Southern Highlands Branch Meeting 2023-4
“Brief Encounters: Literary Travellers in Australia”
Susannah Fullerton OAM FRSN
Author, Literary Lecturer, and Tour Leader
Date: Thursday, 18 May 2023, 6.30 pm AEST
Venue: Chevalier College, Performing Arts Centre
All are welcome
Summary: Many Australians have no idea about the famous writers who came to this country in the 19th century and early twentieth century. What financial issues brought Mark Twain here,why did the world’s best-selling novelist make her way here and what did she see and do, what did Anthony Trollope write that so upset the locals, and how did HG Wells stir up a storm of controversy? What did Jack London see in Sydney that resulted in race riots in America? Why was Charles Darwin so disappointed when he arrived, why did Aussies want Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to drown, and how did DH Lawrence respond to the Australian bush?
Literary lecturer Susannah Fullerton, OAM, FRSN, tells the fascinating stories of these famous writers, and others, who made the long journey to this side of the world. In her illustrated talk, she discusses the reasons for their visits, their reactions to this very different land, and explains what they wrote after their visits. In an age before documentaries and the internet, views of what Australia and its people could be like were shaped by what these authors wrote, so their visits were important in allowing others to learn about Australia and Australians to learn about themselves. Come and discover these important, although brief, encounters.
President of Jane Austin Society of Australia, Susannah Fullerton OAM FRSN majored in English Literature at the University of Auckland. She then completed a postgraduate degree in Victorian fiction and prose at the University of Edinburgh. For over 25 years Susannah has been President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. She has lectured extensively on Jane Austen in Australia and overseas and has published many articles about Jane Austen’s works. She is the co-author of Jane Austen – Antipodean Views and published Jane Austen and Crime in 2004, and Brief Encounters: Literary Travellers in Australia (Picador) in 2009. Susannah’s latest books are A Dance with Jane Austen, Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and a memoir Jane & I: A Tale of Austen Addiction.
15 May 2025
RSL Mittagong, Carrington Room 
