The Lemurian Nineties
Abstract
Healy examines a spate of novels in the 1890s that were inspired by the association of Australia with the mythical lost continent of Lemuria. Novels including Ernest Favenc's Tales of the Austral Tropics (1894) and The Secret of the Australian Desert (1896) combined the style and tropes of Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines (1886) with what was considered 'the romantic elements' of white Australia's history--Aboriginal people, gold and exploration--to construct an Australian Lemurian mythology.
Please sign in to access this article and the rest of our archive.
Published 1 May 1978 in Volume 8 No. 3. Subjects: Australia - Literary portrayal, Exploration & explorers of Australia (Land), Utopian & dystopian fiction, Ernest Favenc.
Cite as: Healy, J. J.. ‘The Lemurian Nineties.’ Australian Literary Studies, vol. 8, no. 3, 1978, doi: 10.20314/als.57acd4dbc9.