27th November 2014
British Literary Societies in Sydney
British literature is alive and flourishing in New South Wales. I hosted the annual reception for the Dylan Thomas Society at the Consul General’s Residence in Sydney on Friday. It is a special year for them as it is the Centenary of the Welsh poet’s birth. There are many events taking place in Wales and elsewhere in the UK.
I felt sufficiently emboldened to try my hand at a pastiche of the opening lines of “Under Milk Wood” or “Under Chats Wood” as I called it after the Sydney suburb. I’m not sure whether they were more appalled by my dodgy Welsh accent, or the weak punning – though I think “Westfield Malls” was a good substitution for “Welfare Halls”. But they were kind enough to pretend to like it. Afterwards the Society’s President, Clive Woosnam, gave a beautiful rendition of Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night”, in a sonorous and totally genuine Welsh accent.
They had invited a number of other Sydney-based Literary Societies to join them for the evening, including representatives of the Austen, Dickens, Bronte and DH Lawrence groups. I hadn’t realised NSW was so well endowed with people who appreciate the qualities of British literature.
Clive described a visit that the group had made to the UK, taking in a number of sites associated with Thomas. This is fertile ground for visitors to the UK, with an increasingly sophisticated suite of tourist itineraries linked to our rich literary traditions. The Visit Britain website has many good suggestions of where to go on literary tours.