HENRY HANDEL RICHARDSON
Key Study: The Fortunes of Richard Mahony trilogy: Australia Felix (1917), The Way Home (1925), Ultima Thule (1929)
Of The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, Ethel (Henry Handel) Richardson wrote: ‘So far, all the novels about Australia that had come my way had been tales of adventure, and successful adventure… What of the failures, to whose lot neither fortunes nor stirring adventures fell? The misfits, who were physically and mentally incapable of adapting themselves to this strange hard new world? I knew of many such; and my plan was to tell the life-story of one of them…’ No further introduction is needed to the trilogy, which chronicles the many trials and tribulations of Irish-born Richard Mahony against the backdrop of colonial Australia, the ‘land of his exile’.
Richard Mahony is undoubtedly one of the most fully-formed tragic protagonists in Australian literature. In Australia Felix he is the young doctor-turned-shopkeeper struggling to exist in a land where he will always be a stranger. At a gold-diggers’ meeting it becomes evident that Mahony does not understand (or want to!) the minds of these people in battle for a new Australia; the most that can be said of his relation to them is that he is irritated by their gaucheness.[1] He wishes to return to England, but his pride – which is responsible for much of his misfortune throughout the narrative – forbids him until he has made his fortune. He is a self-confessed intellectual, although the reader does not necessarily have to accept this at face value; for instance, when in Melbourne he attends a lecture on Mesmerism, but it is never made clear if he is going because he is interested in the subject matter, or merely to assure himself of his intellect and culture.[2] When Mahony returns to his medical practice, financial worries burden his mind day and night, particularly because he tends always to consider the ‘what if’ rather than the present, which is consistent with his continual dreams for the future that are never supplemented by a practical plan to achieve these things. These early tendencies later become profound in Mahony’s worsening mental state. Mahony is also an impractical man; despite his anxiety over the state of his finances, when he finally becomes rich he chooses to lavish his friends and acquaintances with gifts, rather than put the money to practical use.[3] His ultimate downfall is his constant desire of change for change’s sake; it is always when he succumbs to this desire that his fortunes take a turn for the worse, such as when, on impulse, he sells his successful Ballarat practice and uproots his wife to England. There is no logical reason for doing so; yet once his mind is made up, Mahony feels he has made a very clever decision and waxes lyrical on the lush green meadows of England compared to the dreary plains of Australia. The reaction of his wife, Mary? ‘ “I never heard before of anyone throwing up a good income because he didn’t like the scenery.” ’[4] After his ventures in England fail one after the other, Mahony decides just as abruptly that he loathes everything about England and always has done, and begins to look favourably on a return to Australia.[5] Back in Australia, Mahony retires from medicine (again on impulse) and, with a wealth of spare time on his hands, drifts towards the study of the occult. Towards the end of The Way Home, his behaviour begins to be noticeably eccentric, and Mary blames this on his increasing preoccupation with spiritualism.[6] Certainly Mahony is becoming more open to superstition and dreams; one dream convinces him that he is being defrauded out of his stock shares, and he transfers his funds from his stockbroker to another, unknown, gentleman, who promptly absconds with his money.[7] The final book, Ultima Thule, chronicles Mahony’s attempt to survive amidst the ruin of his fortunes; he is forced to take up medicine again in Melbourne, and his financial worries return to haunt him. Bizarrely, as soon as the medical practice picks up, Mahony suddenly hankers for a country practice, and relocates his family to remote Barambogie. This latest move appears not just as his characteristic impulsiveness and desire for change, but also a trifle insane. The death of his daughter contributes to the increasingly fragile state of Mahony’s mind; as rumours spread of his insanity, his practice falls off and his money problems weigh heavier on his mind. His fears begin to take tangible form in his dreams, appearing as monstrous shapes to torment him.[8] From here on Mahony’s degeneration is rapid and brutal, until he suffers short-term memory loss, talks disjointedly to himself and staggers about the town as if he is drunk. When he sets his surgery on fire, he cannot explain what prompted his actions and is committed firstly to a hospital and then to a lunatic asylum. Ironically, in his madness Mahony is truly happy at last – insanity has relieved him of his fears and troubles.[9] Towards the end of the book, he is returned to his family home; after his death he is laid to rest in the country of his exile.
