Sensibility vs. Sense: Censoring Australian Novels in the Twentieth Century | Patricia Holt

Summary: To Deprave and Corrupt: Forbidden, Hidden and Censored Books | Patricia Holt Formal censorship of Australian novels published overseas was the responsibility of the Commonwealth Department of Customs and Trade. Informal censorship was the habit of book designers, publishers, distributors, and literary agents. The habits of the latter groups were influenced by the strictures and secrecy of the government. Lack of knowledge of the government’s methods and decisions meant that it was safer for the publishing industry to err on the conservative side lest it incurred onerous penalties. The strictest period of censorship of imported novels occurred between approximately 1930 and 1958, during which time the responsible Minister, and his department, frequently overstepped their authority in order to ban books that affronted their sensibilities. Nevertheless, the Commonwealth Government was never legally challenged over any of its decisions to ban. The secretiveness and the severity of the regime was only mitigated or ameliorated, from time to time, by the cleverness of certain literary intellectuals, who were formally or informally consulted over the proposed banning of particular novels. These people included Christopher Brennan, Professor Leslie H. Allen, Sir Robert Garran, Parliamentary Librarian E. R Bryan, and Kenneth Slessor. The fear of public ridicule also contained some official excess. Systemic and non-systemic methods of censorship during the first half of the twentieth century are illustrated by reference to six of Norman Lindsay’s novels for adults. Two of his novels were banned by the Commonwealth Government, but the others were affected by informal discrimination. In conclusion, this paper gauges the effect on Australian literature of such a censorship regime. But it is impossible to truly estimate the toll, because the Commonwealth Department of Customs and Trade kept records, and sought advice, only for novels that it regarded as having literary merit. Those publications falling outside this category, including comedies and cheap paperbacks, were summarily dismissed and disposed of without documentation or reference to expert opinion. This paper is sourced from published and unpublished accounts of the workings of the Commonwealth Department of Customs and Trade, the records extant in the Australian Archives, manuscripts concerning Norman Lindsay’s authorship and publishers, and textual study of the novels themselves.