Huntersglenn wrote: > Not sure if this will complicate things, since you already have on > clipping about where Thwaites was born, but www.imdb.com has that he > wrote the screenplay for "Broken Melody" as F. W. Thwaites, and was born > on 23 May, 1908 in Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales, and died 13, August > 1979 in Manly, Sydney, New South Wales. Most of the time, the bio > information on the site has the name or e-mail of who provided it, but > not in this case, so it could be that the location of his birth is a > fabrication, or best guess. > > Cathy > > Steve Hayes wrote: > >> On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:44:07 +1100, Paul Blair <pblair@pcug.org.au> >> wrote: >> >> >>> The National Library of Australia has some bio clippings - have >>> photographed and forwarded to Steve. >> >> >> >> Thanks very much, Paul. >> I received a number of responses by e-mail. One cited an article that >> referred >> to Thwaites as a counter-example to an an alleged Australian literary >> phenomenon called "the cultural cringe". >> >> http://www.the-rathouse.com/Another_look_at_the_Cultural_Cringe.htm >> >> I post it here in case anyone in rec.arts.books is interested. >> Paul's cuttings were very useful, and I reproduce one here, in case >> anyone is >> curious: >> >> -- begin quote -- >> THWAITES, AUTHOR OF 32 NOVELS >> >> The Australian author F.J. Thwaites died in a Sydney hospital on >> Monday. He >> was 71. >> Mr Thwaites, who wrote 32 novels and two travel books had been >> suffering from >> cancer for some time. >> >> His first book, The Broken Melody, which he wrote at the age of 17, was >> produced by Ken Hall as one of the earliest Australian films. >> Mr Thwaites was born of a working class family in the country town of >> Narrandera, where he worked on a milk run while at school. >> >> When the family moved to Gladesville, he was forced to leave school to >> support >> the family. He was then 13. During this time he studied at night at a >> technical college. >> After writing The Broken Melody, he toured the countryside trying to >> sell it. >> The first copy was exchanged for a new tyre for his car. >> His books, including Hell's Doorways, Shall Come A Time, and The Melody >> Lingers, have sold millions of copies. Some have been translated into >> several >> languages. >> While in South Africa about five years ago Mr Thwaites went almost >> blind from >> an infection. He was then driving from England to Australia. One of >> his last >> books, Press On Regardless, details this experience. >> Mr Thwaites is survived by his wife, Jessica, and his sons Peter and >> Roger. >> Mrs Thwaites appeared in several early Australian fims under her >> maiden name >> Jessica Harcourt. >> >> The funeral will be held at Northern Suburbs Crematorium at 10:30 am >> tomorrow. >> >> The urn containing his ashes will be taken to a cemetery at a later date. >> -- end quote -- >> >> >>> For such a prolific author, there is a quite surprising lack of info >>> available about him. >> >> >> >> Certainly there seems to be little on the web; this indicates that one >> cannot >> do genealogy using sources found on the Internet alone, though of course >> without Usenet newsgroups I would not have been able to find kind >> people like >> Paul who could go to the library and consult other sources. >> I would have expected something to be available in sources like the >> following: >> >> The Penguin New Literary History of Australia (Bennett et al., 1988) >> The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (Wilde, Wh 1985) >> >> Anyway, this is just to say thanks to everyone who helped, and >> especially Paul >> who made a special trip to the library! >> The other bio I'm getting for Steve also says that he was born in Balmain (a suburb of Sydney). Paul