1959 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1959.

Books

• Nancy Cato – Time, Flow Softly ^[1]
• Jon Cleary
  • Back of Sunset
  • Strike Me Lucky with Joy Cleary
• Eleanor Dark – Lantana Lane ^[2]
• David Forrest – The Last Blue Sea ^[3]
• Xavier Herbert – Seven Emus
• Dorothy Hewett – Bobbin Up ^[4]
• Barbara Jefferis – Half Angel ^[5]
• Eric Lambert – Glory Thrown In ^[6]
• Leonard Mann – Andrea Caslin ^[7]
• D'Arcy Niland
  • The Big Smoke
  • Gold in the Streets ^[8]
• Vance Palmer – The Big Fellow
• F. J. Thwaites – No Rainbow in the Sky
• George Turner – Young Man of Talent ^[9]
• Arthur Upfield
  • Bony and the Black Virgin (aka The Tom Branch) ^[10]
  • Journey to the Hangman ^[11]
• Morris West – The Devil's Advocate

Short stories

• Ethel Anderson – The Little Ghosts ^[12]
• David Campbell – Flame and Shadow : Selected Stories ^[13]
• A. Bertram Chandler
  • "Chance Encounter" ^[14]
  • "The Man Who Could Not Stop" ^[15]
• David Forrest – "That Barambah Mob" ^[16]
• Hal Porter
  • "Country Town" ^[17]
  • "Fiend and Friend" ^[18]
• Katharine Susannah Prichard – N'goola and Other Stories ^[19]
• Judith Wright — "In the Park" ^[20]

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Eleanor Spence – The Summer in Between ^[21]
• Kylie Tennant – All the Proud Tribesmen
• Norman Barnett Tindale and H. A. Lindsay – Rangatira ^[22]

Poetry

Main article: 1959 in poetry

• John Blight – "A Sailor's Grave" ^[23]
• David Campbell – "We Took the Storms to Bed" ^[24]
• Bruce Dawe – "The City : Midnight" ^[25]
• Rosemary Dobson
  • "Captain Svenson" ^[26]
  • "The Edge" ^[27]
• R. D. Fitzgerald – "Quayside Meditation" ^[28]
• William Hart-Smith – Poems of Discovery ^[29]
• Gwen Harwood – "Prize-Giving" ^[30]
• Charles Higham – The Earthbound and Other Poems ^[31]
• A. D. Hope – "Agony Column" ^[32]
• Lionel Lindsay – Discobolus and Other Verse ^[33]
• Nan McDonald – The Lighthouse and Other Poems ^[34]
• David Martin – "Gordon Childe" ^[35]
• Ian Mudie – The Blue Crane ^[36]
• Elizabeth Riddell
  • "After Lunik Two" ^[37]
  • "Suburban Song" ^[38]
• Douglas Stewart – "Leopard-Skin" ^[39]
• Chris Wallace-Crabbe – The Music of Division ^[40]

Biography

• Charmian Clift – Peel Me a Lotus ^[41]
• Mary Durack – Kings in Grass Castles
• Errol Flynn – My Wicked, Wicked Ways
• Ion Idriess – The Tin Scratchers
• Peter Ryan – Fear Drive My Feet ^[42]

Children's and Young Adult non-fiction

• Dale Collins – Anzac Adventure ^[43]

Awards and honours

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal [44]	Randolph Stow	To the Islands	Penguin Books
Miles Franklin Award [45]	Vance Palmer	The Big Fellow	Angus and Robertson

Children and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award [46]	Older Readers	Nan Chauncy, illustrated by Geraldine Spence	Devil's Hill	Oxford University Press
		John Gunn, illustrated by Brian Keogh	Sea Menace	Constable
	Picture Book	No award

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry [47]	R. D. Fitzgerald	The Wind at Your Door	Talkarra Press

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1959 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

• 10 January – Gabrielle Carey, writer (died 2023) ^[48]
• 28 January – Philip Hodgins, poet (died 1995) ^[49]
• 18 May – Sophie Masson, novelist ^[50]
• 27 June – Stephen Dedman, writer ^[51]
• 13 September – Andy Kissane, poet ^[52]
• 13 October – Doug MacLeod, children's writer, poet, screenwriter and playwright (died 2021) ^[53]
• 25 November – Merlinda Bobis, writer and academic ^[54]

