Eunice Hanger

Eunice Hanger
Born	(1911-03-08)8 March 1911 Mount Chalmers, Queensland, Australia
Died	16 October 1972(1972-10-16) (aged 61) Toowong, Queensland, Australia
Occupation	Playwright, lecturer
Alma mater	University of Queensland
Relatives	Mostyn Hanger, brother

Eunice Hanger (8 March 1911 – 16 October 1972) was an Australian playwright and educator.

Early life and education

Eunice Hanger was born at Mount Chalmers in Queensland on 8 March 1911 to parents Thomas Hanger and Myfanwy Granville-Jones. Her older brother, Mostyn Hanger, became Chief Justice of Queensland and was knighted.[1] She completed her secondary education at Gympie High School[2] and won a tertiary scholarship.[3] She then attended the University of Queensland, graduating with a BA in 1932 and MA in 1939.[4][5]

Career

Qualified with her BA, Hanger began her teaching career at Gympie High School, where her father was headmaster.[2] While teaching at Roma High School, she was one of five teachers who went on a tour to study education in Japan, reporting that "suicides from despair at failure in the all-important examination are not at all uncommon".[6]

In 1940 she was transferred to Rockhampton High School and in 1948 was promoted to Brisbane High School.[2]

Her 1949 stage adaptation of M. Barnard Eldershaw's A House Is Built was not well received, despite having received the authors' approval.[7] Nelson Burns, in his review for The Courier-Mail, wrote "An over-plus of trite verbiage cluttered the trend of the story".[8] The following year, however, she had the audience "enthralled" by her play, The Summoner, which she produced and performed in.[9]

In 1955 her play Flood was runner-up to Oriel Gray's The Torrents and Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, joint winners of the Playwrights' Advisory Board's play of the year.[10] It was adapted for radio by Catherine Shepherd.[11]

Hanger died on 16 October 1972 at Toowong, Queensland.[2]

Selected works

• A House is Built, 1949
• The Summoner, 1950
• Upstage, 1950
• Foundations, 1952
• Flood, 1955
• 2D, 1958
• The Frogs, 1960

References

1. White, M. W. D., "Hanger, Sir Mostyn (1908–1980)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 8 January 2022
2. Fotheringham, Richard, "Hanger, Eunice (1911–1972)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 8 January 2022
3. Watson, Tom, "Hanger, Thomas (1874–1964)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 8 January 2022
4. "Eunice Hanger". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
5. "Masters of Arts and Sciences". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 4 May 1940. p. 7 (Second Edition). Retrieved 8 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "Says Japs Go Through "Examination Hell"", Pix, 3 (15), 15 April 1939, retrieved 8 January 2022
7. "Tourist's Impressions of Continent". Brisbane Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 29 October 1949. p. 7 (Last Race). Retrieved 8 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
8. "Too much talk spoiled play". The Courier-Mail. No. 4044. Queensland, Australia. 11 November 1949. p. 4. Retrieved 8 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
9. "The Little Theatre in Australia: A Seething Panorama", ABC Weekly, 12 (37), Australian Broadcasting Commission, 16 September 1950, retrieved 8 January 2022
10. "Australian Play Competition". The A.B.C. Weekly. 17 (37): 4. 17 September 1955.
11. "A.B.C. Week of Australian Plays", ABC Weekly, 18 (10), Australian Broadcasting Commission, 10 March 1956, retrieved 8 January 2022