Biography
Book Details

Memoirs of a Young Bastard

The Diaries of Tim Burstall, November 1953 to December 1954

Introduced and annotated by Hilary McPhee

Memoirs of a Young Bastard, as Burstall dubbed himself and them, are among the most evocative Australian diaries of modern times.

About this Title

Tim Burstall, the celebrated director of Stork, Alvin Purple and numerous other definitive ‘ocker’ comedies, is credited with shaking the moribund Australian film industry out of its torpor. But long before that, in the early 1950s, he began keeping a diary to record the world of the group of ‘arties’ and ‘intellectuals’ he was living among in Eltham, then a rural area outside Melbourne, where cheap land was available for mudbrick houses and studios, and where suburban rigidities could be mercilessly flouted.

Burstall was in his mid-twenties, with two young sons and an open marriage with his wife, Betty. Eager to become a writer, to go against the grain, he kept a record almost daily—of the parties and the talk in pubs and studios, about art and politics and sex, of Communist Party branch meetings and film societies, of political rallies and the first Herald Outdoor Art Show. Somehow, while holding down a public relations job in the Antarctic Division and juggling his love affairs and obsession with the beautiful, brainy Fay, he wrote 500 words almost every day. Betty, according to the diaries, kept the show on the road, feeding friends after the pub, milking goats and working in her pottery making bowls and mugs, which Tim sometimes decorated at weekends.

These Memoirs of a Young Bastard, as Burstall dubbed himself and them, are among the most evocative Australian diaries of modern times. Burstall can write. He has an eye for the telling detail, an unerring ear for cant and pomposity and, most endearingly, an ability to mock himself—always from the perspective of a bloke of his generation.

About the Author

Hilary McPhee is a writer and publisher. Wordlines, her selection of recent Australian writing, was published in 2010 after a long stint in the Middle East and Italy. She is now working on a sequel to Other People’s Words, an account of her life in books.

Ann Standish is a historian, writer and editor. She has a PhD in history and has taught history and publishing programs at various universities. She regularly reviews books and has published widely on Australian women’s writing and colonialism. Her book, Australia through Women’s Eyes, was published in 2008.

Reviews

‘These diaries, painstakingly edited by Hilary McPhee, in their often caustic, frank and outrageously funny ways, are incredibly revealing about the psychological make-up of the man who created Alvin Purple.’ (GRAEME BLUNDELL, AUSTRALIAN, 17/02/2012) Read full review

‘This is a valuable sociological study as well as a vital resource to our developing studies in cultural history.’ (JONATHAN DAWSON, SUNDAY TASMANIAN, HOBART, 26/02/2012) Read full review

‘Gives us a wonderful gift and some astounding and often deeply depressing insights into the rampant “arty” male loose in outer Oz.’ (JONATHAN DAWSON, SUNDAY TASMANIAN, HOBART, 26/02/2012) Read full review

‘'Melbourne booksellers beware! Seal this lavish, Miegunyah-funded volume in stout vinyl lest its index and photographs become as grubbily thumbed as a form guide by people who will be hoping against hope that they don't appear in it and by the nervous des’ (THE AGE, 18/02/2012) Read full review

‘A delightfully user-friendly publication of lasting significance.’ (SASHA GRISHIN, CANBERRA TIMES, 12/03/2012) Read full review

‘Beautifully edited with extensive biographical annotations and a brilliant array of documentary photographs.’ (SASHA GRISHIN, CANBERRA TIMES, 12/03/2012) Read full review

‘A rich and weird collection of the young Burstall's diary entries, which have been assiduously edited by Hilary McPhee ... and produced with a nearly exorbitant magnificence by MUP as part of the Miegunyah list’ (PETER CRAVEN, WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, 10/03/2012) Read full review

Events

Thursday, 23/02/2012 06:15 pm
The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale Street
03 9094 7800
http://wheelercentre.com/

Hilary McPhee will be speaking at The Wheeler Centre on Thursday 23 February. For booking and more information visit The Wheeler Centre website on  http://wheelercentre.com/ 

Saturday, 25/02/2012 05:00 pm
Winthrop Hall
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/Australians-All

Hilary McPhee, editor of Memoirs of a Young Bastard, will be attending the 2012 PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL and she will be appearing in the following session:

'AUSTRALIANS ALL'
What is Australian? What is un-Australian? How has it changed in the past 100 years? And what does it mean anyway? George Megalogenis, Tom Keneally and Hilary McPhee discuss. 

For booking information, please visit the PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL website above.

Saturday, 25/02/2012 07:00 pm
Dolphin Theatre, UWA
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/Memories-Of-A-Young-Bastard

Hilary McPhee, editor of Memoirs of a Young Bastard, will be attending the 2012 PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL and she will be appearing in the following session:

'MEMORIES OF A YOUNG BASTARD'
Hilary McPhee and Fay Zwicky in conversation about their encounters with the pioneering and influential filmmaker and controversial and compulsive diarist Tim Burstall

For booking information, please visit the PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL website above.

Sunday, 26/02/2012 05:00 pm
Romeo Tent, Perth Writers Festival Precinct
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/Angry-Penguins

Hilary McPhee, editor of Memoirs of a Young Bastard, will be attending the 2012 PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL and she will be appearing in the following session:

ANGRY PENGUINS
An Australian literary and artistic avant-garde movement of the 1940s sent shockwaves through Australian society. See how these modernist ideas – for better or worse – have reverberated into our lives today. Steven Carroll, David Brooks, Frank Moorhouse and Hilary McPhee.

For booking information, please visit the PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL website above.

Tuesday, 20/03/2012 05:45 pm
239 A'Beckett St
03 9326 9288
office@historyvictoria.org.au
historyvictoria.org.au

Hilary McPhee will be joined by researcher Ann Standish at The Royal Historical Society of Victoria's monthly.  They will discuss the new collection Memoirs of a Young Bastard: The Diaries of Tim Burstall and the unique insight into 1950s bohemian life in Victoria that it provides. Tickets are $10 for non members, free for members of RHSV.  For booking and more information contact the RHSV on 03 9326 9288 or via email or their website.

 

 

Thursday, 19/04/2012 06:00 pm
The Bookshop at Queenscliff 30-32 Hesse St Queenscliff VIC 3225
03 5258 4496
thebookshopatqueenscliff@gmail.com
http://www.thebookshopatqueenscliff.com/index.html

Hilary McPhee will be appearing at the Bookshop in Queenscliff to discuss the recently published Memoirs of a Young Bastard: The Diaries of Tim Burstall.  Tickets at $10 and include a glass of wine!  Contact the Bookshop at Queenscliff for more information and to book, on 03 5258 4496.

Saturday, 21/04/2012 04:30 pm
Aireys Inlet Pub, Great Ocean Road, Aireys Inlet
(03) 5289 7052
http://www.lighthouseliteraryfest.com.au/

Hilary McPhee, author of Memoirs of a Young Bastard, will be attending the LIGHTHOUSE LITERARY FESTIVAL 2012 in Airey's Inlet (20-22 April) and will be participating in a session titled 'Writing Australia' and will discuss whether Australianness, in the world of books, is an affliction or a privelege. For booking information, please visit the Festival's website above.

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978-0-522-85814-3