Richardson --

The child of the children /

Ethel Turner --

Juliet McCree is accused of gluttony /

Ethel Anderson --

N'Goola /

Katharine Susannah Prichard --

Dry spell /

Marjorie Barnard --

'Hear me prayer' /

Eleanor Dark --

A harmless affair /

Christina Stead --

Trees can speak /

Alan Marshall --

Mother /

Judah Waten --

First love /

Hal Porter --

The man who bowled Victor Trumper /

Dal Stevens --

Lardi /

Paddy Roe --

Clay /

Patrick White --

Requiem /

Peter Cowan --

The weeping fig /

Judith Wright --

Carpet snake /

Oodgeroo Noonuccal --

The widow-maker /

Thelma Forshaw --

Three old men of Lerici /

Charmian Clift --

Poppy seed and sesame rings /

Elizabeth Jolley --

The beautiful climate /

Elizabeth Harrower --

Because of the Rusilla /

Mena Abdullah & Ray Mathew --

Father Carroll /

Barry Oakley --

The street of the painters /

Rudi Krausmann --

The only speaker of his tongue /

David Malouf --

Sunday Morning /

Antigone Kefala --

Chinaman's beach according to a doubtful lover /

D'ono Kim --

My greatest ambition /

Morris Lurie --

White Knight /

Frank Moorhouse --

Precious bane /

Gerald Murnane --

The music makers /

Glenda Adams --

The failure of the bay tree /

Marion Halligan --

Zoellner's definition /

Murry Bail --

Somewhere new /

Michael Wilding --

Did he pay? /

Helen Garner --

The Assyrian princess /

Silvana Gardner --

The inside story /

Janette Turner Hospital --

Room no. 5 (Escribo) /

Peter Carey --

A portrait ;

Self portrait /

Kris Hemensley --

End of the moon /

Vicki Viidikas --

No such thing as a free lunch /

Kate Grenville --

Being here now /

Angelo Loukakis --

Red sails /

Ania Walwicz --

The line /

David Brooks --

Roses and my brother /

Kerryn Goldsworthy --

My father's axe /

Tim Winton.

Australian writing has excelled in the short story, as Michael Wilding's selection strongly demonstrates. His anthology ranges across more than 120 years of Australian fiction, from the great originals such as Marcus Clarke and Henry Lawson to contemporary stylists such as Helen Garner and Tim Winton. Many of the writers are recognized throughout the world - Patrick White, Christina Stead, Peter Carey, to name just three - but the anthology also introduces less familiar and celebrated writers. The Australian short story has always included both realist and formally experimental elements. This anthology represents both tendencies. It shows the ways in which the cosmopolitan, expatriate experiences of writers such as Stead and White invigorated the genre; and how, during the 1960s and 1970s - an exciting and innovative time for Australian fiction - short story writers responded to international models and explored the potential of the form. The anthology is notable for the quality of writings by Aboriginal and non-Anglo-Saxon contributors, and for the abundance of fine stories from women - from Barbara Baynton, Henry Handel Richardson, and Marjorie Barnard to Charmian Clift, Elizabeth Jolley, and Janette Turner Hospital.