Frederick John Blight (30 July 1913 – 12 May 1995) was an Australian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

of Cornish origin, his ancestors having arrived in South Australia on the ''Lisander'', in 1851. In the 1987 recording ''John Blight'', he describes his Cornish background and its influence on his style.

Biography

Born in

Unley, South Australia Unley is an inner-southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, within the City of Unley. The suburb is the home of the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Unley neighbours Adelaide Park Lands, Fullarto ...

, on 30 July 1913, Blight was educated at

Brisbane State High School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , city = South Brisbane , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Public, selective, co-educational, secondary, ...

. During the

Great Depression in Australia Australia suffered badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, povert ...

he tramped the Queensland outback looking for work. During the 1930s he undertook correspondence studies and attained his Chartered Accountancy Diploma, whereby in 1939 he found paid employment in

Bundaberg, Queensland Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the List of places in Queensland by population, tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's Bundaberg Regional Council, regional area has a population of 70,921, and is ...

. Following his wartime years spent in Canberra as an Inspector with the Government's Prices Regulatory Department, he became a part-owner of timber mills in the

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Wide Bay-Burnett District, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River (Queen ...

region. He took up full-time writing in 1973. In 1987 he was awarded the Order Of Australia Medal (AM) for his contribution to Literature and Education. Blight received numerous awards, including the Dame Mary Gilmore Medal,

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 benefactres ...

, The Patrick White Literary Award and the

Christopher Brennan Award The Christopher Brennan Award (formerly known as the Robert Frost Prize) is an Australian award given for lifetime achievement in poetry. The award, established in 1973, takes the form of a bronze plaque which is presented to a poet who produces w ...

. He died on 12 May 1995 in Brisbane, Queensland, being survived by his wife, Beverley Madeline D'Arcy-Irvine and their two daughters, Katrina and Robyn. John Blight's papers are held in the Fryer Library at The University of Queensland.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blight, John 1913 births People educated at Brisbane State High School 1995 deaths Australian people of Cornish descent Patrick White Award winners 20th-century Australian poets Australian male poets 20th-century Australian male writers