Booknotes

September 1978, no. 4

Designing Australian Bush Gardens

By Maloney, Betty & Walker, Jean

A.H. & A. W. Reed Pty. Ltd., 1966, 127 pp

This book is a work of both propaganda and advice. Its underlying philosophy is that it is destruction of the native landscape and not so much bad individual design that makes our suburbs such a mess.

The book ex ...

Ballet in Australia: The second act 1940–1980 by Edward H. Pask

by Pat Miller •

June 1982, no. 41

Pat Miller reviews 'Ballet in Australia' by Edward H. Pask

What an absolute wealth of detail this volume contains! There are colour and black and white photographs of every ballet personality to dance in Australia since the war and a comprehensive index for both performers and works.

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Australian Melodrama: Eighty Years of Popular Theatre by Eric Irvin

by Mary Lord •

June 1982, no. 41

Mary Lord reviews 'Australian Melodrama' by Eric Irvin

It seems that going to the theatre has always been a popular activity with Australians. Popular theatre during the period covered by this book (1834–1914) staged a remarkable variety of Australian plays: operettas, melodramas, burlesques, sensation plays, and extravaganzas. On Our Selection, the first play to be called ‘Australian through and through’, opened to an audience of more than a thousand and achieved tremendous popularity.

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Booknotes

by Hidden Author •

May 1981, no. 30

The idea of publishing a history of one of our major wine companies is a very pleasant one. Written by one of Mildara’s long time staffers, this book is not perhaps a model of what such a history could be. It is dominated by statistics, documented details and managerial reports, and commercial decisions. What is missing for the wine lover is the wine itself, those wonderful sherries, for instance, or the white label Coonawarra reds with their justifiably high reputation. Inevitably, there is a certain ‘house’ history feel about it, but the story of the company’s expansion despite many vicissitudes is still a fascinating one.

... (read more)