1992 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1992.

Events

• Tim Winton won the Miles Franklin Award for Cloudstreet

Major publications

Novels

• Thea Astley – Vanishing Points
• Brian Castro – After China
• Helen Garner – Cosmo Cosmolino
• Peter Goldsworthy – Honk If You Are Jesus ^[1]
• Marion Halligan – Lovers' Knots
• Janette Turner Hospital – The Last Magician ^[2]
• Thomas Keneally – Woman of the Inner Sea
• Roger McDonald – Shearers' Motel ^[3]
• Andrew McGahan – Praise
• Alex Miller – The Ancestor Game

Children's and young adult fiction

• Pamela Allen – Belinda
• Brian Caswell – A Cage of Butterflies
• Garry Disher – The Bamboo Flute
• Anna Fienberg – Ariel, Zed and the Secret of Life ^[4]
• Joanne Horniman – Sand Monkeys
• Victor Kelleher – Del-Del
• Melina Marchetta – Looking for Alibrandi

Crime and mystery

• Peter Corris
  • Beware of the Dog
  • Browning, P.I. ^[5]
  • The Japanese Job ^[6]
  • Set Up ^[7]
• Marele Day – The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado ^[8]
• Garry Disher – Paydirt ^[9]
• Kerry Greenwood – Death at Victoria Dock
• Gabrielle Lord – Whipping Boy ^[10]
• Jan McKemmish – Only Lawyers Dancing ^[11]

Science fiction and fantasy

• Terry Dowling – Blue Tyson ^[12]
• Greg Egan
  • "The Hundred Light-Year Diary"
  • Quarantine
• Sean McMullen – Call to the Edge (short stories) ^[13]

Poetry

• Beatriz Copello – Women, Souls And Shadows ^[14]
• Robert Harris – Jane, Interlinear and Other Poems ^[15]
• A. D. Hope – Selected Poems ^[16]
• Jill Jones – The Mask and the Jagged Star ^[17]
• Les Murray – Translations from the Natural World
• Elizabeth Riddell – Selected Poems ^[18]
• John Tranter — The Floor of Heaven ^[19]

Drama

• Louis Nowra
  • Così
  • Summer of the Aliens

Non-fiction

• Robert Adamson – Wards of the State ^[20]
• Stephanie Dowrick – Intimacy and Solitude ^[21]
• Sara Henderson – From Strength to Strength: An Autobiography ^[22]
• A. D. Hope – Chance Encounters ^[23]
• Ruth Park – A Fence Around the Cuckoo ^[24]
• Donna Williams – Nobody Nowhere

Awards and honours

• Thea Astley AO for "service to Australian literature" ^[25]
• Jack Pollard OAM for "service to sport and sporting history" ^[26]

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award [27]	R. A. Simpson Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Patrick White Award [28]	Peter Cowan

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award [29]	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	Heinemann
ALS Gold Medal [30]	Rodney Hall	The Second Bridegroom	McPhee Gribble
Colin Roderick Award [31]	Ruth Park	A Fence Around the Cuckoo	Viking
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards – Book of the Year [32]	Elizabeth Riddell	Selected Poems	Angus and Robertson

Fiction

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [33]	David Malouf	The Great World	Chatto & Windus
The Age Book of the Year Award [29]	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	Heinemann
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award [34]	Fotini Epanomitis	The Mule's Foal	Allen & Unwin
Miles Franklin Award [35]	Tim Winton	Cloudstreet	Penguin Books
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards [32]	Simon Leys	The Death of Napoleon	Allen & Unwin
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards [36]	Brian Castro	Double-Wolf	Allen & Unwin
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards [37]	Philip Salom	Playback	Fremantle Arts Centre Press

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [33]	Vincent Buckley	Last Poems	McPhee Gribble
Anne Elder Award [38]	Nicolette Stasko	Abundance	Angus & Robertson
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry [39]	Kevin Hart	Dog Fox Field: Poems	Golvan Arts
	Gary Catalano	The Empire of Grass : Twenty-Eight Poems : 1983-1989	University of Queensland Press
Mary Gilmore Award [40]	Alison Croggon	This is the Stone	Penguin
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards [32]	Elizabeth Riddell	Selected Poems	Angus & Robertson
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards [36]	Robert Harris	Jane, Interlinear and Other Poems	Paper Bark Press

Children and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [33]	Children's	Eleanor Nilsson	The House Guest	Viking Books
Children's Book of the Year Award [41]	Older Readers	Eleanor Nilsson	The House Guest	Viking Books
Picture Book	Jeannie Baker	Window	Julia MacRae
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards [32]	Young People's Literature	Robin Klein	All in the Blue Unclouded Weather	Penguin Books Australia
Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction [36]		Eleanor Nilsson	The House Guest	Viking