Unknown date

• Jennifer Fallon, novelist ^[55]
• Mike Ladd, poet ^[56]

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1959 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 15 July – Vance Palmer, novelist (born 1885) ^[57]
• 14 October – Errol Flynn, author and actor (born 1909) ^[58]

See also

• 1959 in Australia
• 1959 in literature
• 1959 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature

References

1. "Time, Flow Softly by Nancy Cato". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
2. "Lantana Lane by Eleanor Dark". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
3. "The Last Blue Sea by David Forrest". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
4. "Bobbin Up by Dorothy Hewett". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
5. "Half Angel by Barbara Jefferis". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
6. "Glory Thrown In by Eric Lambert". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
7. "Andrea Caslin by Leonard Mann". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
8. "Gold in the Streets by D'Arcy Niland". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
9. "Young Man of Talent by George Turner". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
10. "Bony and the Black Virgin by Arthur Upfield". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
11. "Journey to the Hangman by Arthur Upfield". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
12. "The Little Ghosts by Ethel Anderson". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
13. "Flame and Shadow : Selected Stories by David Campbell". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
14. ""Chance Encounter" by A. Bertram Chandler". ISFDB. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
15. ""The Man Who Could Not Stop" by A. Bertram Chandler". ISFDB. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
16. "Austlit — "That Barambah Mob" by David Forrest". Austlit. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
17. "Austlit —"Country Town" by Hal Porter". Austlit. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
18. "Austlit — "Fiend and Friend" by Hal Porter". Austlit. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
19. "N'goola and Other Stories by Katharine Susannah Prichard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
20. "Austlit — "In the Park" by Judith Wright". Austlit. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
21. "The Summer in Between by Eleanor Spence". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
22. "Rangatira by Norman Barnett Tindale and H. A. Lindsay". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
23. ""A Sailor's Grave" by John Blight". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
24. ""We Took the Storms to Bed" by David Campbell". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
25. ""The City : Midnight" by Bruce Dawe". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
26. ""Captain Svenson" by Rosemary Dobson". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
27. ""The Edge" by Rosemary Dobson". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
28. ""Quayside Meditation" by R. D. Fitzgerald". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
29. "Poems of Discovery by William Hart-Smith". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
30. ""Prize-Giving" by Gwen Harwood". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
31. "The Earthbound and Other Poems by Charles Higham". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
32. ""Agony Column" by A. D. Hope". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
33. "Discobolus and Other Verse by [Lionel Lindsay". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
34. "The Lighthouse and Other Poems by Nan McDonald". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
35. ""Gordon Childe" by David Martin". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
36. "The Blue Crane by Ian Mudie". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
37. ""After Lunik Two" by Elizabeth Riddell". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
38. ""Suburban Song" by Elizabeth Riddell". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
39. ""Leopard-Skin" by Douglas Stewart". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
40. "The Music of Division by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
41. "Peel Me a Lotus by Charmian Clift". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
42. "Fear Drive My Feet by Peter Ryan". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
43. "Anzac Adventure by Dale Collins". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
44. "ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
45. "Vance Palmer Novel Wins Franklin Award", The Canberra Times, 19 March 1960, p1
46. "Children's Book of the Year Award Shared" The Canberra Times, 11 July 1959, p11
47. Austlit - The Wind at Your Door by R. D. Fitzgerald
48. "Gabrielle Carey (1959-2023)". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
49. "Hodgins, Ian Philip (1959–1995) by Chris Wallace-Crabbe". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
50. "Sophie Masson". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
51. "Stephen Dedman". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
52. "Andy Kissane". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
53. "Doug MacLeod". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
54. "Merlinda Bobis". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
55. "Jennifer Fallon". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
56. "Mike Ladd". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
57. "Palmer, Edward Vivian (Vance) (1885–1959) by Geoffrey Serle". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
58. "Flynn, Errol Leslie (1909–1959) by William Bryden". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.