Steele Rudd
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steele Rudd was the pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis, an Australian author. Davis was born at Drayton near Toowoomba, Queensland, on 14 November 1868.
He had an interest in rowing and when he began writing a column on rowing in a weekly paper and needed a pseudonym he adopted "Steele Rudd", the first name from the English essayist, the second was a shortening of rudder; he wanted to bring into his name some part of a boat.
His reputation was established by his short stories of country life. His writings include:
- On Our Selection 1899 (sold over 250,000 copies)
- Our New Selection 1903
- Rudd's Magazine 1904 - 1908 (monthly magazine)
- Back at Our Selection 1906
- Dad in Politics 1908
- From Selection to City 1909
- Grandpa's Selection 1916
- The Romance of Runnibede 1927
- Green Grey Homestead 1934
There is a statue of Steele Rudd at the Speakers' Corner in King George Square in Brisbane.
There are copper statues of Dad, Dave, Mum and Mabel, the central characters from the Steele Rudd novels, at Gundagai (currently in temp storage till re-erected.)
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.
[edit] References
- Australian Dictionary of Biography, Angus and Robertson, 1949, and at the Australian Dictionary of Biography web site.
