Steele Rudd
Encyclopedia
Steele Rudd was the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 of Arthur Hoey Davis (14 November 1868 – 11 October 1935) an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n author, best known for On Our Selection.

Early life

Davis was born at Drayton
Drayton, Queensland
Drayton is an outer southwestern suburb of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Toowoomba Region.The first substantial settlement on the Darling Downs in c.1842...

 near Toowoomba
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...

, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, the son of Thomas Davis, a blacksmith of Welsh descent, and Mary, née Green who was Irish. The boy was the eighth child and fifth son in a family of 13 children. The father later on took up a selection at Emu Creek, and there Davis was educated at the local school. He left school before he was 12 and worked at odd jobs on a station, and at 15 years of age became a junior stockrider on a station on the Darling Downs. When he was 18 he was appointed a junior clerk in the office of the curator of intestate estates at Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. In 1889 he was transferred to the sheriff's office and in his spare time took up rowing and when he began writing a column on rowing in a weekly paper and needed a pseudonym he adopted "Steele Rudder", the first name from the English essayist Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....

, the second chosen because he wanted to bring into his name some part of a boat. Later it was shortened to "Steele Rudd".

Writing career

Towards the end of 1895 Rudd sent a sketch based on his father's experience 'Starting the selection' to The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...

in which appeared on 14 December 1895. This afterwards became the first chapter of On Our Selection when it was published in 1899. Encouraged by J. F. Archibald
J. F. Archibald
Jules François Archibald, known as J. F. Archibald, , Australian journalist and publisher, was co-owner and editor of The Bulletin during the days of its greatest influence in Australian politics and literary life...

, Davis continued the series of sketches, 26 of which were included in the volume. Within four years 20,000 copies had been printed. It afterwards appeared in numerous cheap editions and by 1940 the number of copies sold had reached 250,000. It has also been the subject of a play and more than one picture.

In 1903 appeared Our New Selection and in the same year Davis, who had reached the position of under-sheriff, retired from the public service. In January 1904, Davis brought out Rudd's Magazine, a monthly magazine published at 6d. a copy, which continued for nearly four years. It was issued first from Brisbane and was afterwards transferred to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. It had a much longer life than most Australian magazines, but there was not then a large enough public in Australia to enable a cheap popular magazine to be successful. It was revived under various names between 1923 and 1930.

Davis published a long series of volumes continuing the On Our Selection series, as listed below. Most were successful, but there could not have been a great deal of profit for the author from the cheap editions. Towards the end of his life appeared two capable books The Romance of Runnibede (1927), and Green Grey Homestead (1934). But Davis found that having established a reputation in one direction, it was difficult to find a public for books written in more serious vein, and during his last years he had to struggle to make a living. He died at Brisbane on 11 October 1935. Davis was twice married and was survived by three sons and a daughter by the first marriage. In addition to the volumes mentioned others will be found listed in Miller's Australian Literature.

Davis was a tall, ruddy-faced man of mercurial temperament, fiery of temper, an excellent talker and a charming companion. He had a great love for horses and for 20 years was a well-known polo player. His books were written largely from the experiences of his own early days, and they were thoroughly appreciated by a generation that was familiar with characters on the land who had all the courage, optimism and humour of dad and mum and the other members of the family.

His reputation was established by his short stories of country life. The 1920 movie On Our Selection and 1932-1952 radio series Dad and Dave helped turn the characters into Australian cultural icons.

Davis, however, detested his struggling but admirable family being made into comic yokels, and had nothing to do with the radio program. There is no character called 'Mabel' attached to Dave anywhere in the entire Rudd canon
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...

 of fiction: Dave briefly had a girlfriend called Fanny in one story, and he eventually married a girl called Lily. Davis had a profound respect for the pioneering Australian woman, and he was particularly incensed by the use of 'Mum' when referring to Mrs Rudd. "'It is 'Mother', 'Mother', Mother!' he would shout, flushed in the face."

Examples of popular 'Dad and Dave' jokes that did not originate from Rudd:

 Dad: Where's Dave gone, Mum?

 Mum: Dave's out Condobolin, Dad.

 Dad: Out Condobolin? Cripes, I didn't think Dave had any time for the womenfolk!

 Dave: Hey Dad! Them telephone blokes are silly coots! One of them just rung up to say it's a long distance from Sydney!

The humour of Rudd's Selection stories arises from character and situation, and never involves wisecracks like these.

A replica of Rudd's shingle
Shingle
Shingle can refer to:*A flat covering element for a roof, including**Shake , a wooden shingle that is made from split logs**Roof shingle, a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements...

 hut can still be seen at the town of Nobby, Queensland
Nobby, Queensland
Nobby is a small village on the Darling Downs, Queensland. It is located halfway between Toowoomba and Warwick. At the 2006 census, Nobby had a population of 391....

