Philip Butterss

Research Interests

Australian Literature Biography

Dr Philip Butterss

School of Humanities

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

After completing a PhD in Australian literature at the University of Sydney, Phil Butterss worked for twenty-six years at the University of Adelaide. He retired in 2017, and is now a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of English and Creative Writing. His book on the life and work of C.J. Dennis won the National Biography Award for 2015. He is writing a history of literary Adelaide from 1829 to the present.

Date Position Institution name
2017 - ongoing Visiting Research Fellow University of Adelaide
1998 - 2017 Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide
1991 - 1997 Lecturer University of Adelaide

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2015 Award National Biography Award - Australia $25,000
2014 Award Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision University of Adelaide - $10,000

Date Institution name Country Title
1985 - 1990 University of Sydney Australia PhD
1982 - 1985 University of Sydney Australia MA (Honours)
1980 - 1982 University of Sydney Australia BA (Honours)

Year Citation
2019 Butterss, P. R. (2019). The making of 'a poet of Adelaide': Charles Jury and literary Adelaide, 1893-1919. Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 19(2), 1-10.
2018 Butterss, P. (2018). Australia's first French novelist: Marie Lion. Westerly, Special Issue 6, 88-98.
2016 Butterss, P. (2016). National Biography Award Lecture: For Better or Worse. SL, 9(3), 16-19.
2015 Butterss, P. (2015). Writing the Anzac legend: The Moods of Ginger Mick. Southerly, 75(3), 49-62.
2015 Butterss, P. (2015). Building Literary Adelaide, 1836-60. Journal of Australian Studies, 39(3), 344-361.
DOI
2015 Butterss, P. (2015). The Tennysons in literary Adelaide. Australian Literary Studies, 30(3), 110-120.
2015 Butterss, P. (2015). Australian literary studies in the 1940s: the Commonwealth Literary Fund lectures. Australian Literary Studies, 30(4), 115-127.
DOI
2009 Butterss, P. (2009). Ada Street, Adelaide: a history. Historical Society of South Australia. Journal, 2009(37), 98-112.
2007 Butterss, P. (2007). "Parnassus slope" : C.J. Dennis's first years in Victoria. Southerly, 67(1-2), 254-271.
2007 Butterss, P. (2007). 'Your vote is wanted': C.J. Dennis at the call. JASAL - Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 7, 97-106.
2006 Butterss, P. (2006). 'Where a youth dreamed dreams': C.J. Dennis's early days in South Australia. Historical Society of South Australia. Journal, 34, 26-38.
2004 Butterss, P. (2004). Gadding about: C J Dennis and The Gadfly. Southerly, 64(3), 158-171.
2004 Butterss, P. (2004). A 'careful little housewife': C.J. Dennis and masculinity in The Sentimental Bloke.. Screening the Past, 16, www 1-www 6.
2000 Butterss, P. (2000). You're your own boss: models of masculinity. CRNLE Journal (Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English), Issue 2000, 208-211.
2000 Butterss, P. (2000). Australian masculinity on the road. Media International Australia, 95, 227-236.
1998 Butterss, P. (1998). When being a man is all you've got: Masculinity in Romper Stomper, Idiot Box, Blackrock and The Boys. Metro, (117), 40-46.
1995 Butterss, P. (1995). Fidelia Hill and our new colony. Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 23, 70-81.
1995 Butterss, P. (1995). From defiance to difference: The changing shape of the Australian ballad collection. Australian Folklore, 10, 45-49.
1992 Butterss, P. R., & Butterss, P. (1992). James Lester Burke, Martin Cash and Frank the Poet. Australian Literary Studies, 15, 220-225.
1991 Butterss, P. R., & Butterss, P. (1991). "Banished from the girl I adore”: “Moreton Bay” and Irish Transportation Love Songs. Australian Celtic Journal, 3, 5-11.
1991 Butterss, P. R. (1991). More on “Remos” and Somer. Australian Folklore: a yearly journal of folklore studies, 6, 44-47.
1991 Butterss, P. R. (1991). Did “Remos” call his house “Emoh Ruo”?—The authorship of some bush songs. Australian Folklore: a yearly journal of folklore studies, 6, 29-31.
1990 Butterss, P. R. (1990). “When a Fellow Comes Out to Amuse You”: Charles Thatcher and the Goldfield Songs. Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor, 10, 7-13.
1990 Butterss, P. R. (1990). Longing for Harmony: The Resolution of Conflict and Contradiction in the Songs of the Victorian Goldfields. Australian Folklore: a yearly journal of folklore studies, 5, 7-35.
1989 Butterss, P. R. (1989). Wild Colonial Boys’ Games: Bold Jack Donahoe to R.J. Hawke. Meanjin, 48(4), 561-571.
1989 Butterss, P. R. (1989). “Bold Jack Donahoe” and the Irish Outlaw Tradition’. Australian Folklore: a yearly journal of folklore studies, 3, 3-9.
1988 Butterss, P. R. (1988). The Less Rebellious “Frank the Poet”. Overland, 112, 58-62.

