Devanny, Jane (1894-1962)

Also known as
Crook, Jane (1894-1962)
Devanny, Jean (1894-1962)
Field of activity
communist; novelist; political writer; short story writer; Feminist, Trade unionist and Writer
Libraries Australia
http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an36100688
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-743069

Biographies

DEVANNY, JANE (1894-1962), writer, known as Jean, was born on 7 January 1894 at Ferntown, Collingwood, New Zealand, eighth of ten children of William Crook, boilermaker and miner, and his wife Jane, née Appleyard. She left school at 13 but read voraciously, observed constantly and was profoundly influenced by the premature death of her father and by trade union militancy. When barely 17 she met the militant Francis Harold (Hal) Devanny (1888-1966); they married in 1911 at Palmerston and soon had a son and two daughters. Jean became active in the labour movement, early contact with Marxist and other theories of socialism leading to the public speaking that filled much of her life.

View the full record at Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Jean Devanny was a novelist and prominent member of the Communist Party of Australia with a particular interest in the position of women in Australian culture and society. A staunch labour activist, she was also an admirer of the work of birth control activist, Marion Piddington. Initially living in Sydney, she eventually moved to Queensland, where she was caught up in the 1935 canecutter's strike. Her best known novel Sugar Heaven was based on these events. Her energy was much admired by many of her contemporaries. Katherine Susannah Prichard, for instance, wrote that 'Jean Devanney is wonderful. No one I know is so vital, magnetic, absolutely devoted and disinterested. She is a great woman…I wish I could give all my time to Party work as she does.'

Born in New Zealand, Jean Devanny arrived in Australia with her husband and two teenage children in 1929. Almost immediately, she became active in political and feminist circles; as a New Zealander, she was surprised by the relative absence of women from these circles in Australia. She spoke publicly to encourage women to participate in the political process and she was unimpressed by the masculinism of Australian social and cultural life. She described mateship as 'as enthusiasm which, since it was camaraderie not extended to include women I was sceptically unresponsive.'

A member of the Communist Party of Australia throughout the 1930s, she had several run-ins with the executive until she was eventually expelled for alleged 'political degeneracy'. Her commitment to literary form as well as sound ideological content saw her repeatedly clash with the Central Committee, but it was a campaign of sexual slander while she was on a speaking tour of the Atherton Tablelands and Far North Queensland that led to her expulsion.

Although distressed by the way she was treated, Devanny did not repudiate Marxism-Leninism, only the style of the Communist Party of Australia.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Jane Devanny

Selected resources (14)

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Australian Women's Register

  1. Paradise Flow
    Devanny, Jean
    [1938]
    Published: Duckworth
  2. Laughter, not for a cage : notes on Australian writing, with biographical emphasis on the struggles, function, and achievements of the novel in three half-centuries
    Franklin, Miles
    [1956]
    Published: Angus & Robertson
  3. Eugenic Reform and the UnfitStead's Review May 1930 21-22 : Eugenic Reform and the Unfit
    Devanney, Jean
  4. Sugar Heaven
    Devanny, Jean
    [1936]
    Published: Modern Publishers
  5. Bird of Paradise
    Devanny, Jean
    [1945]
    Published: Frank Johnson
  6. Jean Devanny: Romantic Revolutionary
    Ferrier, Carole
    [1999]
    Published: Melbourne University Press
  7. Devanny, Jane (Jean) (1894-1962)Australian Dictionary of Biography Online : Devanny, Jane (Jean) (1894-1962)
    Store, Ron
    [2006]
    Published: Australian National University
    Series: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080316b.htm
  8. Women in Australia : an annotated guide to records
    Daniels, Kay, Murnane, Mary, Picot, Anne and National Research Program (Australia)
    [1977]
    Published: Australian Government Publishing Service
  9. Australian Feminism: A Companion
    Caine, Barbara
    [1998]
    Published: Oxford University Press
  10. National Library of Australia Newspaper Microcopy Reading Room: [Biographical cuttings on Jean Devanny, writer, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    Biographical cuttings files contain cuttings, e. g. articles, obituaries, from Australian newspapers and journals from the early 20th century to 2000.
    BIOG
  11. James Cook University of North Queensland, Library Archives: Jean Devanny Papers (c. 1930 - c. 1955)
    This collections includes personal letters and papers, business correspondence, Communist Party of Australian publications and material, material relating to the so-called 'Aboriginal Problem' in the 1930s and numerous manuscript copies of publications.
    80L-82L. Additional material 172L
  12. Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales: Miles Franklin Papers - Correspondence with Jean Devanny (August 1939 - May 1954)
    Both sides of correspondence with Jean Devanney between August 1939 and May 1954 are recorded in this series
    MLMSS 364/2
  13. National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection: Papers of Eleanor Dark (1923 - 1974)
    The collection consists of newspaper clippings (1936-1954) mainly reviews of Eleanor Dark's novels, and letters (1923-1974) from a number of the prominent Australian literary figures of the period. The correspondents include Manning Clark, Kate Baker, Jean Devaney, Flora Eldershaw, Mary Gilmore, Vance and Nettie Palmer, Miles Franklin, Eric Lowe, Marjorie Barnard, Ethel Turner, Xavier Herbert, Frank Dalby Davison, Brian Fitzpatrick, Alec Chisholm, Kylie Tennant, Meta Mackan, Ruth Park, Ethel Curlewis, C.B. Christesen.
    MS 4998

