Sister Agnes' Fairy Tales Told in the Bush
Sister Agnes’ Fairy Tales Told in the Bush (1911?) is an unusual collection of early Australian fairy tales, not least because its author (Agnes Row) was a deaconess of the Community of the Holy Name. It's also unconventional because of the degree to which it depicts, and engages with, First Nations people and stories. William Barak, the last traditional elder of the Wurundjeri people (the owners of the area now known as Melbourne), told the story of the city’s river ‘The Origin of the Yarra Yarra’ to Sister Agnes and he also appears as a character in an original story, ‘The Magic Gun’. This tale is unique for its attempt to merge convict history with First Nations peoples in ways that attempt to shape national mythologies. The tale begins with ‘Old King Barak, the last King of the Yarra tribe’ situated at the historical First Nations farming community, Coranderrk, telling a boy named Tom Jones the story of the Magic Gun. Tom discovers that Barak possesses a gun that once belong to