The theme for the conference is ‘The Fairy Tale in Australia’
The folklorist Joseph Jacobs published his collected fairy tales in England in the late 19th century. His stories included The Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Henny Penny, and Jack and the Beanstalk, and he cites his childhood memory as the source for some of these popular tales. Jacobs was patriotic in his desire to bring English tales to English children. Yet he was born, raised and educated in Sydney, Australia. Why did this eminent folklorist leave our shores to seek his fairy tale treasure elsewhere? Do we have no such riches of our own? Or does the adaptive nature of folklore point to a hidden wealth of uniquely Australian fairy tales?
The folklorist Joseph Jacobs published his collected fairy tales in England in the late 19th century. His stories included The Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Henny Penny, and Jack and the Beanstalk, and he cites his childhood memory as the source for some of these popular tales. Jacobs was patriotic in his desire to bring English tales to English children. Yet he was born, raised and educated in Sydney, Australia. Why did this eminent folklorist leave our shores to seek his fairy tale treasure elsewhere? Do we have no such riches of our own? Or does the adaptive nature of folklore point to a hidden wealth of uniquely Australian fairy tales?
The Fairy Tale Conference (June 9) follows directly on from the Sydney International Storytelling Conference: Weaving Stories Together June 6 - 8 2014 so with good planning, you can attend both.
Where: Paddington Uniting Church, 395 Oxford St Paddington.
Cost: $95 each with discounts for early birds and members of the Australian Fairy
Tale Society.
image: Ida Rentoul Outhwaite: The Lyrebird's Dance
