Anna Maria Bunn
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Anna Maria Bunn (1808–1889) was the anonymous author of ''The Guardian: a Tale (by an Australian)'' (1838), the first novel published on
mainland Australia Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other list of islands of Australia, Australian offshore islands. The landmass ...
and the first in the continent by a woman. Bunn's authorship was only established after a historian found a copy of the book in which her son had noted his mother's authorship.


Life

Anna Maria Murray was born in Ireland in 1808 and in 1827 came to Australia with her father, who, as a retired army officer, was entitled to a free land grant in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
. Her brother
Terence Aubrey Murray Sir Terence Aubrey Murray (10 May 1810 – 22 June 1873) was an Irish-Australian pastoralist, parliamentarian and knight of the realm. He had the double distinction of being, at separate times, both the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislativ ...
also came out, while her brother James remained behind until he had finished training as a surgeon. A year later she married Captain George Bunn, a mariner and merchant, a brother of the English theatrical manager
Alfred Bunn Alfred Bunn (8 April 1796 in London20 December 1860 in Boulogne-sur-Mer) was an English theatrical manager. He married Margaret Somerville, a minor actress, in 1819. Biography Bunn was appointed stage manager of Drury Lane Theatre, London, in ...
. They settled in Pyrmont in Sydney. Captain Bunn died suddenly on 9 January 1834, aged 43, leaving Anna Maria aged 25 years, with two small sons and in financial difficulties. It was in the five years after her husband's death that she wrote the novel. In this time she alternated between living with her brother James, who owned
Woden Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Emp ...
homestead and her brother Terence, who owned Yarralumla homestead, both in the area of present-day
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
. She had planned to return to Ireland, but this became impractical. In 1852 she moved to live at St Omer in the Braidwood district a property of which had been owned by Captain Bunn but which the couple had never occupied. In 1860 her youngest son died from a fall from a horse, and five years later his wife and son died of typhoid fever, leaving a daughter Georgiana who was raised by Anna Maria. Bunn apparently wrote nothing else apart from her novel, but she did produce paintings of insects and flowers which are in the collection of the
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
. She died at St Omer on 19 September 1889. Her grave is in the Braidwood General Cemetery.


Novel

The novel mixes the apparently incongruous modes of the
Gothic novel Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean ...
and the
comedy of manners In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society. ...
. The setting is England and Ireland, with New South Wales only referred to at times in the text, mostly in amusingly disparaging terms. It is written partly in the form of letters between two former school friends and partly in
third person narrative Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
. Themes include the search for security, the issue of whether to marry for love (the author appears to be against it) and the ups and downs of marriage. These are expressed in a melodramatic gothic plot culminating in infanticide and suicide. The author does not seem particularly comfortable with the Gothic sensibility.
Dale Spender Dale Spender (22 September 1943 – 21 November 2023) was an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant. In 1983, Dale Spender was co-founder of and editorial advisor to Pandora Press, the first of the feminist imprints devo ...
points out that although the plot includes the eventual discovery of an incestuous secret (husband and wife discover that they are also brother and sister), the author seems blasé about this turn of affairs and regards such a situation as unfortunate rather than a sin that will be punished.Spender, see above


References


Further reading

*''The Guardian, a tale/ by Anna Maria Bunn (an Australian)'' with a new introduction by Elizabeth Webby, Canberra, ACT: Mulini Press, 1994. *Anna Maria Bunn 'The Guardian: chapters 2 and 3 (from The Guardian: a tale)' in ''Her Selection: Writings by Nineteenth Century Australian Women'' ed. by Lynne Spender. Ringwood, Victoria, Penguin, 1988 (pp 22–36). *Clarke, Patricia 'Pen Portraits: Women Writers and Journalists in Nineteenth Century Australia' North Sydney, New South Wales, Allen and Unwin, 1988 *McKiernan, Susan 'Two Early Novelists: Anna Maria Bunn and Mary Theresa Vidal' in ''A Bright and Fiery Troop: Australian Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century'' ed. By Debra Adelaide. Ringwood, Vic., Penguin, 1988 pp 53–68. *Bunn, Anna Maria ''Papers 1826–1889 (manuscript)'' letters, press cuttings, recipes, etc. (photocopies of the originals of which are in private ownership) in National Library of Australia (NLA MS 2853) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunn, Anna Maria 1808 births 1889 deaths 19th-century Australian novelists Australian women novelists 19th-century Australian women writers Colony of New South Wales people