Jill Hellyer (1925–2012) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

poet and writer, and one of the founding members of the

Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...

. She was awarded an

Order of Australia Medal The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) for services to Australian poetry.

Biography

Jill Hellyer was born in 1925 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, to parents Harold and Ruby. Her father died when Jill was a child, followed by her elder brother Allan, who died of a chronic illness in his teenage years. Jill's mother, Ruby, was diagnosed with leukaemia and died when Jill was 12. Jill was sent to live with two unmarried aunts in the Sydney suburb of Seaforth, who raised her until adulthood and inspired several of her better-known poems, including "Living With Aunts", which is included in ''The Puncher and Wattman anthology of Australian Poetry''. She attended

North Sydney Girls High School , motto_translation = Towards Higher Things , established = , type = Government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school , gender = Girls , oversight = New South Wales Department of Education , principal = Megan Co ...

. An avid writer throughout her life, Jill Hellyer was a consistent contributor of poetry and prose to literary magazines such as '' Southerly'', '' Overland'', ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisbane ...

'' and ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

''. She helped to establish the

and was its foundation secretary from 1963 to 1971. In her 1989 auto-biographical piece "The luxury of Dreaming" she hints that the title she was given of 'part-time secretary' did not properly reflect the work that she had put into the organisation. She was, however, subsequently made a life member for her services. In 2006 she was awarded an OAM for that work and her contribution to Australian poetry. She published three collections of verse and a novel, as well as editing a biography and compiling a collection of satirical epitaphs. Hellyer raised three children, two of whom had significant disabilities. She had six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She died in Goulburn on 27 December 2012.

Themes

Hellyer's work was highly influenced by her upbringing and adult life in Australia. Many of her poems centred around Australian history (''The Last Song of Edward Kelly'', ''The Ballad of Elinor Magee'') or native landscape and wildlife (''Song of the Humpback Whales'', ''Dingo'', '' Manly Pines''). Others offered poignant portraits of Australian life (''O'Regan's Bride'', ''Miss Petty's Sunlight''). However, Hellyer's most enduring and engaging work related to her subjective experiences of love, loss, and intensely felt details of everyday life (''Alone'', ''Living with Aunts'', ''Young Girl Awakening'', ''The Exile''). Poems including ''To My Deaf Son'', ''Facing Blindness'', and ''Schizophrenia'' depicted Hellyer's struggles in raising two disabled sons.

List of Works

Poetry

;Collections *''The Exile – Selected Verse'', 1969, Alpha Books. *''Song of the Humpback Whales – Selected Verse'', 1981, Sisters Publishing Ltd. *''The Listening Place'', 2007, Ginninderra Press. ;List of poems

Novels

*''Not Enough Savages'', 1975 Alpha Books

Non-fiction

*''Tomb It May Concern'' Ed. *''The Luxury of Dreaming - Angry Women'', 1989, Hale & Iremonger *''Letters to Huldah'', 2013, Puncher & Wattmann

Awards

Notes

References

*''The Puncher and Wattman anthology of Australian Poetry'', Living with Aunts, page 223 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hellyer, Jill 1925 births 2012 deaths Australian poets Meanjin people Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia