PODCAST No 4: AUSTRALIAN POETS
A.B. PATERSON: “The Man From Snowy River.”
Andrew Barton Paterson was born Feb 17, 1864, at Narrambla, NSW. This Australian poet and journalist is famous for composing “Waltzing Matilda” which many Australians regard as our alternative National Anthem and for his iconic ballad, “The Man From Snowy River.” His humorous narrative verse captures much of the life of the bush and a strong social conscience is evident in his work as seen in his poetic observations of WW1 when “Banjo” (named for a family horse) served as a horse breaker. The Australian $10 note features A.B. Paterson on one side and Mary Gilmore on the other for their contribution to Australian literature. The Banjo died in 1941.
MARY GILMORE: “Eve-Song.”
She was born Mary Cameron, near Goulburn, NSW, in 1865, worked as a teacher and a journalist and in the 1890s accompanied the socialist William Lane to Paraguay, where a group of idealists intended founding a New Australia. (William Lane appears in Douglas Stewart’s poem, “Terra Australis.”) Here she met and married another member of the colony, William Gilmore. When the experiment in Paraguay failed, she returned to Australia and founded the Women’s Page in The Australian Worker, published in Sydney, which she edited for 23 years. She published ten books of verse and was made Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1937 for her services to literature.
FURNLEY MAURICE (FRANK WILMOT): “The Agricultural Show, Flemington, Victoria.”
Born in 1881, he was educated at North Fitzroy State School, started work as an errand boy at Coles Book Arcade in Melbourne, working his way up to becoming manager. Before he turned 20 he had poems published in a local Labor paper and collections published in 1903 and 1904 under his birth name, Frank Wilmot. Taking the pseudonym Furnley Maurice, he was a pacifist in WW1 and an opponent of conscription. He was manager of the Melbourne University Press in 1932 until his death in 1942.
KENNETH SLESSOR: “Beach Burial.”
Born in Orange, NSW, in 1901, Kenneth Slessor was a reporter for The Sun in Sydney, also working for Punch, the Melbourne Herald and Sydney’s Smith’s Weekly, where he became editor-in-chief. The Official Australian War Correspondent in WW11, he accompanied the troops to England, Greece, Syria, Libya, Egypt and New Guinea. Appointed to the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund in 1953, he delivered a series of lectures on Australian poetry at Sydney University in 1954. Editor of Southerly in 1956, he was awarded an OBE for services to Australian literature in 1959.
J.A.R. MCKELLAR: “Football Field: Evening.”
John Alexander Ross McKellar was born in Dulwich Hill, Sydney, in 1904. Educated at Sydney High School, he joined the Bank of NSW and was rapidly promoted to Head Office. He studied English, French, Greek and Latin literature, music and painting and excelled in many sports. In 1932 he became ill with pneumonia after a game of First-Grade Rugby football, seemed to recover, then relapsed and died. He was 27 years old.
DOUGLAS STEWART: “The Brown Snake.”
Poet, short story writer and essayist Douglas Stewart was born in Eltham, New Zealand, in 1913 and came to live in Australia in 1938. He joined the staff of The Bulletin as chief literary and art critic and later as literary adviser at Angus & Robertson where he published the work of significant contemporary poets. During the 1940s he wrote his acclaimed radio verse plays: Fire on the Snow, Ned Kelly, The Golden Lover and Shipwreck. He was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund, received an OAM in 1960 and an AO in 1979.
GWEN HARWOOD: “Prize-Giving.”
Originally planning to be a musician, Gwen Harwood studied to be a music teacher and was organist at All Saints Church in Brisbane when quite young. Though poetry became her calling, music and philosophy were lifelong passions as seen in her verses. Born in 1920 in Taringa, Brisbane, one of her poems was published in Meanjin in 1944. However her work did not appear regularly in journals and anthologies until the 1960s so she used a number of pseudonyms for her poems which were often rejected under her own name. She wrote libretti for composers Larry Sitsky, James Pemberthy, Don Kay and Ian Cugley. Five collections of her poetry were published, including The Lion’s Bride and Bone Scan. Receiving honorary doctorates from three Australian universities, she won literary awards across the nation.
ROSEMARY DOBSON: “Jack.”
Poet, illustrator, editor and anthologist, Rosemary Dobson was born in Sydney in 1920 and attended the prestigious Frensham School where she stayed on after completing her studies as an apprentice art teacher. At 21 she studied at Sydney University as a non-degree student, later working as a reader and editor at Angus and Robertson. Friends with a number of contemporary writers and artists such as Douglas Stewart and Norman Lindsay, she travelled extensively, won many literary awards and published fourteen volumes of poetry. She died in 2012.
NAN MCDONALD: “The Bus-Ride Home.”
Born in Sydney in 1921, Nan McDonald was educated at Hornsby Girls’ High School, then graduated in Arts at Sydney University. Working as an editor for Angus and Robertson, she edited the annual Anthology of Australian Poetry in 1953 and had at least four collections of her own work published. She died of cancer, aged 52 in early 1974.
JILL HELLYER: “The Way to the Headland.”
A consistent contributor of poetry and prose to literary magazines such as Southerly, Overland, Meanjin and Heat, Jill Hellyer was born in Sydney in 1925. From the age of 12 she was brought up by two unmarried aunts who feature in one of her poems. She helped to establish the Australian Society of Authors and in 2006 was awarded an OAM for this and for her contribution to poetry.