Science fiction and fantasy

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Australian SF Achievement Award [42]	Best Australian Long Fiction	Terry Dowling	Wormwood	Aphelion
	Best Australian Short Fiction	Sean McMullen	"Alone in His Chariot"	Eidolon #4 Summer 1991

Non-fiction

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [33]	David Marr	Patrick White – A Life	Random House Australia
The Age Book of the Year Award [29]	Ruth Park	A Fence Around the Cuckoo	Viking

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1992 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 28 January — Dora Birtles, novelist, short-story writer, poet and travel writer (born 1903) ^[43]
• 8 February — Roland Robinson, poet, writer and collector of Australian Aboriginal myths (born 1912) ^[44]
• 24 May — Beatrice Davis, Australia's first full-time book editor (born 1909) ^[45]
• 19 June — Jas H. Duke, performance poet (born 1939) ^[46]
• 22 October — Peter Pinney, novelist and travel writer (born 1922) ^[47]
• 6 December — Mary Finnin, artist, art teacher and poet (born 1906) ^[48]
• 21 December — Paul White, missionary, evangelist, radio program host and author of the Jungle Doctor Series (born 1910) ^[49]

See also

• 1992 in Australia
• 1992 in literature
• 1992 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature

References

1. "Honk If You Are Jesus by Peter Goldsworthy". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
2. "The Last Magician by Janette Turner Hospital". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
3. "Shearers' Motel by Roger McDonald". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
4. "Ariel, Zed and the Secret of Life by Anna Fienberg". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
5. "Browning, P.I. by Peter Corris". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
6. "The Japanese Job by Peter Corris". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
7. "Set Up by Peter Corris". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
8. "The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado by Marele Day". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
9. "Paydirt by Garry Disher". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
10. "Whipping Boy by Gabrielle Lord". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
11. "Only Lawyers Dancing by Jan McKemmish". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
12. "Blue Tyson by Terry Dowling". ISFDB. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
13. "Call to the Edge by Sean McMullen". ISFDB. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
14. "Women, Souls And Shadows by Beatriz Copello". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
15. "Jane, Interlinear and Other Poems by Robert Harris". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
16. "Selected Poems by A. D. Hope". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
17. "The Mask and the Jagged Star by Jill Jones". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
18. "Selected Poems by Elizabeth Riddell". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
19. "The Floor of Heaven by John Tranter". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
20. "Wards of the State by Robert Adamson". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
21. "Intimacy and Solitude by Stephanie Dowrick". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
22. "From Strength to Strength: An Autobiography by Sara Henderson". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
23. "Chance Encounters by A. D. Hope". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
24. "A Fence Around the Cuckoo by Ruth Park". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
25. "Thea Beatrice May Astley, AM". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
26. "Jack Ernest Pollard". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
27. "Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award". Austlit. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
28. "Austlit — Patrick White Award - Past Winners". Austlit. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
29. ""Family the theme 'Age' literary winners"". The Age, 5 December 1992, p19. ProQuest   2521744240 . Retrieved 28 May 2024.
30. "ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
31. "Colin Roderick Award - Other Winners". James Cook University. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
32. "Author creates more than a tingle of excitement". Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 1992, p4. ProQuest   2527534076 . Retrieved 8 May 2024.
33. "Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
34. "Austlit — The Australian/Vogel National Literary Award 1992". Austlit. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
35. "Austlit — Cloudstreet - Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
36. "Castro wins two writers' awards". The Sunday Age, 13 September 1992, p4. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
37. ""Australian Literary Awards: Western Australian Premier's"". University Libraries. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
38. "Austlit — Anne Elder Award 1992-94". Austlit. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
39. "Austlit — Grace Leven Poetry Prize 1991-93". Austlit. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
40. "Mary Gilmore Award". Association for the Study of Australian Literature . Retrieved 10 February 2024.
41. ""CBCA - Previous Winners - 1946 Onwards"" (PDF). CBCA. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
42. ""Ditmar Awards 1992"". SFADB. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
43. Cushing, Nancy, "Dora Eileen Birtles (1903–1992)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 13 February 2024
44. "Roland Edward Robinson (1912–1992) by Peter Kirkpatrick". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
45. "Beatrice Deloitte Davis (1909–1992) by Beverley Kingston". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
46. "Jas Heriot Duke (1939-1992)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
47. "Peter Patrick Pinney (1922–1992) by Richard White and Claire Petrie". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
48. Death Notice showing date of death as 6 Dec 1992, including crossreference to married name Mary Connellan, The Age , published 7 Dec 1992, via Ryerson Index
49. Hawkesbury on the Net, Paul White's grave Retrieved 1 June 2009