Eleanor and Eric Dark papers

MLMSS 11858

fonds

ca. 1876-2009

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Drawings

9664953

0.32 metres of textual material (2 boxes) includes photographs

Eleanor (Pixie) O’Reilly (1901-1985) and Eric Payten Dark (1889-1987) were married on 1 February 1922 at St Matthias’ Church of England, Paddington. They moved to Katoomba and bought a house in Cascade Street named Varuna in 1923 and he took over a general practice.

Eric had served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I and was awarded the Military Cross for evacuating the wounded under fire at Boesinghe (Boezinge), Belgium, on 31 July 1917. He went on to write ‘Medicine and the Social Order’ (1942) and published two pamphlets ‘Who are the Reds?’ (1946) and ‘The World against Russia’ (1948). Dark was a pioneering rock climber and founding member of the Blue Mountaineers climbing group in 1930. The Blue Mountains was an enclave for creative types and the couple became good friends with fellow writers Eric and Nina Lowe, Osmar White, Margaret Trist and others and welcomed Americans Karl Shapiro and James A. Michener into their home.

Eleanor began writing verse in the 1920s and 1930s using the pseudonyms ‘P. O’R.' and 'Patricia O’Rane' and had work published in journals including ‘The Bulletin’ and 'Woman’s Mirror'. She went on to write ten novels, the first ‘Slow Dawning’ published in 1932 and her last ‘Lantana Lane’ in 1959. Her best-known work was perhaps ‘The Timeless Land’ (1941), the first part of a trilogy of a fictionalised account of early European settlement in Australia. She was twice a recipient of the Gold Medal (Australian Literature Society) in 1934 and 1936, was appointed AO in 1977, and in 1978 was awarded The Alice Award by the Society of Women Writers (Australia).

The Dark’s house and gardens of Varuna were gifted to the Australian public in 1989 by their son, Michael for use as a writer’s retreat, The National Writers’ House. Varuna continues to support writers, providing fellowships across different genres and hosting the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival each year.

References:
John Low, 'Dark, Eric Payten (1889–1987)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed online 20 March 2023 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dark-eric-payten-12401/text22293, published first in hardcopy 2007

Marivic Wyndham, 'Dark, Eleanor (1901–1985)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed online 20 March 2023 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dark-eleanor-12400/text22291, published first in hardcopy 2007

Box 1

Correspondence

Eleanor Dark letters to Molly O’Reilly (Marie), wife of Dowell O’Reilly, Eleanor’s father, and Eleanor’s stepmother. Fifty two letters, signed Pixie, 8 December 1936 – 6 May 1943, some undated, some incomplete, all handwritten, various lengths

Karl Shapiro letters to Eleanor and/or Eric Dark,1942-1944. Eleven letters (two incomplete), handwritten and typed, signed. During World War II, Shapiro was stationed in Australia and New Guinea with the US Army. During that time, he visited Eleanor and Eric Dark at Varuna, where he continued to write poetry for what would be his Pulitzer-winning collection ‘V-Letter and Other Poems’. In the letters, he gives his views on the work of Stendahl, Virginia Woolf, James Hilton, Stephen Spender, on Sinclair Lewis’ ‘Arrowsmith’, Herman Rauschning’s ‘The Beast from the Abyss’ and Eleanor Dark’s ‘The Timeless Land’, as well as his thoughts on United States politics.

Papers

Copy of account by John Dark of his mother, Kathleen Aphra Raymond Dark (Daidee), the first wife of Eric Dark, April 1989. 5pp, typewritten, with family tree and death certificate. Two copies, one with additional notes by John Dark, photograph of Daidee, and of the family home

Miscellaneous papers and ephemera including research material on soil and nutrition, Eric Dark; photocopy of ‘The Boy of the River’, by Michael Dark, 1939; letter and card from Susan Beale, 1983, 2011; correspondence relating to the sale of 41-57 Mill Road, Montville, Queensland in September 1957 (The Montville property is the subject of Dark’s 1959 novel ‘Lantana Lane’), and media cutting of advertisement for the Montville home in 2000; an invitation to afternoon tea at the Blue Mountains District ANZAC Memorial Hospital, 1942; two Commonwealth electoral enrolment cards dated 27 March 1923, for Eleanor Dark and Dr Eric Payten Dark, “Varuna”, Cascade Street, Katoomba; Dutch post card addressed to Pixie O’Reilly and Dowell O’Reilly, Turramurra; NSW Department of Education Leaving Certificate, 1919 - 9 examination papers for Pixie O’Reilly (Eleanor Dark), Redlands (pencil or ink note on some of the papers); newspaper obituaries- for John Apthorp (1904-1992); issue of The Blue Mountains Weekly, 1976; two copies of a short story ‘Chinese Puzzle’ by John Wyndham, reproduced in the Sun Herald, 27 December 1953

