This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1947.

Events

* The

Grace Leven Prize for Poetry The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was an annual poetry award in Australia, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by William Baylebridge who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress ...

, worth £50, is awarded for the first time to ''

Pacific Sea ''Pacific Sea'' (1947) is a collection of poems by Australian author Nan McDonald. It won the inaugural Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1947. The collection consists of 32 poems by the author with the bulk of these having been previously publi ...

'' by Nan McDonald.

Books

Jon Cleary Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 191719 July 2010) was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including '' The Sundowners'' (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and '' The ...

– ''

You Can't See 'Round Corners ''You Can't See 'round Corners'' is a 1969 Australian drama film directed by David Cahill and starring Ken Shorter and Rowena Wallace. The film is a theatrical version of the 1967 TV show '' You Can't See 'Round Corners''. Both were based on t ...

'' *

Erle Cox Erle Cox (15 August 1873 – 20 November 1950) was an Australian journalist and science fiction writer. Life Cox was born at Emerald Hill, Victoria, on 15 August 1873, the second son of Ross Cox, who had emigrated from his native Dublin as ...

– ''The Missing Angel'' *

M. Barnard Eldershaw M. Barnard Eldershaw was the pseudonym used by the twentieth-century Australian literary collaborators Marjorie Barnard (1897–1987) and Flora Eldershaw (1897–1956). In a collaboration that lasted two decades from the late 1920s to the ...

– ''Tomorrow and Tomorrow'' *

Miles Franklin Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 187919 September 1954), known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel ''My Brilliant Career'', published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While ...

– ''The Thorny Rose'' * Arthur Gask – ''The Dark Mill Stream'' * Catherine Gaskin – ''With Every Year'' * Ion L. Idriess – '' Isles of Despair'' *

Norman Lindsay Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of his genera ...

– ''Halfway to Anywhere'' *

Vance Palmer Edward Vivian "Vance" Palmer (28 August 1885 – 15 July 1959) was an Australian novelist, dramatist, essayist and critic. Early life Vance Palmer was born in Bundaberg, Queensland, on 28 August 1885 and attended the Ipswich Grammar School. With ...

– ''Cyclone'' *

Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect h ...

– '' The Chequer Board''

Short stories

* Myra Morris – ''The Township'' *

Judah Waten Judah Leon Waten AM (29 July 191129 July 1985) was an Australian novelist who was at one time seen as the voice of Australian migrant writing. Life and career Born in Odessa to a Russian-Jewish family, Judah Waten arrived in Western Austra ...

– "To a Country Town"

Children's and Young Adult fiction

* Ruth C. Williams – ''Timothy Tatters''

Poetry

* David Campbell – "Small-Town Gladys" *

Victor Daley Victor James William Patrick Daley (5 September 1858 – 29 December 1905) was an Australian poet. Daley serves chiefly as an example of the Celtic Twilight in Australian verse. He also serves as a lyrical alternative to his contempora ...

– ''Creeve Roe : Poetry'' * Rosemary Dobson – "Country Press" *

R. D. Fitzgerald Robert David FitzGerald III AM OBE (22 February 1902 – 24 May 1987) was an Australian poet. Biography FitzGerald was born in Hunters Hill, New South Wales, a third-generation Australian of Irish extraction, and studied science at the Univer ...

– "Fifth Day" *

A. D. Hope Alec Derwent Hope (21 July 190713 July 2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic. He was referred to in an American journal as "the 20th century's greatest 18th-centur ...

– "Conquistador" * Nancy Keesing – "Detective Story" * Nan McDonald – ''

'' * John Shaw Neilson – ''Unpublished Poems of John Shaw Neilson'' * Will H. Ogilvie – "Harry Morant" *

Elizabeth Riddell Elizabeth Riddell (21 March 1910 – 3 July 1998) was an Australian poet and journalist. Life Born in Napier, New Zealand, Elizabeth Richmond Riddell came to Australia in 1928 where she worked at ''Smith's Weekly'' and won a Walkley Award. She ...

– "A Train in the Night" * Roland Robinson – "Drifting Dug-Out" *

Judith Wright Judith Arundell Wright (31 May 191525 June 2000) was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award. Biography Judith Wright was born in Armidale, New Sou ...

** "The Bull" ** "The Cycads"

Drama

– ''Hail Tomorrow'' *

Douglas Stewart Douglas Stewart may refer to: *Douglas Stewart (poet) (1913–1985), Australian poet *Edward Askew Sothern (1826–1881), English actor who was sometimes known as Douglas Stewart * Douglas Stewart (equestrian) (1913–1991), British Olympic equestri ...

