We all know Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth and Darcy, and Cathy and Heathcliff. They are ingrained into the consciousness of readers of English literature. But we Aussies have some couples of our own and I thought it might be fun to introduce you to just a few. They are interesting, not only because they are great characters, but because they also represent of different aspects of Australian culture.

The Bloke and Doreen

Most Australians have at least heard of CJ Dennis‘ verse novel The songs of the Sentimental Bloke (1915) and might have studied an excerpt or two at school, like I did. It has been adapted for film and television, and been made into a musical and a ballet. It tells the story of a larrikin and Doreen, the young woman he falls head-over-heels for. The challenge for contemporary readers is that it’s written in the working class vernacular of its time. However, if you “listen” to the words, it doesn’t take long to pick it up and to become engaged by the Bloke and his attempts to win Doreen’s hand. Doreen is no easy pick-up, and to win her, he must fix up his act (such as give up drinking) and become a respectable man:

Fer ‘er sweet sake I’ve gone and chucked it clean:
The pubs an’ schools an’ all that leery game.
Fer when a bloke ‘as come to know Doreen,
It ain’t the same.
There’s ‘igher things, she sez, fer blokes to do.
An’ I am ‘arf believin’ that it’s true.
(from “Doreen”)

The songs of a sentimental bloke is, what we’d call today, romantic comedy so it all works out fine in the end. The Bloke develops and matures, wins his woman, and leads a productive and settled life as a happily married man.

Voss and Laura

By contrast, Voss and Laura’s story is a tragic romance. They are the creation of Patrick White in his novel, Voss (1957), which he based loosely on the German-born Australian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt who tried to cross Australia in the mid-19th century. Voss has been made into an opera, but so far attempts to adapt it to film have not come to fruition (something I expect to write more about later).

Voss meets Laura in the opening scene of the novel at the Sydney home of her uncle and Voss’s patron, but they spend very little time in each other’s physical presence because, for the majority of the novel, Voss is away on his ill-fated expedition. (I did say it was tragic.) Most of their relationship occurs via letters and telepathic communication. Theirs is a passion fed by a meeting of minds and spirit.

Voss thought how he would talk eventually with Laura Trevelyan, how they had never spoken together using the truly humble words that convey innermost reality: bread, for instance, or water. Obsessed by the struggle between their two souls, they had threatened each other with the flashing weapons of abstract reasoning, while overlooking the common need for substance. But now we shall understand each other, he said, glancing about. […] Human relationships are vast as deserts: they demand all daring, she seemed to suggest.

It’s a grandly conceived – and quintessentially Australian – epic in the way it confronts the outback, something that remains a somewhat odd, but very real, part of the Australian character. We are highly urbanised and yet the outback still plays a significant role in our consciousness. It’s there, just behind our cities, beautiful but threatening at the same time. Confronting this vastness is still seen, by many Australians, as an antidote to the the superficiality of city life – and Voss (with Laura, by his side in abstract) confronted it big-time.

Oscar and Lucinda

Oscar and Lucinda are the main characters in Peter Carey‘s novel of the same name. Published in 1988, it, like Voss, is set in 19th century Australia, but unlike Voss it has been successfully adapted to film. Oscar, the rebel son of a strict religious father, and Lucinda, an heiress who buys a glass factory, meet on board ship and are attracted to each other through their love of gambling and taking risks. Like Voss and Laura, they are outsiders and their story ends tragically …  but while Voss and Laura’s story is spare and intense, Oscar and Lucinda’s is wild and over-the-top. They construct a glass church which hydrophobic Oscar, in a grand gesture of love, sails a few hundred miles up river through uncharted country to Bellingen, providing an unforgettable image for anyone who has read the book. What makes this Australian is not only its description of white settlers confronting the bush and its particular exploration of religiosity in the colony, but in the way Carey uses the idea of gambling to weave the story because, Australia is (whether we like it or not) a big gambling nation.

Unfortunately, though, I can’t find my copy, so no quotes from this one for you.

Do you have favourite literary couples, Australian or otherwise? I’d love to hear of literary couples who have resonated with you.