Though the central focus of the trilogy is, as the title suggests, the fortunes (and misfortunes) of Richard Mahony, the perspective is gradually narrowed down. In Australia Felix Mahony’s fortunes are linked to the history and development of Ballarat and of the colony of Victoria in general; The Way Home abandons the broad historical context to concentrate on the social aspect in relation to Mahony’s life; while Ultima Thule, the final book in the trilogy, deals primarily with Mahony himself and his rapidly deteriorating state of mind.
The narrative of Australia Felix begins on the Ballarat goldfields, where a man has just been buried alive. A crowd gathers out of interest, not sentiment; this is representative of the mercenary attitudes of those who live and work on the goldfields.[10] This mentality is a sharp contrast to Richard Mahony’s way of thinking; he cares more about being fair than about making a profit, which explains to an extent why he is such an unsuccessful shopkeeper, even in a boom-town like Ballarat. Events leading up to the Eureka Stockade are described: the early dissatisfaction with the government (the gold diggers’ licence tax in particular) and talks of republicanism[11], to the enforcement of martial law in Ballarat, the hoisting of the Southern Cross and organisation of a rebellion.[12] Of the Eureka Stockade itself very little is said – the rebellion was quickly crushed by the military – but one result of it is that Richard Mahony is required to resurrect his medical career, albeit temporarily, to treat the injured.[13] This sows the seeds of his eventual return to medicine, as it reminds him of the happy days he spent as a medical student in Edinburgh. The other factor that influences Mahony’s decision to resume practice is the changing face of Ballarat itself: as the gold rush dies down, the diggers are gradually thinned out and the town transformed from a goldfield into a major city and trade centre.[14] However, even when Mahony is settled in a successful medical practice, it is again the external factors that shape his fortunes; he becomes wealthy not through his practice but through the progress of his investments in the stock market.[15] Finally, the social conditions of life in Ballarat (which are a direct derivation of its historical pattern) – lack of permanence, people constantly shifting, moving on etc. – are a large part of the reason Mahony has no close friends; he believes there is no sense in becoming close to someone if they are gone the next week.[16]
The Way Home discusses in detail the prejudices and cliques of the social system in Buddlecombe, England, where Mahony takes up a country practice. That the residents of Buddlecombe regard Australia as inferior to England becomes evident early on, when Mahony is refused the use of a horse on the basis that he has overworked it. The liveryman states that Mahony’s habits might ‘do’ very well in Australia, but ‘ “’twouldn’t do ’ere, surr – in England. Thic’s a civilized [sic] country.” ’[17] When Mary gives a party for her Buddlecombe acquaintance, it is a dismal failure firstly because she invites a couple that are socially lower in rank than her other guests, and secondly because she serves a bountiful supper when custom dictates only biscuits and barley-water for the menu.[18] Later it is revealed explicitly that Richard’s having practised medicine in Australia is the main reason for discrimination against the Mahonys; his social standing, not his skill, is responsible for their exclusion from Buddlecombe’s upper echelons.[19] Richard’s abrupt decision to return to Australia is motivated by a slight made upon his wife by one of Buddlecombe’s leading citizens.[20] The Australian social system is described in the second half of the narrative, from the ‘aristocracy of wealth’, whose most powerful members are established squatters, most of humble origins, with little taste in or liking for art and historical treasures; to the intellectual circles and the legal/medical set. Richard’s chosen friends reflect his personality and his intellectual leanings: he shuns the upper crust, whose extravagance and lack of culture clash with his sensitivities, in favour of the intellectuals, with whom he feels a common bond.[21]
Ultima Thule focuses predominantly on Mahony himself and his inner struggles, as well as the effects his mental health has on his family. The family’s precarious financial situation is at the root of much of Mahony’s inner torment, but Mary is unaware of just how poor they really are, and Mahony is afraid to confide in her. Later, this fear is depicted as a large, monstrous shape that preys upon his mind.[22] After the death of his daughter Lallie, Mahony descends more firmly into the grasp of spiritualism – a subject in which he has always taken a keen interest, but which now takes hold of his entire personality – and superstition. His belief that he can communicate with his dead daughter provokes rumours of his insanity and indeed speeds his mental deterioration.[23] After this episode, Richardson continues to show how Mahony’s worsening state of mind contributes to public opinion; they feed off each other in tandem. Finally, his mental issues spill over into his professional life when he is accused of malpractice.[24] Violence becomes a symptom of his illness; he kicks Mary and later, draws blood on her leg with his fingernails.[25] The painful corrosion of Mahony’s mind culminates in him setting fire to his own surgery, then being committed to hospital and eventually to a lunatic asylum.
