E. J. Banfield as Naturalist

Authors

  • Robert Zeller Southeast Missouri State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600003536

Keywords:

E. J. Banfield, Dunk Island, naturalism, natural history

Abstract

Visitors to Dunk Island these days can choose to stay at an expensive resort. They may arrive by air at the island's airstrip or by regular boat service from the mainland. They can sail, swim or snorkel. And if they take one of the walking tracks, they may find the cairn that marks the resting place of E. J. Banfield and his wife Bertha, who lived on the island from 1897 to 1923. I would guess that few of those who encounter the site know who Banfield was or what he was doing on Dunk — or even why they should care.

Author Biography

  • Robert Zeller, Southeast Missouri State University

    Robert Zeller is Professor of English at Southeast Missouri State University. He currently serves as the treasurer of the American Association of Australian Literary Studies.

References

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Burroughs, John. ‘A Sharp Lookout’. Signs and Seasons. New York: W. H. Wise, 1924. 1–33.

Heseltine, Harry. ‘The Confessions of a Beachcomber’. The Uncertain Self: Essays in Australian Literature and Criticism. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1986. 56–71.

Noonan, Michael. A Different Drummer: The Story of E. J. Banfield, the Beachcomber of Dunk Island. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1983.

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White, Gilbert, The Natural History of Selborne. New York: Penguin, 1997.

Zeller, Robert. ‘A Thoreau in Paradise: E. J. Banfield's My Tropic Isle’. The Concord Saunterer 10 (2002): 135–45.

Published

2004-04-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Zeller, R. (2004). E. J. Banfield as Naturalist. Queensland Review, 11(1), 17-25. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600003536