Year Citation
2017 White, J., & Meier, J. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of clinical toxicology of animal venoms and poisons.
DOI Scopus87
2014 Butterss, P. (2014). An Unsentimental Bloke: The life and work of C.J. Dennis (1 ed.). Kent Town, SA: Wakefield Press.
2013 Butterss, P. R. (Ed.) (2013). Adelaide: a literary city. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.
DOI
2013 Butterss, P. R. (Ed.) (2013). Adelaide: a literary city. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.
DOI
1996 Butterss, P., Guerin, C., & Nettelbeck, A. (Eds.) (1996). Crossing Lines: Formations of Australian Culture. Adelaide: Association for the Study of Australian Literature.
1995 Butterss, P. (1995). Southwords: Essays on South Australian Literature. Wakefield Press.
1993 Butterss, P. (Ed.) (1993). Penguin Book of Australian Ballads. Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin.
1991 Songs of the Bush: The First Collection of Australian Folk Song (1991). . Kuranda: Rams Skull.

Year Citation
2018 Butterss, P. (2018). Legends of the nineties: Literary culture in Adelaide at the end of the nineteenth century. In C. Collins, & P. Sendziuk (Eds.), Foundational Fictions in South Australian History (pp. 118-132). Mile End; South Australia: Wakefield Press.
2013 Butterss, P. (2013). The all-singing, all-dancing bloke: the after-lives of C.J. Dennis' the songs of a sentimental bloke. In T. Dalziell, & P. Genoni (Eds.), Telling stories: Australian life and literature 1935-2012 (1 ed., pp. 147-153). Australia: Monash University Publishing.
2013 Butterss, P. (2013). 'An entertaining young genius': C.J. Dennis and Adelaide. In P. Butterss (Ed.), Adelaide: a literary city (1 ed., pp. 77-93). Australia: University of Adelaide Press.
2013 Butterss, P. (2013). Adelaide as literary city: introduction. In P. Butterss (Ed.), Adelaide: a literary city (1 ed., pp. 1-17). Australia: University of Adelaide Press.
2013 Butterss, P. (2013). Adelaide as literary city: introduction. In P. Butterss (Ed.), Adelaide: a literary city (1 ed., pp. 1-17). Australia: University of Adelaide Press.
2012 Butterss, P. (2012). English and Creative Writing: 'the abode of... literature; the home of poetry and fiction. In N. Harvey, J. Fornasiero, G. McCarthy, C. Macintyre, & C. Crossin (Eds.), A History of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Adelaide 1876-2012: Celebrating 125 Years of the Faculty of Arts (1 ed., pp. 109-132). Australia: University of Adelaide Press.
2009 Butterss, P. (2009). Introduction. In C. J. Dennis, B. Bennett, & R. Dixon (Eds.), The moods of Ginger Mick (pp. 5-9). Sydney, Australia: Sydney University Press.
DOI
2009 Butterss, P. (2009). 'Compounded of incompatibles': The songs of a Sentimental Bloke and The moods of Ginger Mick. In F. Groen (Ed.), Serious Frolic: Essays on Australian Humour (1 ed., pp. 16-27). Queensland, Australia: University of Queensland Press.
2006 Butterss, P. (2006). Performing Australianness in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. In T. Barnett, N. Bierbaum, S. Harrex, R. Hosking, & G. Tulloch (Eds.), London was full of rooms (pp. 220-224). 54 Currie St, Adelaide SA 5000: Lythrum Press.
2005 Butterss, P. (2005). Ar, if a bloke wus only understood!' C.J. Dennis and The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke. In S. Magarey, & K. Round (Eds.), Living History: Essays on History as Biography (pp. 113-126). Unley, South Australia: Australian Humanities Press.
2004 Butterss, P. (2004). C.J. Dennis, the Songs of a Sentimental Bloke and its film versions. In S. Williams, D. Longeran, R. Hosking, L. Deane, & N. Bierbaum (Eds.), The regenerative spirit - Volume 2 - (Un)settling, (dis)locations, (post-)colonial, (re)presentations - Australian post-colonial reflections (pp. 192-199). 128 Hindley St, Adelaide, SA 5000: Lythrum Press.
2002 Butterss, P. (2002). C.J. Dennis. In Australian writers, 1915-1950 (pp. 81-87). Detroit: Gale Group.
1999 Butterss, P. (1999). What it means to be a man: reading the masculine. In Extensions: essays in English studies from Shakespeare to the Spice Girls, 1999 (pp. 100-110). Wakefield Press.
1999 Butterss, P. (1999). Representation, power and genre in The Piano. In Extensions: essays in English studies from Shakespeare to the Spice Girls, 1999 (pp. 158-171).
1998 Butterss, P. (1998). From Ned Kelly to queens in the desert: masculinity in Australian film. In Social justice: politics, technology and culture for a better world, 1998 (pp. 65-79). Wakefield Press.
1996 Butterss, P. (1996). Introduction. In Poems and recollections of the past, 1996 (Vol. 97, pp. v-xx). Barr Smith Press.
DOI
1995 Butterss, P. (1995). Preface. In Southwords: essays on South Australian writing, 1995 (Vol. 54, pp. ix-xvi). Wakefield Press.
DOI
1995 Butterss, P. (1995). Fidelia Hill: finding a public voice. In Southwords: essays on South Australian writing, 1995 (pp. 16-26). Wakefield Press.
1993 Butterss, P. R. (1993). Broadside Ballads. In G. Seal, & G. Davey (Eds.), The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore (pp. 48-53). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
1992 Butterss, P. R. (1992). Introduction. In Steele Rudd (Ed.), On Our Selection (pp. v-xiii). Oxford University Press.
DOI

