Our New Selection

by Steele Rudd

Arthur Hoey Davis (1868-1935) who also wrote under the pseudonym Steele Rudd, was an Australian author. Towards the end of 1895 he sent a sketch to The Bulletin which afterwards became the first chapter of On Our Selection when it was published in 1899. Encouraged by J. F. Archibald, Davis continued the series of sketches, 26 of which were included in the volume. Within four years 20,000 copies had been printed. It afterwards appeared in numerous cheap editions and by 1940 the number of copies sold had reached 250,000. It has also been the subject of a play and more than one picture. In 1903 appeared Our New Selection and in the same year Davis, who had reached the position of under-sheriff, retired from the public service. In 1904, Davis brought out Rudd's Magazine, a monthly magazine published at 6d. a copy, which continued for nearly four years. Towards the end of his life appeared two capable books The Romance of Runnibede (1927), and Green Grey Homestead (1934). His reputation was established by his short stories of country life.

Genres: Classics

150 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2008

About the author

Rudd was born Arthur Hoey Davis at Drayton, Queensland, and left school early, working on nearby stations before joining the public service in Brisbane. He married Violet Brodie in 1894 and they had four children. The Bulletin published his first sketch of life as a selector in 1895. More stories followed, and their popularity led the Bulletin to publish the collections On Our Selection (1899) and Our New Selection (1903), which were also successfully adapted for the stage. Rudd established Steele Rudd's Magazine in 1903, which continued (with name-changes, lapses and revivals) until 1927. Rudd was prolific, writing six plays and more than twenty books, including the well-received novel, Memoirs of Corporal Keeley (1918). His wife's institutionalisation in a mental hospital, the dissolution of their marriage, problems with alcohol and money, are all considered to have contributed to a decline in the quality of his later work.