This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1944.

Events

* The Ern Malley literary hoax is conceived when '' Angry Penguins'' editor Max Harris publishes the poems of the fictitious poet Ern Malley in the Autumn 1944 edition of his magazine. The poems had been concocted in 1943 by Australian writers James McAuley and Harold Stewart.

Books

Bernard Cronin Bernard Cronin (18 March 1884 – 9 June 1968) was an Australian author and journalist. With Gertrude Hart, he founded the Old Derelicts' Club in 1920 which later became the Society of Australian Authors. Life Cronin was born in Ealing, Midd ...

– ''The Shadows Mystery'' * Zora Cross – ''This Hectic Age'' * Zane Grey – ''Wilderness Trek: A Novel of Australia'' * Nevil Shute – ''

Pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

'' * Christina Stead – ''

For Love Alone ''For Love Alone'' is a 1986 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace and starring Helen Buday, Hugo Weaving and Sam Neill. The screenplay was written by Wallace, based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Christina Stead. The film marked ...

Short stories

* Alan Marshall – "Trees Can Speak" * Katharine Susannah Prichard – ''Potch and Colour''

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Peg Maltby Peg Maltby (17 January 1899 – 12 March 1984) was an English-born Australian book illustrator and children's writer. She is best known for ''Peg's Fairy Book'', first published in 1944, which sold more than 180,000 copies in the 1940s and 1950s ...

** ''Peg's Fairy Book'' ** ''Introducing Pip and Pepita''

Poetry

Rosemary Dobson Rosemary de Brissac Dobson, AO (18 June 192027 June 2012) was an Australian poet, who was also an illustrator, editor and anthologist.Anderson (1996) She published fourteen volumes of poetry, was published in almost every annual volume of ''Au ...

– ''In a Convex Mirror: Poems'' * Geoffrey Dutton – ''Night Flight and Sunrise'' * E. M. England – ''Queensland Days : Poems'' * R. D. Fitzgerald – "The Face of the Waters" * Nora Kelly – ''1940–1942'' *

Will Lawson Will Lawson (2 September 1876 – 13 October 1957), born in Durham, England, was a popular bush poet, novelist, journalist and historian of Australia. Many of his works had sailing or stage coach themes. Early life Born at Gateshead, Durh ...

– ''Bill the Whaler and Other Verse'' * James McAuley – "The Blue Horses" * Ern Malley – ''The Darkening Ecliptic'' * Ian Mudie – ''Poets at War: An Anthology of Verse by Australian Servicemen'' * Kenneth Slessor ** "Beach Burial" ** ''One Hundred Poems: 1919–1939'' * Judith Wright ** "Bora Ring" ** "Brother and Sisters" ** "Bullocky"

Biography

* James Devaney – ''Shaw Neilson'' * Miles Franklin and Kate Baker – '' Joseph Furphy: The Legend of a Man and His Book'' * Alan Marshall – ''These are My People''

Awards and honours

Literary

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1944 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death. * 3 January –

Blanche d'Alpuget Josephine Blanche d'Alpuget (born 3 January 1944) is an Australian writer and the second wife of Bob Hawke, the longest-serving Labor Prime Minister of Australia. Background and early career D'Alpuget is the only child of Josephine Curgenven a ...

, novelist and biographer * 20 January –

Caroline Caddy Caroline Mavis Caddy (born 20 January 1944) is an Australian poet. Biography Born in Western Australia to an Australian mother and an American father, Caroline Mavis Caddy spent part of her childhood in the United States and Japan. She returne ...

, poet * 17 February –

Robert Dessaix Robert Dessaix (born 17 February 1944) is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist. Biography Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney and adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after which he was known as Robert Jones. Tom Jones, a ...

, novelist and journalist *25 March –

Tim Thorne Timothy Colin Thorne (25 March 1944 – 16 September 2021) was an Australian contemporary poet. Career Born in Launceston, Thorne wrote fifteen volumes of poetry, the most recent being ''Running Out of Entropy'' (2018, Walleah Press). In 1985, ...

, poet (died

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

) * 22 April – Damien Broderick, novelist and journalist * 15 May – David Foster, novelist * 22 May –

John Flanagan John Flanagan or Jack Flanagan may refer to: Sportspeople * Jack Flanagan (footballer) (1902–1989), English footballer * John Flanagan (hammer thrower) (1868–1938), Irish-American three-time Olympic champion in athletics * John Flanagan (Limeri ...

, novelist * 23 July –

Alex Buzo Alexander John Buzo (23 July 194416 August 2006) was an Australian playwright and author who wrote 88 works. His literary works recorded Australian culture through wit, humour and extensive use of colloquial Australian English. Biography Ear ...

, playwright (died

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

) * 27 July – Andrew Burke, poet (died

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

) * 25 December –

Ross Fitzgerald Ross Andrew Fitzgerald (born in 1944) is an Australian academic, historian, novelist, secularist, and political commentator. Fitzgerald is an Emeritus Professor in History and Politics at Griffith University. He has published forty-three books ...

, novelist and historian * 29 December –

Gerard Windsor Gerard Charles Windsor (born 29 December 1944) is an Australian author and literary critic. He was dux of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in both 1961 and 1962, and a student of Melvyn Morrow. Windsor trained as a Jesuit from ages 18 to 24 bef ...

, novelist Unknown date * Bruce Elder, journalist *

Morag Fraser Morag Fraser is an Australian journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainl ...

, journalist and critic

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

) of deaths in 1944 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth. * 11 April — James Picot, poet and critic (born

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

) * 13 April – Ambrose Pratt, novelist (born

1874 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx. * January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time. * January 3 – Third Carlist War &ndas ...

) * 5 June –

Capel Boake Doris Boake Kerr (29 August 1889 at Summer Hill, Sydney – 5 June 1944 at Caulfield, Victoria) was a writer who published using the pseudonyms Capel Boake and Stephen Grey. Her publishing career began with a story appearing in the ''Australa ...

, novelist (born

1889 Events January–March * January 1 ** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada. ** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the ...

) * 20 August — C. H. Souter, poet (born

1864 Events January–March * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song " ...

) * 27 December –

Agnes Littlejohn Agnes Littlejohn (25 September 1865 – 27 December 1944) was an Australian writer. Life Agnes Littlejohn was born in Paddington, New South Wales on 25 September 1865. Her Scottish father, Thomas Littlejohn (d.1906) and his wife Ann Austin L ...

, poet and short story writer (born

1865 Events January–March * January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at Broad Street (Manhattan), 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City. * January 13 – American Civil War : Sec ...

)

References

{{Years in Australian literature Literature Australian literature by year 20th-century Australian literature 1944 in literature