West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 28 December 1946, page 9


LITERARY AWARDS. PRIZE-WINNING NOVELS. Three Recipients Announced. SYDNEY, Dec. 27.--Prizes worth £3,500 have been awarded for the three novels in the literary competitions conducted this year by the "Sydney Morning Herald." The recipients are: Miss Ruth Park (Mrs. Darcy Niland), of 20 Crystal-street, Petersham, New South Wales, for "The Harp in the South" (£2,000); Mr. Jon Cleary, who is visiting England for "You Can't See Round Corners" (£1,000); and Mrs. G. H. Job (who writes under the name of Esther Roland), of Ruardean, Central-avenue, Indooroopilly, Brisbane, for "I Camp Here" (£500). In addition to the three prizewinning novels, the Judges have specially commended 10 other novels. Of 175 novels which were submitted, the judges found 48 were worthy of serious consideration as possible prize-winners. "The Harp in the South" is described by the judges as a social documentary, picturing the life of a worker's family in Surry Hills, Sydney. The judges regard the novel as superior to "Jonah," Louis Stone's classic of the Sydney larrikin. "You Can't See Round Corners" is the tragic and powerful story of a young Paddington startingprice bookmaker, who deserts from the army to become a criminal "I Camp Here" has a Queensland station setting. The judges say the novel is a fine study in character

development and contrast as worked out in the son of the station overseer and the son of the station owner.