. There is a statue
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...

 of Steele Rudd at the Speakers' Corner in King George Square
King George Square, Brisbane
King George Square is a public square, located between Adelaide Street and Ann Street , in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Adjacent to King George Square is Brisbane City Hall...

 in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. There is also a residential college named "Steele Rudd" at the University of Southern Queensland
University of Southern Queensland
The University of Southern Queensland is based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. The institution was established in 1967 as the Queensland Institute of Technology...

 campus.

There are copper statues of Dad, Dave, Mum and Mabel at Gundagai.

Works

  • On Our Selection (1899) (sold over 250,000 copies)
  • Our New Selection (1903)
  • Sandy's Selection (1904)
  • Rudd's Magazine (1904–1908) (monthly magazine)
  • Back at Our Selection (1906)
  • The Poor Parson (1907)
  • In Australia (1907)
  • Dad in Politics (1908)
  • For Life (1908)
  • Duncan McClure: Being Part 2 of The Poor Parson (1909)
  • From Selection to City (1909)
  • On an Australian Farm (1910)
  • The Dashwoods (1911)
  • The Book of Dan (1911)
  • Grandpa's Selection (1916)
  • The Old Homestead (1917)
  • Memoirs of Corporal Keeley (1918)
  • Stocking Our Selection (1918)
  • Dad Takes to Politics (1921) (originally part of Sandy's Selection)
  • We Kaytons (1921)
  • On Emu Creek (1923)
  • Me an' th' Son (1924)
  • The Miserable Clerk (1926)
  • The Rudd Family illustrated by Percy Lindsay. First published 1926.
  • The Romance of Runnibede (1927)
  • Green Grey Homestead (1934)

Quotation

In his 1908 book, Dad in Politics, Davis satirises political life in the opening sentence:
This quotation is often used to illustrate the cynicism of Australians towards the political class. FitzHenry notes that Davis's satirical depiction of individual members of the Queensland Parliament was so close to reality that he was 'almost called to the Bar'

Dramatisation

A play entitled The Execution of Steele Rudd by Australian playwright Harry Reade was first staged in 1981 by the National Theatre at the Playhouse, Perth
The Playhouse Theatre (Perth)
The Playhouse Theatre in central Perth, Western Australia was purpose-built for live theatre in the 1950s and remained one of the city's principle venues for performing arts for over half a century until replaced by the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia in January 2011.-History:The theatre...

, directed by Stephen Barry
Stephen Barry
The British drama producer and artistic director Stephen Leon Reid Barry was chief executive of two important Edinburgh theatres, the Festival and the King's, prime venues of the famed Edinburgh International Festival...

. It portrays the character and actions of Davis who is employed in the sheriff's office, managing arrangements for the execution of two criminals. The play was also staged by Melbourne's Playbox Theatre
Playbox Theatre Company, Australia
The Playbox Theatre Company was dedicated to supporting Australian playwrights and producing new Australian plays throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Originally called "Hoopla!", it was housed in Melbourne's Russell Street Theatre before it was destroyed by fire in 1984.In 1991, the company moved to...

 in 1983.

See also

  • Selection (Australian history)
    Selection (Australian history)
    Selection referred to "free selection before survey" of crown land in some Australian colonies under land legislation introduced in the 1860s. These acts were similar to the United States Homestead Act and were intended to encourage closer settlement, based on intensive agriculture, such as...

  • On Our Selection (1912 play)
    On Our Selection (1912 play)
    On Our Selection is a 1912 Australian play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan based on the stories of Steele Rudd. Bailey played Dad Rudd in the original production....

  • On Our Selection (1932 film)
    On Our Selection (1932 film)
    On Our Selection is a 1932 comedy based on the Dad and Dave stories by Steele Rudd. These had been turned into a popular play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan in 1912, which formed the basis for the screenplay. Bailey repeats his stage role as Dad Rudd. He also write the script with director Ken G...

  • Grandad Rudd
    Grandad Rudd
    Grandad Rudd is a 1935 comedy featuring the Dad and Dave characters created by Steele Rudd and based on a play by Rudd. It was a sequel to On Our Selection, and was later followed by Dad and Dave Come to Town and Dad Rudd, MP.-Original Play:...

  • Dad and Dave Come to Town
    Dad and Dave Come to Town
    Dad and Dave Come to Town is a 1938 Australian comedy film directed by Ken G. Hall, the third in the 'Dad and Dave' comedy series starring Bert Bailey.-Synopsis:...

  • Dad Rudd, MP
    Dad Rudd, MP
    Dad Rudd, M.P. is a 1940 comedy that was the last of four films made by Ken G. Hall starring Bert Bailey as Dad Rudd. It was the last feature film directed by Hall prior to the war and the last made by Cinesound Productions, Bert Bailey and Frank Harvey....

  • Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (1995 film)
    Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (1995 film)
    Dad and Dave: On Our Selection is an Australian comedy film, based on the characters and writings of author Steele Rudd. It is set in late nineteenth century colonial Queensland, but largely filmed in Braidwood, New South Wales...


External links

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