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Title of Story
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The Return from Mars
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Attributed Author
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Hal Pink
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Year For Sorting
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1934
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Future Year Set
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1946
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Story Summary
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After crashing on Mars and staying for 6 years, a scientist, a meteorologist have finished repairing their ship and say goodbye to the Martians they'd enjoyed their time with. On board, discussions of gravitation and magnetic fields, before approaching Earth. When they get there they find all of humanity has been wiped out. A war in 1940 had seen the development of a deadly gas that had killed all of humanity. They return to Mars.
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Critical Introduction
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Hal Pink (Harry Leigh Pink) wrote science fiction and westerns across his vast writing career. Yet, in Australia, he predominantly used Barrington Beverley as his pseudonym. The short story, The Return from Mars, is the only time he used 'Hal Pink' for a science fiction story in Australia as far as can be determined.
Barrington Beverley originally hailed from Britain but spent several years in Australia working for the Daily Telegraph before moving to Canada. So, for that period he was in Australia, working and living as an Australian, this database lists him as Australian. To be clear on this, Beverley was here after Australia was officially recognised as Australia around the world (1901) but before we had official citizenship (1940s) so it could be argued that, technically, only those born in Australia were Australian until the 1940s. But, that isn't the focus of this artefact.
Beverley's short story captures the increase in horror and dystopia that began to take over the general feeling of science fiction coming out of the 1930s. With Bernard Cronin's influence of increasing the horror aspect, and the affect of the Great Depression, many science fiction texts could be interpreted as representative of science failing the people.
With rising poverty and homelessly, the promise of the early 1900s of a secure technologically progressive future full of wonder and invention had failed, and, by the 1930s, even though most metro people had electricity, with telephones and television just around the corner, this promise hadn't yet translated into a stable quality of life that guaranteed a job, food and housing. No doubt, as has been seen throughout history, creative writers were a demographic strongly affected.
Several other stories between 1930 and 1939 represent this negativity, with stories such as The Eagles of Queensland and The Automatic Killers, ending with the hero, or heroes, killing many but dying to save their country, and The Robot Age of the Future ending with the destruction of Hobart.
The Return from Mars has two scientists returning to Earth only to find a gas weapon had killed all of humanity in 1940 - not the most uplifting story to cheer people up during the Great Depression.
Enjoy!
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Inventions
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Gravitation screens
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Magnetic fields that adjust to different gravitational forces, blocking or attracting as needed.
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Magnetised anti-gravity screens
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The mother ship renamed 'The Zannus'
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The hoverer, an orbit to ground shuttle
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A yellow gas encompassing the entire Earth, deadly to humanity
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Science Fiction Subgenres
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space fiction
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dystopian
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planetary
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future war
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Related Newspaper Fiction
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Future War stories
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Historical Context
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Anxieties about a second World War becoming likely.
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How this Story was Identified
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Seaching for Hal Pink and other pseudonyms
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Date Details Added to IA
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June 2024
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Author Gender
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Male
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Nationality
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British-Canadian
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Single or Serialised
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Single
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First Published Date of Last Installment
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1934-10-31
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Date Range
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1934-10-31-1934-10-31
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Number of Installments
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1
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Complete or Supplemented
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Complete
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Estimated Word Count
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1700
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Length
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Short Story
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Links to Trove
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https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146163478
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Newspaper Publisher Citation
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The Australian Worker
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Newspaper Name Location Years
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The Australian Worker Sydney NSW 1913-1950
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Location Town City
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Sydney
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Location State Territory
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NSW
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Provincial or Metro
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Metropolitan
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Also Published in
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Daily Standard Brisbane Qld
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The Voice Hobart Tas
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Language
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English
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Content Advisory
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These items are historical texts digitised from their original publication, and reflects the social attitudes, cultural values, and language of the time in which they were created. Some content may include depictions or references that are racist, sexist, ableist, colonialist, or otherwise offensive by contemporary standards. This material is presented uncensored for scholarly, archival, and educational purposes. It serves as a record of past cultural attitudes and is preserved here to support critical engagement, historical reflection, and the advancement of inclusive scholarship. Reader discretion is advised.