– ''Shipwreck'' *

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

– ''The Ham Funeral''

Awards and honours

Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.

Literary

Children's and Young Adult

Poetry

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1947 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death. * 10 January –

Arnold Zable Arnold Zable (born 1947) is an Australian writer, novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate. His books include the memoir ''Jewels and Ashes'', three novels: ''Café Scheherazade'', ''Scraps of Heaven'', and ''Sea of Many Returns'', two co ...

, novelist (in Wellington, New Zealand) * 15 January –

Richard Harland Richard Harland (born 15 January 1947 in Yorkshire) is an English fantasy and science fiction writer, living in New South Wales, Australia. He was born in 1947 in Huddersfield, United Kingdom and migrated to Australia in 1970. He has been an aca ...

, novelist * 21 March –

Terry Dowling Terence William (Terry) Dowling (born 21 March 1947), is an Australian writer and journalist. He writes primarily speculative fiction though he considers himself an "imagier" – one who imagines, a term which liberates his writing from the cons ...

, novelist and short story writer * 13 April –

Amanda Lohrey Amanda Frances Lillian Lohrey (; born 13 April 1947) is an Australian writer and novelist. Career Lohrey completed her education at the University of Tasmania before taking up a scholarship at the University of Cambridge. From 1988 to 1994 ...

, novelist * 4 May **

Marele Day Marele Day (born 4 May 1947) is an Australian author of mystery novels. She won the Shamus Award for her first Claudia Valentine novelpage 62-64, ''Great Women Mystery Writers'', 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, 2007, publ. Greenwood Press ...

, novelist **

Peter Kocan Peter Raymond Kocan (born Peter Raymond Douglas, 4 May 1947) attempted to assassinate Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell on 21 June 1966. He fired a shot at point-blank range through a car window, but Calwell escaped with only minor facial injuries ...

, author and poet * 13 July – David Marr, journalist and biographer * 23 September – Gary Crew, novelist * 30 October –

Gary Catalano Gary Catalano (30 October 1947 – 8 December 2002) was an Australian poet and art critic. Life Calatano was born on 30 October 1947 in Brisbane. He married writer Helen Hewitt in 1990. He died on 8 December 2002 in Melbourne. Awards * 1992 Gra ...

, poet and art critic (died 2002) * 12 November – Martin Johnston, novelist and poet (died 1990) Unknown date * Eric Beach, poet and playwright (in New Zealand) * Michael Dugan, poet (died 2006) *

Jacqueline Kent Jacqueline Frances Kent (born 1947) is an Australian journalist, biographer and non-fiction writer. She is also known as Jacquie Kent, the name she used when writing young adult fiction in the 1990s and sometimes writes as Frances Cook. Career ...

, writer and biographer *

Rhyll McMaster Rhyll McMaster (born 1947 in Brisbane) is a contemporary Australian poet and novelist. She has worked as a secretary, a nurse and a sheep farmer. She now lives in Sydney and has written full-time since 2000. She is a recipient of the Barbara Je ...

, novelist *

Bruce Pascoe Bruce Pascoe (born 1947) is an Aboriginal Australian writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children's literature. As well as his own name, Pascoe has written under the pen names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass. Since August 2 ...

, novelist * Graham Rowlands, poet

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 1947 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth. * 12 February –

Douglas Sladen Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen (5 February 1856, London-12 February 1947, Hove) was an English author and academic. Life Educated at Temple Grove School, East Sheen, Cheltenham College, and Trinity College, Oxford, in 1879 Sladen migrated to ...

, poet and biographer (born 1856) * 19 July –

Lennie Lower Leonard "Lennie" Waldemar Lower (24 September 1903 – 19 July 1947) was an Australian humorist who is still considered by many to be the comic genius of Australian journalism. Life and career Lower was born in Dubbo, New South Wales. His fathe ...

, journalist and novelist (born 1903) * 18 October –

R. H. Croll Robert Henderson (Bob) Croll (5 January 1869 – 18 October 1947) was an Australian writer, poet, bushwalker, and public servant.

, poet and writer (born 1869) * 1 November –

Tilly Aston Matilda Ann Aston (11 December 1873 – 1 November 1947), better known as Tilly Aston, was a blind Australian writer and teacher, who founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers, and later went on to establish the Association for the ...

, blind writer and teacher (born 1873)

References

{{Years in Australian literature

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Australian literature by year 20th-century Australian literature 1947 in literature

Events

Books

Short stories

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Poetry

Drama

Awards and honours

Literary

Children's and Young Adult

Poetry

Births

Deaths

See also

References