Resources by Jane Devanny (30)

  1. Point of departure : the autobiography of Jean Devanny / edited by Carole Ferrier
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1986 ]
    At 53 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 18.258)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 18.258)

  2. Sugar heaven / by Jean Devanny ; with an introduction by Carole Ferrier
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1936-2002 ]
    At 56 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 17.042)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 17.042)

  3. The butcher shop / Jean Devanny
    Devanny, Jean
    [ Book : 1926-1981 ]
    At 42 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.801)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.801)

  4. Bird of paradise / by Jean Devanny
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1945 ]
    At 36 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.601)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.601)

  5. Paradise flow / Jean Devanny ; edited and with introduction by Carole Ferrier; with a preface by Diane Menghetti
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1938-1985 ]
    At 32 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.548)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.548)

  6. Cindie : a chronicle of the canefields / Jean Devanny ; with a new introduction by Carole Ferrier
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1949-1988 ]
    At 37 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.405)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.405)

  7. Travels in North Queensland / by Jean Devanny
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1951 ]
    At 28 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.363)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.363)

  8. By tropic sea and jungle : adventures in North Queensland / Jean Devanny
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1944-1945 ]
    At 27 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.336)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.336)

  9. Bushman Burke / by Jean Devanny
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1930 ]
    At 14 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.802)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.802)

  10. Riven / by Jean Devanny
    Devanny, Jean, 1894-1962
    [ Book : 1929 ]
    At 10 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.489)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.489)

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  1. STREET DEMONSTRATION. FURTHER CONVICTIONS.
    The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Thursday 4 December 1930 p 6 Article
    ... Ernest Lever 28, engineer Francis Harold Devanny, 40, labourer. Michael Rjan, 36, organiser, and Patricia Devanny, l8, were fined £1, in default four days' impilsonment John Samuels 45, labouier, George ... Samuels appeared before Mi Wil- liams, SM" on a charge of inciting Jane Mountjoy to resist ... 293 words
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  2. COMMUNISTS. List of New South Wales Members.
    The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Tuesday 22 December 1931 p 10 Article
    ..., Edward John Docker, Frank Dodds, Wood Densfield, Jean Devanny, Thomas Delaney, Betty Densfield, Ernest ... William Morrison, Herbert Moxon, Wilfred Mountjoy, Jane Lindsay Mountjoy, F. Miller, - Moore (known as X ... 170 words
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  3. Government Notice. Colonial Secretary's Office. 21st March:
    The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880) Saturday 29 March 1851 p 200 Article
    ... ; Thomas Hcffernan, 6ir John Byng ; Margaret Hewitt, Elizabeth & Henry ; Jane Humphreys, Tory ; Joseph ... Renwick ; John Williams 1, Palmyra. Bxpiraton or Sentences.- Geo.Nicliolls, Barrosa 2; Jane Miles, G. ... Phtcbe; John Oldham, Marion I ; James Pennington, Westmoreland ; Matin Devanny, Cadet; Peter Folcy, ... 540 words
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