Throughout the trilogy, Richardson’s descriptions are for the most part delivered in concentrated slabs of detail, in the form of a list. For example, an illustration of the Ballarat goldfields follows as such: ‘It was It was better to be two than one in this medley of bullock-teams, lorries, carts and packhorses, of dog-teams, wheelbarrows and swagment, where the air rang with oaths, shouts and hammering hoofs, with whip-cracking and bullock-prodding…’[26] This technique, while not the most elegant, is nevertheless effective, providing a solid and authentic background against which the drama of Richard Mahony is played out. However, there are several occasions where Richardson departs from her ‘list’ method; in Australia Felix the description of the Australian bush is very visual in its depictions of flowers and other native plants, and shows a greater mastery of the writer’s craft.[27] In The Way Home, the description of the English countryside – gloomy, shrouded in fog, almost Gothic in its darkness – foreshadows Mahony’s misfortunes in England.[28] At other times, the strength of a single detail is enough to describe an entire character or situation: Polly’s pretentious sister Sarah (Zara) sits tatting ‘with her little finger stuck out at right angles to the rest’, which, to Mahony, ‘seemed to sum up Sarah’s whole outlook on life.’[29]
The characters in Australia Felix are, for the most part, sketches and caricatures that are fleshed out in the later two books. The Beamish sisters, Tilly and Jinny, are crude, irreverent, rosy, buxom, cheerful, naturally averse to schoolroom education – in other words, their appearances exactly reflect their natures, which is not the case with complex characters. The Beamishes also serve as contrasts to the character of Polly (Mary), who is pale, dark -haired, unassuming, gentle – but at this stage, no less a caricature, as her appearance also reflects her personality.[30] Later on, Polly’s character is developed further, but generally as a foil to Richard’s character; to his poetry she is prose, and his romanticisings do not touch her own nature; also, her unappreciation of literature is commented on only to highlight Richard’s great liking for it.[31] Her main trait that actually determines part of the story’s course is her pragmatism, which cannot save Richard from his impulsive self but preserves their family as best as it can given Polly’s limited control over the family finances, accommodation etc. Other characters – whose roles, like Polly’s, serve primarily to contribute to Richard’s character – include Polly’s sister Sarah, who changes her name to ‘Zara’ because of its ‘rather French air’[32] and whose affectations annoy Richard profoundly; and Tangye the chemist, who makes a very brief appearance for the purpose of exposing a truth about Richard’s nature (when he tells Richard that Australia is ‘no place’ for people like him, i.e. people who are unwilling to adapt to the new country, to embrace the differences.[33]
The Way Home is where most of the character development takes place, as the social aspects take on a greater importance in the narrative. Mary – graduated from the more youthful ‘Polly’, has grown wary by now of Richard’s impulses as part of the usual familiarisation process between husband and wife; as a result she is more reticent, less compliant than of yore. In Buddlecombe she comes up against a people with strongly different ideas from hers, particularly where their social hierarchy is concerned. Far from feeling cowed by the snubs of the Buddlecombe upper class, Mary states that none of her Australian friends would be considered good enough in England, and she prefers the Australian way, which shows a strength and conviction far removed from the timid girl she was in Australia Felix.[34] This development in Mary’s character also paves the way for her to take charge when her husband can no longer take care of himself. Tilly Ocock (née Beamish), a two-dimensional character in Australia Felix, now assumes a more complex identity, as demonstrated in her colourful, badly-written letters.[35] The cheerful irreverence is now a mere façade for the independence and strength of mind behind it, and Tilly also demonstrates a wealth of compassion for her wayward stepsons, on whom the rest of the world has given up. The Mahonys have three children – the twins are categorised simply as the ‘Dumplings’ and never really assume separate identities, but Cuffy is a complex character from the beginning, as will be explored more thoroughly later on in this paper. Another child who takes on a greater importance in The Way Home is Emmy (called ‘Trotty’ in Australia Felix), the daughter of Mary’s eldest brother John. Adolescence has woken Emmy to the harshness of the world; once a child without a troubling thought in her head, she now nurses a deep hurt over her father’s cold indifference towards her (she, as well as everyone else, does not see that it is her resemblance to her dead mother that invokes John’s callousness, i.e. the bitterness of his thwarted love).
