Taylor, Cheryl (2009) Tropical flowers: romancing North Queensland in early female fiction and poetry. LiNQ, 36. pp. 135-160.

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Abstract

[Extract] Interviewed in 1999, shortly before her retirement after many years of teaching literature at James Cook University, my late friend Elizabeth Perkins recalled her arrival in Townsville in 1970:

Immediately I set foot in the place I loved it….When I got out of the plane — it was the end of April, and it wasn't very hot, but it was dry, barren, I knew I was home....I like to visit places outside of North Queensland but I wouldn't like to live or die in them. (10)

Elizabeth's feelings about the tropical North match my own. I arrived in Townsville in 1968, and soon came to appreciate my luck to be living near the Reef and rainforest and teaching in a new University College where the creative possibilities seemed limitless. For both of us as young women, North Queensland was where we could hope to develop our potential, in Elizabeth's case as a teacher, playwright, editor, theatre director and scholar.

Item ID:	17146
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	0817-458X
Keywords:	tropics; Queensland; fiction; poetry
Related URLs:	Publisher
Additional Information:	A version of this article was the keynote address at "Tropics of the Imagination" Conference, Cairns Institute, James Cook University, 2 November 2009.
Funders:	ARC LIEF Project Grant
Projects and Grants:	JCU, FAESS, SASS Project Grant
Date Deposited:	25 Jul 2011 06:32
FoR Codes:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2005 Literary Studies > 200502 Australian Literature (excl Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Literature) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9599 Other Cultural Understanding > 959999 Cultural Understanding not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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