Australian authors have been prolific in the more "popular" genres, which are now recognized as cultural products in their own right.
Crime
Crime fiction by Australian authors was comparatively scarce before the recent boom in local writing led by Peter Corris. But one major author did achieve world-wide success in the 1950s. Arthur Upfield (1888-1964) was best known for a series of novels featuring a part-Aboriginal detective - Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, or "Bony". Upfield made use of outback settings and Aboriginal trackers to provide a distinctive Australian flavour for his novels.
The Australian Literature Collection contains 17 of Upfield's novels, including:
- The bachelors of Broken Hill
- 825.533 U66 D8
- Madman's bend
- 825.533 U66 D32
- Man of two tribes
- 825.533 U66 D23
- The mystery of Swordfish Reef
- 825.533 U66 D28
- The sands of Windee
- 825.533 U66 D5
- The widows of Broome
- 825.533 U66 D1
Romance
Australia's pre-eminent author in this field is Lucy Walker (1917-1987) . She also wrote under her real name as Dorothy Lucie Sanders. Walker often used Australian settings for her stories of young women and love. Her husband, Col Sanders, was appointed Professor of Education at the University of Western Australia in 1954, and the Scholars' Centre holds a collection of his papers in the Manuscript Collection [MS 0019].
The Australian Literature Collection contains 15 of Lucy Walker's novels, including:
- Girl alone
- 825.533 W181 D9
- Joyday for Jodi
- 825.533 W181 D8
- The man from outback
- 825.533 W181 D6
- Pepper Tree Bay
- 825.533 S215 D5
- Reaching for the stars
- 825.533 W181 D3
- The river is down
- 825.533 W181 D7
Science Fiction
While science fiction and fantasy publishing in Australia is currently experiencing a boom, there has been an interesting - though not extensive - line of works in this genre since the later 19th century.
The Australian Literature Collection contains several of the earliest works of Australian science fiction:
- Easterley, Robert. The germ growers (Melbourne: Melville, Mullen & Slade, 1892)
- 825.533 E13 D1
- Kirmess, C.H. The Australian crisis (Melbourne: George Robertson & Co., 1909)
- 825.533 K59 D1
- Scott, G. Firth. The last Lemurian: a Westralian romance (London: James Bowden, 1898)
- 825.532 S426 D3
Probably the best of the earlier writers was Erle Cox (1873-1950). His novel Out of the silence (1925) is generally considered the first major science fiction novel produced in this country. The Australian Literature Collection has three of his novels:
- Fool's harvest
- 825.533 C877 D3
- The missing angel
- 825.533 C877 D2
- Out of the silence
- 825.533 C877 D1
The Australian Literature Collection also contains a selection of science fiction novels by well-known authors of the 1960s and 1970s, including A. Bertram Chandler, Lee Harding, and George Turner.