Papers relating to Eric Dark including correspondence from Peter Grose, a copy of an article in the Journal of the River Canoe Club relating a canoe trip with Ralph Blacket in 1907 with addendum by Michael Dark, a letter to the editor regarding Dark from Roger Milliss, photocopy of an article by Eric Dark ‘Who holds the Key to the New Order’, ‘Sunday Telegraph’ 20 January, 1946, page 9; several articles regarding Dark: ‘Portrait of a Climber’ in The Sydney Bushwalker, 1989; ‘Pioneer Rock Climbs in Australia’ by Osmar White; obituary, Blue Mountains Gazette, 1987; ‘Dr Eric Dark’s Life’ by John Low, 2013; a paper presented at the Fifth Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of the History of ‘Eric Payten Dark’, Ben Hanneman, Occasional Papers in Medical History No. 8, 1997, pp.263-270; photocopy of a sonnet written by Eric Dark for Eleanor Dark ‘A very bad little sonnet for a very good little wife’

Newspaper cuttings and photocopies of articles relating to Eleanor and Eric Dark, 1935-2009


Original works

Typescript poem with manuscript correction by Eleanor Dark ‘This is excursion, interlude, respite…’, November 1944. A framed copy of this poem hangs in Eleanor’s studio at Varuna, The National Writers’ House

Speech transcript for Redlands 60th Anniversary celebrations, delivered by Eleanor Dark on 21 June 1944

Typescript short story ‘Train perverts’ not signed, possibly the work of Eleanor or Eric Dark

Two photocopies of a speech delivered by James A. Michener in Sydney on 8 April 1971 discussing the deep influence of Eleanor Dark

Research material gathered by Judith Clark and Barbara Brooks for publications relating to Eleanor Dark. Includes selected extracts from her work, 1990-1991; extract from ‘The Quest for Grace’ by Manning Clark relating to Eleanor Dark; reviews and extracts from ‘The Timeless Land’, 1951-1961

Two sketch books pen and pencil sketches by B. O’R -- Brien (Bim) O’Reilly, brother of Eleanor Dark (some laid-in). Includes several sketches of Eleanor Dark seated and at work, a sketch of Fort Denison and another depicting the construction of the Harbour Bridge. ca 1930

Box 2

Eleanor Dark collection of family history papers includes approximately 300 photocopied pages, with brief photocopied letter from Eleanor Dark to her son Mike. Includes three photographs: Thomas O’Reilly (1819-1881) ca, 1876 (Grandfather of Eleanor Dark); Dr Eric P. Dark on his 90th birthday, and Eleanor Dark

Photographs

Three black and white photographs on card of the grounds of Varuna by Judith Fletcher (1886-1971), dry mounted on card, signed

Six photographs of the Blue Mountains including two of Eric Dark and Dot Butler climbing (possibly taken by Eleanor Dark), four mounted on board, two on card

Pen and ink drawing on backing board, by Brien (Bim) O’Reilly, of the seaside town of ‘Thalassa’, featured in Eleanor Dark’s book, ‘Sun Across the Sky’ annotated by Eleanor Dark on back of drawing. Note on front of envelop from Bacon & Co Ltd., photo-engravers, Sydney, by Eleanor Dark

Twelve letters requesting permission to quote Eleanor Dark, 1990-2008

A National Times Magazine ‘What have we lost…An Australian Tragedy’ 29 March 1976

Research material by Eleanor Dark for ‘No Barrier’ (1953), book three of The Timeless Land trilogy includes a hand drawn map and timeline of the 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains, and an intricate, rolled, hand drawn map of Carmarthen Hills map by Eleanor Dark with locations and annotations relating to important dates, ca.1950s; typewritten research material by Eleanor Dark includes original, philosophical thoughts on a later page, pencil

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Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder