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y separately published work icon Harry Heathcote of Gangoil : A Tale of Australian Bush Life single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1873... 1873 Harry Heathcote of Gangoil : A Tale of Australian Bush Life
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Trollope's only Australian novel, Harry Heathcote of Gangoil deals with the problems facing a young sheepfarmer, or 'squatter' (modeled after Trollope's son Frederic) in outback Australia. Using conventions of the Christmas story established by Dickens in the late 1840s, the novel shows Harry Heathcote thwarting the envious ex-convict neighbors who harbor his disgruntled former employees and who attempt to set fire to his pastures. Trollope draws heavily on his knowledge of the social and economic conditions of bush life acquired during a year-long visit to Australia in 1871-2. This story by Trollope reflects the author's readiness to diverge from the familiar paths that were most congenial to him and to his readership.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (1981 Arno edition).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Serialised by: The Age 1854 newspaper (7345 issues)
      1873-1874 .
      Note/s:
      • Published in serialised format in The Age, November 1873 - January 1874.
      • Illustrated.
Notes:
The Tauchnitz edition may have be the first publication of this work in book form, possibly in January 1874, with the New York edition in January or February 1874 and the London edition in October 1874. (William B. Todd and Ann Bowden, Tauchnitz International Editions in English (1988)).
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       The Graphic ,       1873 .
      Extent: 30 p., 6 leaves of platesp.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Supplement to the Christmas number of The Graphic, Dec. 25, 1873.
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Harper and Brothers ,       1874 .
      Extent: 61 p., [2] leaves of platesp.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Text in columns.
    • Leipzig,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Tauchnitz ,       1874 .
      Extent: 232p.
      Note/s:
      • Collection of British Authors 1383.
    • Birkenhead, Merseyside,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Lever Brothers ,       1881-1889 .
      Extent: 313, 4p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication place Port Sunlight, near Birkenhead.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Ward, Lock ,       1883 .
      Extent: 313p.
      Reprinted: 1885
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Lansdowne , 1963 .
      Extent: 159, [2] leaves of platesp.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Introduction by Marcie Muir.
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Arno Press ,       1981 .
      Extent: 313p.
      Note/s:
      • Introduction by P. D. Edwards
      ISBN: 0405141637
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       Dover ; Dover ,       1987 .
      Extent: 159p.
      ISBN: 0486253171 (pbk.)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Penguin ,       1993 .
      Extent: 313p.
      Note/s:
      • The Penguin Trollope, 35.
      ISBN: 0140438351
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Trollope Society ,       1998 .
      Extent: xiii, 98p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Introduction by P. D. Edwards
      ISBN: 1870587650
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Works about this Work

‘Like Volcanoes on the Ranges’ : How Australian Bushfire Writing Has Changed with the Climate Grace Moore , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 13 November 2019;

'Bushfire writing has long been a part of Australian literature.

'Tales of heroic rescues and bush Christmases describe a time when the fire season was confined only to summer months and Australia’s battler identity was forged in the flames.' (Introduction)
“He Certainly Was Rough to Look at” : Social Distinctions in Anthony Trollope’s Antipodean Fiction Agnieszka Setecka , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Anglica : An International Journal of English Studies , vol. 28 no. 3 2019; (p. 33-42) 'The following article concentrates on the representation of social class in Anthony Trollope’s Antipodean stories, Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874) and “Catherine Carmichael” (1878). Although Trollope was aware of the problematic nature of class boundaries in the Antipodes, he nevertheless employed the English model of class distinctions as a point of reference. In the two stories he concentrated on wealthy squatters’ attempts to reconstruct the way of life of the English gentry and on the role of women, who either exposed the false pretences to gentility, as in “Catherine Carmichael,” or contributed to consolidation of the landowning classes as in Harry Heathcote of Gangoil.' (Publication abstract)
'The Heavens Were on Fire' : Incendiarism and the Defence of the Settler Home Grace Moore , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Domestic Fiction in Colonial Australia and New Zealand 2014; (p. 63-74)

'Drawing on Anthony Trollope's novella Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874), alongside more neglected material including Mary Fortune's 'Waif Wanderer' [sic] articles for the Australian Journal and J.S. Borlase's 'Twelve Miles Broad' (1885), this chapter analyses the threat posed to the home by the arsonist and the ways in which literary representations demonized the 'fire bug'. This piece also considers how fiction mediates emotional responses to fire, such as trauma and hatred, while exploring how literary representations of arsonists channelled deep-rooted anxieties about the precariousness of settler life and the vulnerability of the bush homestead. I pay particular attention to the gender and racial politics of firelighting as well as firefighting and to ways in which fictional stories of fire sought to assert the security of the (often vulnerable) homestead even as it is endangered by the appearance of an outsider.' (p.63)
Bushfires, Politics and Imagined Communities Grace Moore , 2013 single work essay
— Appears in: Histories of Emotion from Medieval Europe to Contemporary Australia , July 2013;
The Domestic Novel's Antipodes : False Heirs and Reclaimed Returnees in Charlotte Yonge's My Young Alcides Tamara S. Wagner , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , September vol. 35 no. 3 2011; (p. 317-334) 'This article reassesses nineteenth-century representations of Britain's geographical 'antipodes' by looking at the figure of the returnee. While mid-Victorian sensation fiction expressed a redirected imperial panic by producing popular impostor plots, the resulting typecasting of the antipodal returnee as an intrinsically threatening figure increasingly prompted authors to react critically to this easy sensationalisation. Simultaneously, a new craze for impostor narratives was inspired by real-life scandals such as, most prominently, the Tichborne Claimant, an Australian butcher who claimed to be the lost heir to an aristocratic family. The case inspired a range of popular representations: from street ballads to heated debates about class issues and a number of novels, both in the metropolitan centre and in the settler colonies. My Young Alcides (1875) by the religious, didactic writer Charlotte Yonge, I argue, offers a revealing case study of domestic fiction's reaction to the easy appropriation and typecasting of 'down under' as a sensational space.' [Author's abstract]
Anthony Trollope's Australian Story 1874 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 21 February vol. 9 no. 216 1874; (p. 304)
— Review of Harry Heathcote of Gangoil : A Tale of Australian Bush Life Anthony Trollope , 1873 single work novel
Golden Days M. R. Ellis , 1963 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 9 November vol. 85 no. 4369 1963; (p. 47-49)
— Review of Harry Heathcote of Gangoil : A Tale of Australian Bush Life Anthony Trollope , 1873 single work novel ; A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-1853 : Written on the Spot Ellen Clacy , 1853 single work autobiography
Settlers and Diggers Bryn Davies , 1963 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November vol. 3 no. 1 1963; (p. 32)
— Review of Harry Heathcote of Gangoil : A Tale of Australian Bush Life Anthony Trollope , 1873 single work novel ; A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-1853 : Written on the Spot Ellen Clacy , 1853 single work autobiography
Untitled P. D. Edwards , 1964 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , June vol. 1 no. 3 1964; (p. 208-212)
— Review of Harry Heathcote of Gangoil : A Tale of Australian Bush Life Anthony Trollope , 1873 single work novel
Debatable Ground : Anthony Trollope and the Anxiety of Colonial Space Robert J. Dingley , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: 'Unemployed at Last!' : Essays on Australian Literature to 2002 for Julian Croft 2002; (p. 35-43) Examines Trollope's concept and use of the words 'squatter' and 'gentleman' in the context of Australian colonial settlement.
Modern Issues: Anthony Trollope and Australia Jill Felicity Durey , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 21 no. 2 2007; (p. 170-176)
A Society Ablaze with Resentment Nick Horden , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Australian Financial Review , 24 April 2009; (p. 8)
The Domestic Novel's Antipodes : False Heirs and Reclaimed Returnees in Charlotte Yonge's My Young Alcides Tamara S. Wagner , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , September vol. 35 no. 3 2011; (p. 317-334) 'This article reassesses nineteenth-century representations of Britain's geographical 'antipodes' by looking at the figure of the returnee. While mid-Victorian sensation fiction expressed a redirected imperial panic by producing popular impostor plots, the resulting typecasting of the antipodal returnee as an intrinsically threatening figure increasingly prompted authors to react critically to this easy sensationalisation. Simultaneously, a new craze for impostor narratives was inspired by real-life scandals such as, most prominently, the Tichborne Claimant, an Australian butcher who claimed to be the lost heir to an aristocratic family. The case inspired a range of popular representations: from street ballads to heated debates about class issues and a number of novels, both in the metropolitan centre and in the settler colonies. My Young Alcides (1875) by the religious, didactic writer Charlotte Yonge, I argue, offers a revealing case study of domestic fiction's reaction to the easy appropriation and typecasting of 'down under' as a sensational space.' [Author's abstract]
Anthony Trollope's Australian Novels P. D. Edwards , 1965 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 25 no. 3 1965; (p. 200-207)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (15)
Last amended 7 Jul 2017 15:51:34
Subjects:
  • Queensland,
Settings:
  • Queensland,
  • 1870s
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