafts and/or notes on some chapters; project notes; notes on reading as a general concept
Literary drafts – drafts and fragments included in final work
Typed transcript of conversation (‘Stephen’ and Paddy Roe) ‘How shall we write history (the night we were playing with the goat at Coconut Wells)’ – 3 pages numbered 89-91, parts incl in chapter ‘We better go back to country’ (pp 106, 107)
Handwritten notes and transcript of dialogue, numbered 1 – 5: p 1 headed ‘Butcher Joe’; pp 2 – 5 headed ‘Money – Story. Story about tribal punishment’ some lines incl in ‘We better go back to country’, (pp 107, 108)
Typed fragment, untitled, 2 pages, lines included in ‘We better go back to country’, (pp 107-)
Handwritten transcript of conversation Krim Benterrak (KB) and Paddy Roe (PR) ‘Blanket Story’, 5 pages numbered 6 – 10, some lines repeated in chapter ‘But I was just like a swag, too’ (pp 40 – 42)
Typed transcript of conversation between PR and SM, 3 pages, numbered, lines included in chapter ‘K5 International’ (p 68)
Draft transcript of interview by Freemantle Arts Centre Press with SM, October 1984, edited, 8 pages
Proof copy of transcript of interview by Freemantle Arts Centre Press with SM, October 1984, edited, 4 pages
Literary drafts – fragments, unfiled working notes
1 page, typed, poem/dialogue between PR and SM, untitled, undated
Typed transcript of conversation between Nangan (Butcher Joe), Stephen (Muecke) Paddy (Roe) and Krim (Benterrak) ‘Police’ 2 pages, undated
Handwritten conversation between PR and KB, ‘I went to Perth ... one time’ (alternative title ‘Paddy Roe goes to Perth’ crossed out), 2 pages, 10 September 1982
Handwritten notes, ‘Geo-politics’, 1 page, undated
Handwritten story and dialogue, no names, ‘Nyuba’, 2 pages, undated
Handwritten notes and dialogue, SM, KB, PR, ‘Sheep Camp’
Stapled together - Handwritten, draft essay ‘Departure’ 4 pages; note by unidentified person to ‘Steve’; brief note headed ‘Krim’s painting’; handwritten list of Aboriginal terms, 1 page. All unsigned and undated
Handwritten conversation ‘Cyclone’, PR and ‘K’ (KB?), 7 pages, numbered undated, unattributed
Research papers, reviews, business papers and miscellaneous
Folder 8
Reading the Country Stephen Muecke (SM), Storyteller Paddy Roe (PR), illustrator Krim Benterrak (KB) - prepublication copy
Folder 9
Reading the Country
Research
8 pages - Tim Willing (undated) ’The Acacias of Broome & its region’ – ‘unpublished notes’
2 pages of handwritten reading notes detailing Australian plants and potential as food
Map (295mm x 210mm) ‘Australia 1:100,000 Topographic Survey’, part of title ‘Roebuc...’ Handwritten Aboriginal place names
1 printed page with details of botanical trip in the West Kimberley. On the back is written: XIII International Botanical Congress. Handbook Field Trip no. 2, Northern Australia (Perth to Sydney 6/17 Aug 1981) – J.K. Marshall & K.F. Kenneally. Pub: Sydney June 1981. Australian Academy of Science
Handwritten notes (1 x 12 pages, 1 x 2 pages) and annotated, typed notes (4 pages) taken from readings on William Dampier, including notes on books consulted
Reviews/Critique
Typed, undated, un-authored report, possibly from Freemantle Arts reader, on Reading the Country
5 pages, typed, lightly edited draft review of Reading the Country, Gary Wickham (undated) ‘An event in publishing, an intervention into academic style’
1 page draft review, typed and heavily annotated, untitled and unattributed
Business papers
Application for Research Grant for Reading the Country to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) by SM, signed 17 May 1982. 7 pages
Application for Research Grant for Reading the Country to the South Australian College of Advanced Education (SACAE) by SM, 1 February 1983, 3 pages
Letter, typed, from John Chalken (SACAE) to SM, response to request for funding, 22 February 1983, 1 page
Letter, typed, SM to Woodside Offshore Petroleum requesting funding to support Reading the Country research. 20 December 1982. 1 page
Letter, typed, M P Conoley (Woodside Offshore Petroleum, Public Affairs Officer), response to request for funding from SM, 30 March 1983. 1 page
Letter, typed, SM to Petty Ray Geophysical requesting contributions to the cost of research for Reading the Country. 20 December 1982
Order Form NATAP Division of National Mapping (undated) for aerial photographs of the Broome/Roebuck Plains area, for Dr S Muecke. 2 pages
Freemantle Arts Centre Press, signed Memorandum of Agreement, 16 March 1984, between Stephen Muecke, Paddy Roe and Krim Benterrak and the Freemantle Arts Centre Press, 3 pages
Miscellaneous
4 original Chinese characters in black ink on A4 paper, used in chapter ‘Always Already Writing’ (pp 61-62)
Photocopy of print with caption ‘49. Moderplas – Puddle – Pfutze – Flaque d’eau’, undated, unattributed
Typed sheet, incomplete, of dialogue between unnamed speakers about differing ways of perceiving the same thing, contains reference to Paddy Roe
Arete vol 1, no. 1 [1965]. Australian Arts Faculty Association
Reading the Country
Map (182mm x 310mm) untitled, annotated. On reverse side handwritten note with following details: N.H. Speck & M. Lazarides 1964 ‘General report on Lands of the West Kimberley area, W.A.’ CSIRO Aust. Land. Res. Series no 9
Map (330mm x 225mm) ‘Vegetation survey of W.A. Sheet 1: Kimberley‘ J.S. Beard (UWA Press) 1979’ with some parts highlighted and handwritten notes
Map (255mm x 357mm) Roebuck Plains annotated with handwritten Aboriginal place names. Untitled, unattributed, undated
Map (360mm x280mm), small section of left-hand corner absent) unattributed and undated. Shows Roebuck Plains annotated with handwritten English and Aboriginal place names
Map (415mm x 395mm) shows Roebuck Bay and Roebuck Plains. Untitled, unattributed, undated, partially hand-coloured
Reading the Country
Black 3 ring binder containing:
Separate folder containing two photographs and three negatives
Reading the Country
Black 3 ring binder containing:
Note: First photograph of unnamed bushman (non-Indigenous Australian?) sharpening an axe was found in file of notes in Folder 6, separate from all other photos. Some but not all prints are photographs reproduced in Reading the Country
Reading the Country
7 x audio cassette tapes containing recordings of conversations between Stephen Muecke, Paddy Roe and Krim Benterrak .
AV3.1 – ‘Roebuck Plains 1. 22.3.1983’: digitised
AV3.2 – ‘Paddy + BJ (Krim Benterrak) 1984’: digitised
AV3.3 – ‘3, 2. Cont.’: digitised
AV3.4 – ‘Ray Keogh. A. 10.5.83’: digitised
AV3.5 – ‘Roebuck Plains B. 10.5.83’: digitised
AV3.6 – ‘Paddy Roe Mob. 23.3.83’: digitised
AV3.7 – Unlabelled tape: digitised
Digitised copies of the following recordings should be used in preference to the original tapes:
1 CD, digitised copy of audio cassettes recording conversations between Stephen Muecke, Paddy Roe, Krim Benterrak, also contains copy of INDEX Reading the Country tapes (Word document on CD-ROM)
Printout of INDEX Reading the Country tape: digitised