Eleanor Dark AO (26 August 190111 September 1985) was an Australian writer whose novels included '' Prelude to Christopher'' (1934) and '' Return to Coolami'' (1936), both winners of the

Australian Literature Society Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS 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 th ...

for literature, and her best known work ''

The Timeless Land ''The Timeless Land'' (1941) is a work of historical fiction by Eleanor Dark (1901–1985). The novel ''The Timeless Land'' is the first of ''The Timeless Land'' trilogy of novels about European settlement and exploration of Australia. Story ...

'' (1941).

Life and career

Eleanor Dark was born in Sydney, the second of three children of the poet, writer and parliamentarian

Dowell O'Reilly Dowell Philip O'Reilly (18 July 1865 – 5 November 1923) was an Australian poet, short story writer and politician. Early life O'Reilly was born at Sydney. His father, Rev. Thomas O'Reilly, was a well known clergyman of the Church of England ...

and his wife, Eleanor McCulloch O'Reilly. She studied at the Redlands College for Girls at Cremorne, and was known as Pixie O'Reilly. On finishing school and unable to enter university, having failed mathematics, she learnt typing and took a secretarial job. In February 1922 she married Dr Eric Payten Dark (1889–1987), a widower and general practitioner who wrote books, articles and pamphlets on politics and medicine. She became step-mother to his two-year-old son. Eric Dark was an active member of the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

left 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 ...

, was involved in contemporary political debate and was a committed socialist and one-time Communist. His books include ''The World Against Russia'' and ''Who are the Reds''. They lived in

Katoomba Katoomba is the main town and council seat of the City of Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, and is the administrative centre of Blue Mountains City Council. Situated on the Great Western Highway and the Great Western Railway, Kato ...

, New South Wales, where Eleanor bore their son Michael. It was here that she wrote eight of her ten novels, as well as short stories and articles. She was a frequent contributor to ''

Walkabout Walkabout is a term dating to the pastoral era in which large numbers of Aboriginal Australians were employed on cattle stations. During the tropical wet season, when there was little work on the stations, many would return to their traditional ...

'' magazine, where she shared, wrote Eric Lowe, her love of Australian flora This love is evident in her 1955 article on 'The Blackall Range Country' and in her sense of life and light in a 1951 article about the beauty of Central Australia: She also wrote under the pseudonym "Patricia O'Rane". She and her husband were, in September 1949, charter members of the

Australian Peace Council Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

. In the 1950s they bought a farm in

Montville, Queensland Montville is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Montville had a population of 1,092 people. Geography Montville is in the Sunshine Coast, ...

, where they spent part of the year for seven years. Eleanor wrote her last published work, ''Lantana Lane'' at the farm. Their son Michael had also moved to Queensland, where he eventually married and had two daughters. Dr Dark's political writing and involvement in left-wing circles attracted attention from anti-communist elements within the Menzies Government and the

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is the Intelligence agency, domestic intelligence and national security agency of the Australian Government, responsible for protection from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign inte ...

(ASIO). Like many writers and social commentators of the time who were critical of Menzies or were left-wing, it is certain that the Darks were under surveillance. This surveillance extended to Eric Dark's first son from his first marriage, John Dark, and possibly to his second son with Eleanor, Michael Dark. Eleanor Dark's best known work is ''

'' (1941), the first part of a trilogy, with ''Storm of Time'' (1948) and ''No Barrier'' (1953). She was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the Australia Day Honours of 1977. In her later years she suffered writer's block, osteoarthritis and depression, and lived upstairs as a virtual recluse, rarely seeing friends or relatives. She died in 1985, aged 84. Michael Dark inherited the family home 'Varuna' in Katoomba, which in 1988 was turned into a writers' centre known as

Varuna, The Writers' House Varuna, The National Writers’ House is Australia's national residential writers' house located in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. The former home of writers Eleanor and Eric Dark, it was gifted to the Australia ...

. It is managed by the Eleanor Dark Foundation, of which Michael Dark remained President until his death in July 2015.

Novels

* ''Slow Dawning'' (1932) * '' Prelude to Christopher'' (1934) * '' Return to Coolami'' (1936) * ''Sun Across the Sky'' (1937) * ''Waterway'' (1938) * ''The Little Company'' (1945) * ''

'' (1941) * ''Storm of Time'' (1948)Briefly reviewed in th
February 4, 1950 issue
of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', pp.90, 93. * ''No Barrier'' (1953) * ''Lantana Lane'' (1959)

Notes

References

* Brooks, Barbara and Judith Clark. ''Eleanor Dark: A Writer's Life''. (Macmillan, 1998) Review
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External links

Accessed: 2007-12-09 * ttp://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-27307256_ITM From an unfinished novel by Eleanor Dark
Noble, Jenny Austin (2005) ''Representations of the mother-figure in the novels of Katharine Susannah Prichard and Eleanor Dark''
(Thesis at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

)
Varuna: The Writers House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark, Eleanor 1901 births 1985 deaths Australian women novelists Writers from Sydney People from Katoomba, New South Wales 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women writers Officers of the Order of Australia ALS Gold Medal winners Australian pacifists People educated at Redlands, Cremorne Communist Party of Australia members