In Ultima Thule Mary’s generous nature is impacted severely by Richard’s mental illness; where before she had great sympathy and compassion for her niece Emmy, she now finds equally great fault with her, in particular Emmy’s rendezvous with a minister while she is meant to be watching the Mahony children. Mary spares her no quarter but instead sends her back to live with her stepmother, whom Emmy hates and under whose roof she leads a cheerless existence.[36] The other changing aspect of Mary’s character is one hinted at in The Way Home: the revelation of her inner strength. When Richard is committed to the asylum, Mary realises that she will have to face the social comedown of going to work for a living – but in the end her common sense triumphs and she takes up work as a postmistress.[37] But her true potential is realised only when she is denied permission to bring Richard home from the asylum; she then discovers that she is capable of standing up to anyone, even the great Henry Ocock, a parliamentarian who is an old friend of the Mahonys, and holds the distinction of being a man who bullied his wife to death.[38] Mary’s newfound authority continues to demonstrate its force, until she gets the reputation of being a ‘tartar’.[39] The character of Cuffy, too, is changed greatly by Richard’s growing insanity. However, the twins are still the ‘Dumplings’, without definitive identities – so that when Lallie, the eldest twin, falls ill and dies, it is Mary whom the reader feels for, not Lallie or her twin, because neither was ever a separate character. By the same token, Mary’s grief is heartrending, but her thoughts on Lallie the individual have no resonance, because Lallie was never portrayed as an individual.[40]
The character of Cuffy Mahony is an interesting one. Precocious and difficult, he is aware from an early age that his sisters usurp his mother’s attention, but his anger and hurt at this are interpreted by Mary as mere naughtiness. Mary is surprisingly hard on Cuffy, considering her gentleness and consideration towards others; this is because she does not understand her son, and also possibly resents the fact that Richard understands him far better – i.e. she considers all nursery affairs to be her domain, and Richard is impinging on this.[41] Towards the end of The Way Home, Richardson shows how Richard’s behaviour begins to impact on Cuffy; when Richard whirls the family through Europe, Cuffy’s child mind is unable to cope with such a frenzy of different people, places and culture. He is left with a wealth of brilliant but fragmented memories that he cannot articulate, and later on this makes it hard for him to distinguish between fact and dream.[42] Cuffy’s character is explored more thoroughly in Ultima Thule, where his disappointment that his promised pony does not arrive on his birthday, and his hurt that Mary has broken her promise, is an astute observation on Richardson’s part that children remember and value their parents’ words as gospel.[43] He is deeply disturbed by his father’s mental deterioration, as shown by his fear and confusion when he witnesses the usually gentle Richard lose his temper and beat his horse uncontrollably.[44] From this point Cuffy’s torment over his father’s antics is documented quite as thoroughly as Richard’s own anguish; when Richard’s madness becomes apparent to others through his behaviour in public, Cuffy is ashamed to tell his mother and afraid of the other children, who tease him about his ‘cranky’ father.[45] Of his father’s death, Cuffy’s first reaction is of crushing relief, later overwhelmed by grief.[46] Richardson’s portrayal of a young boy, struggling to come to terms with his father’s illness and the strange events that occur in his family, is the more poignant because of how well she clearly understands Cuffy’s child’s mind; an affinity that is explained in Leonie Kramer’s introduction to the Mahony trilogy, where she attests that Cuffy is a portrait of Richardson herself as a child.[47]
For Richard Mahony’s tale is, to a large extent, biographical fiction; Mahony himself represents Richardson’s father, Walter Richardson. There are several differences between Walter’s story and Richard’s, mainly because Richardson has chosen to focus essentially on Walter’s failures and psychological difficulties, while placing less emphasis on his successes. For instance, Walter was a gifted orator and musician, but these skills are merely touched upon in the character of Richard. Also, Walter did have some of his work published in scientific journals, whereas Richard was continually frustrated in his endeavours to do the same. The trilogy’s entire emphasis is placed on Richard’s failures, misfortunes and mental deterioration, culminating in his utter defeat.
