The Harp in the South

The Harp in the South (1948), a classic Australian novel by Ruth Park, follows the Darcy family, a poor group of Irish immigrants who live in Shanty Town, or Surry Hills, a slum for Irish Catholic families living in Australia during the middle of the twentieth century. The main characters are mother, Margaret, father, Hughie, and siblings, Roie and Dolour. Together, they experience the joys and pains of life as forgotten people, forced to suffer it out on their own to make a good life for themselves.

The novel begins with the arrival of Irish Catholic settlers to Sydney, placing the family and neighborhood within a particular socioeconomic context – Park makes it clear that the ancestors of the Darcy family and their neighbors came to Shanty Town because they were poor and there was nowhere else to go. The novel centers in on the family; they live at 12 ½ Plymouth St., in a small house. Margaret, or Ruth, the matriarch of the house, is a strict and devout Catholic; her husband, Hughie, is an alcoholic who frequently drinks himself into a stupor with his best friend Patrick Diamond, despite the fact that Diamond is Protestant. Together, Ruth and Hughie raise two children, Roie and Dolour.

Early in the novel, Park reveals the tragedy that has befallen and still haunts the Darcy family. There was a middle child, Thady, who disappeared when he was six years old from the streets of Surry Hill and was never found again. The loss of a son and a brother affects all members of the family, speaking to the random tragedies and lack of justice that many poor Irish families experienced during this period in Australia history.



Park describes the secret yearnings and lives of each of the characters, including those outside the family, like Diamond and Lick Jimmy, the Chinese man who runs the market down the street from the Darcy house. Roie is a character of particular interest – a sweet, hopeful girl, she falls in love with Tommy, who has sex with her before disappearing, never to be seen again. Roie feels desperate when she realizes that she is expecting Tommy's baby; – she plans a risky abortion, which is illegal. To save money for the procedure, Roie works two jobs, but at the last minute, as she walks to the doctor's office, she decides can't go through with the operation. On her way home, she is brutally beaten by a group of soldiers, losing the baby and becoming barren. Later, she marries a sweet, indigenous man, Charlie Rothe, and learns the pleasures of married sex, finding happiness in a supportive partnership.

Other characters have similarly intriguing lives; Dolour, Roie’s younger sister, is bright and intelligent; many believe she will use her smarts to escape the slums of Surry Hill. Meeting Roie's future husband, Charlie, at a radio quiz show, she is jealous when he begins to spend all his time with Roie, taking her away from Dolour. Ruth, though ultimately accepting of Roie's new husband when she realizes how happy Roie is, is initially prejudiced against him because of his dark skin and indigenous heritage. For his part, Charlie has lived his own bizarre life – found in a remote part of the Australian bush, a swagman raised him. Critics have inferred that Charlie might be a representative of the Stolen Generation: indigenous children who were removed from their parents by the Australian parliament during the early twentieth century, to be raised by “good” English parents.

With other supplementary characters with equally deep back-stories, Park paints a portrait of the complexities and beauties of life in the inner city slums of Sydney, and particularly, the trajectory of a single Irish Catholic family.



Ruth Park is a New Zealand-born Australian author, known for her works The Harp in the South, Playing Beatie Bow, and her radio show for children called The Muddle Headed Wombat. She was married to notable author D'Arcy Niland, and won many awards for her work, including multiple Talking Book of the Year and Children's Book of the Year awards, and a Miles Franklin Award. The Harp in the South is one of the most beloved books in the Australian literary canon.