William Albert Amiet (3 June 1890 – 13 April 1959) was an Australian writer and barrister.
Amiet was born at Murgheboluc near
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
to farmer Edward William Amiet and Mary Ann, ''née'' Begley. He attended state school before studying at the
University of Melbourne, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1911 and a
Master of Arts in 1913. He settled in
Queensland, organising concerts by the
Young Men's Christian Association for railway workers and teaching at
Maryborough Grammar School
Maryborough State High School (commonly abbreviated as 'MSHS') is an Independent Public School located in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. The school is run by the Queensland State Government, and is split on either side of Kent Street. The ...
,
Queensland. In 1915 he moved to
Brisbane, and having acquired legal qualifications became a barrister in 1915. He enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force on 2 May 1916 and set sail for England in October, seeing active service in France from June 1917. Commissioned on 1 August 1918, he was wounded at
Bellicourt in October and
mentioned in despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
.
After the war Amiet studied at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
for a short time before he returned to Brisbane on the termination of his appointment on 30 December 1919. On 17 December 1923 he married Agnes May Hurley at
Mackay Mackay may refer to:
*Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives
Mackay may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Mackay Region, a local government area
** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region
*** Mackay Airport ...
, where he was in a legal partnership with Vincent Macrossan. He ran unsuccessfully for
Herbert
Herbert may refer to:
People Individuals
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
Name
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert, ...
as a
Nationalist in the
1929 federal election. He wrote sporadically for the Mackay ''
Daily Mercury'' for many years and in 1932 published ''Literature by Languages: A Roll Call'', a survey of world literature. His later publications included ''A Shakespeare or Two'' (1935), ''The Practice of Literary History'' (1936), ''Courses in Literary History'' (1938), ''Scrambled Scrutinies'' (1949), and ''Metrical Diversions of a Sexagenarian'' (1952). Amiet's diverse interests included
astronomy and Australian literature. He opposed the
White Australia policy during the 1930s and gave his support to recruitment drives during
World War II. An agnostic, he died in 1959 at Mater Hospital, Mackay, of
cardiorenal failure. The Amiet Memorial Library in Mackay is named for him.
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amiet, William
1890 births
1959 deaths
Alumni of King's College London
Australian barristers
Australian male writers