However, for the majority of the narrative, Richardson adheres strongly to biographical fact.[48] One disadvantage of this approach is that unlike the characters in a wholly fictional novel, Richardson’s characters’ primary role is to contribute to Richard Mahony’s character. Many characters are left without closure, disappear completely from the story, such as Emmy, whose fate preoccupies Mary and to an extent, Richard, for most of her (Emmy’s) girlhood, and whose future is often debated, giving it a significance in the story. Yet it is never revealed what happens to Emmy in the end.
Though Mahony’s story is first and foremost the account of a single man’s fortunes, it may also be considered to reflect on a wider Australian experience – in particular, the stories of other migrants. Australia Felix begins on the Ballarat goldfields; on one level it describes the alien, untamed land that is anathema to the British-born; on a deeper level it highlights the dilemma of people who came to the ‘lucky country’ lured by promise of riches, and end up bitter and homesick, struggling to survive.[49] Mahony’s plight, i.e. his bewildered attempt to make sense of Australia and the people that populate it, demonstrates (to him, but in a certain sense it is the truth) that only those capable of adapting – embracing modernity, so to speak – and only those who care solely about profit will achieve success in Australia.[50]
In The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, Henry Handel Richardson has depicted a significant period of Australian history and society, and in the character of Richard Mahony she has painted a most thorough picture of human frailty. As biographical fiction, the plot sustains certain weaknesses, and Richardson never quite substantiates Mahony’s claims to great intelligence and knowledge, but these flaws may be overlooked in the wider scheme of Richardson’s achievement. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony is a monument not only to the troubled father of Richardson’s childhood, but also to all of the ‘failures’ and ‘misfits’ upon whose behalf she vowed to write this trilogy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Richardson, Henry Handel. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: Australia Felix. Ringwood:
Penguin, 1971. First published in 1917.
Richardson, Henry Handel. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: The Way Home. Ringwood:
Penguin, 1971. First published in 1925.
Richardson, Henry Handel. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: Ultima Thule. Ringwood:
Penguin, 1971. First published in 1929.
[1] H. H. Richardson, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: Australia Felix (Ringwood: Penguin, 1971), p. 20
[2] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 42
[3] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 258
[4] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 356
[5] Richardson, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: The Way Home (Ringwood: Penguin, 1971), p. 82
[6] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 230
[7] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 265
[8] Richardson, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony: Ultima Thule (Ringwood: Penguin, 1971), p. 121
[9] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 268
[10] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 1
[11] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 18
[12] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 88
[13] Richardson, Australia Felix, p.92
[14] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 162
[15] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 230
[16] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 321
[17] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 16
[18] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 56
[19] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 73
[20] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 79
[21] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 123-24
[22] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 121
[23] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 97
[24] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 162
[26] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 64
[27] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 82
[28] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 24
[29] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 135
[30] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 44
[31] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 110
[32] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 216
[33] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 283
[34] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 58
[35] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 67
[36] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 63
[37] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 227
[38] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 255
[39] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 257
[40] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 90
[41] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 181
[42] Richardson, The Way Home, p. 260
[43] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 30
[44] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 148
[45] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 209
[46] Richardson, Ultima Thule, p. 277
[47] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. vii
[48] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. xxv
[49] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 3
[50] Richardson, Australia Felix, p. 283
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