Research uncovers trove of lost Australian literature

A new research project from The Australian National University (ANU) has uncovered more than 21,000 forgotten novels, novellas and short stories, including thousands of unknown Australian works, published in newspapers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The collection includes seven rediscovered titles from well-known writer Catherine Martin, author of the acclaimed 1890 novel The Australian Girl . Five of the seven lost titles have been combined to form a new book titled How I Pawned My Opals and Other Lost Stories which will be released on Thursday 1 March. Lead researcher Associate Professor Katherine Bode said the titles had been lost because in the nineteenth century, works of fiction were primarily published in newspapers due to the high cost of producing books. Since most of these works were never catalogued or turned into books, they were lost. The project saw all 21,000 works uploaded to an online database called To Be Continued where people can read through the works. However, the sheer volume of entries mean that only a fraction have been read.