Year Citation
2015 Butterss, P. R. (2015). 'The Poets War'. National Library of Australia.
2015 Butterss, P. R. (2015). Reinventing the Bloke: 100 years of the ultimate larrikin. National Film and Sound Archive.
2008 Butterss, P. R. (2008). Kindly Satire: C.J. Dennis’s The Glugs of Gosh (1917). Australian Literary Compendium.

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2015 - 2018 Co-Supervisor The Necrophile Self: Contemporary Attitudes Towards Death and Its New Visibility Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mrs Tamara Tatjana Waraschinski
2014 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Volume 1 On the Edge Volume 2 Exegesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Martin Eddy Knight
2013 - 2014 Co-Supervisor The Utopian in a Faithless World/ Landfall Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Reginald John Taylor
2013 - 2014 Co-Supervisor Nick Mount Blow by blow - Reconfiguring biography: A genre in motion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Denise Kaye George
2013 - 2016 Co-Supervisor One Sunday in Picardy/ The Olfactory Shift in the Literature of the First World War: The Reawakening of Smell Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Eleanor Ahern
2013 - 2016 Principal Supervisor The Life and Work of George Isaacs Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Anne Elizabeth Black
2013 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Representations of Belonging in Asian Australian Writing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Wan Nur Madiha Ramlan
2013 - 2019 Co-Supervisor What These Ithacas Mean: The Nostos Motif in Sea Fiction Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Ursula Horlock
2011 - 2014 Principal Supervisor Ephemeron: Volume 1 Creative works Volume 2 Exegesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Emma Carmody
2011 - 2012 Co-Supervisor The House of Poppy Larkin The Divided Self and the Social Environment Barbara Hanrahans Autobiographical Novels and the House of Poppy Larkin Master of Arts Master Part Time Mr Robert Ian Horne
2010 - 2013 Principal Supervisor Creative work: Tunnelling. Exegesis: Blue-Collar Work. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Dennis John McIntosh
2009 - 2011 Co-Supervisor Looking in a Broken Mirror: Reflections on the Split Writer and the Visual Artist Character Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Katherine Doube
2008 - 2009 Principal Supervisor ''No Storied Windows, Richly Dight': Locating the Gothic in Four Australian Novels' and 'Twigs from a Hedge in Winter: An Australian Gothic Novel' Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Henry Ashley-Brown
2008 - 2009 Principal Supervisor 'Disquiet' Novella and Screenplay: Adaptation and Creative Hybridity Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Julia Leigh
2007 - 2012 Co-Supervisor Walking Wounded: Cinematic Representations of Masculine, Post-Modern Anxiety in the Urban Space Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Penelope Eate
2006 - 2011 Principal Supervisor Postclassical Hollywood/Postmodern Subjectivity - Representation in Some 'Indie/Alternative' Indiewood Films Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Jessica Lise Murrell
2003 - 2009 Co-Supervisor Frontier Mythology in the American Teen Film Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Rowena Harper
2000 - 2004 Principal Supervisor 'Gods in our own World': Representations of Troubled and Troubling Masculinities in Some Australian Films, 1991-2001 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Shane Crilly
1998 - 2002 Principal Supervisor BLOKES AND CARS: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MASCULINITIES IN AUSTRALIAN FILM Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Rebecca Johinke

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