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HAWK
 the
poem which the Chairman of the Literature Board of the
Australia Council, author and W.A. Supreme Court Judge
Nicholas Hasluck, described as "one
of the most memorable poems I have read for many
years" when it appeared in The Weekend Australian,
October 27-28, 2001
POEMS 2002
for Poems
selected for publication by The Australian
in 2002
PARNASSUS
for the American View in detail;
PACIFIC for the unique American poems;
WAR for War Poems and reviews of Penguin Book;
POLITICS
for “Slate Poems”, a series on social threat;
PREFACE for introduction to a New
Book of Verse;
MEMOIR for the Sydney (Southerly) Memoir;
PROFILE
for book titles, brief biography and statement;
VITAE for literary history and bibliography;
RESUME
for the chronology of a Life and Events;
ACQUISTION for the story of the Archibald Prize Portrait;
PORTRAITS
for portraits of David Rowbotham;
THESIS for a New Kind of Introduction.
AUSTRALIAN
(illustrated) for New Poems published by The Australian
STORIES
(illustrated) from David Rowbotham's "Town And City:
Tales And Sketches" (A & R Classics, 1956)
NOVEL
for an introduction to 'The Man in the Jungle'
CRITICISM
for literary criticism (book reviews) by David Rowbotham
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Poet, Author,
Journalist
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Poet and Newspaperman
David Rowbotham is an Australian author, journalist and poet
who lives in Brisbane, Queensland. Generations grew up reading
his poems, stories and criticism. Many among them were
inspired by his work and presence to become writers and
journalists themselves. He has been the nation’s most
notable poet and newspaperman after Leon Gellert and Kenneth
Slessor.
War Veteran and Writer
Now inspired by his age and continuing publication, many of
the new generation look to him as their only living national
example of how a war-veteran poet nearing his 80s has never
stopped work. His work has only got better with time. It still
appears in newspapers, in his new books, and in national and
overseas anthologies. He has more than 60 years of publishing
history behind him.
Home
He is still married to the New Zealand nurse he met in London
in 1951. They have two daughters, one a doctor, one a
journalist, and there are five grandsons.
Books, Songs, Shoes and Countryside
He was born in 1924 in the Darling Downs city of Toowoomba, of
which a great-grand-uncle was mayor. His father Harold was the
self-educated son of a pioneering Downs bootmaking family, and
his mother Phyllis, who played piano and violin, grew up on
pioneering downland farms. Books and songs and shoes and the
countryside were his legacy.
The Great Depression
For struggling families during the Great Depression, his was a
typical education. After early boyhood in Brisbane, where his
father made shoes at Breakfast Creek, he attended Toowoomba
East State School, and was then given a scholarship to
Toowoomba Grammar, from which he won a teachers’
scholarship. He began his life of gainful employment as a very
young probationary teacher in 1941.
On reaching enlistment age, he joined the RAAF. He served as a
wireless operator in the South-West Pacific. The Great
Depression and Second World War left an indelible mark. This
is seen in his poetry.
Breaking into Journalism
He spent his post-war years, till marriage, as a student at
Queensland and Sydney universities; as an editorial assistant
at the publishers Angus & Robertson, Sydney; and as a
freelance journalist in Sydney and London. These were rich
years in which he wrote prolifically and met other writers.
Then he became staff-columnist for the Toowoomba Chronicle;
and joined the staff of the Brisbane Courier-Mail in 1955. His
more than 30 years in fulltime journalism had begun. Counting
part-time and freelance years, he has spent more than 50 years
in his trade.
Arts and Literary Editor
He took his Arts degree by correspondence in 1964, and, after
a period of teaching English at Queensland University, he was
appointed inaugural arts and literary editor of the
Courier-Mail. In that role, for 17 years, he had a significant
influence on the development of the arts in Queensland and
interstate.
Posted as Dying
Despite heavy newspaper and public duties, he kept on bringing
out books. He resigned from his paper in 1987, after sudden
illness. In 1996, when in hospital and posted as dying, he
wrote and edited the book of poems that came out that year,
The Ebony Gates (QCU Press). Since then he has written another
book of poems, Pacific Star, which is with publishers. Another
two books, both memoirs, are waiting their turn.
The Order of Australia
Now best known for his poetry, he has 18 books to his credit.
For this sustained literary achievement combined with his
energetic public activities, he has received national and
American honours and awards. He is a Member of the Order of
Australia and an Emeritus Fellow of Australian Literature. He
keeps on astonishing the generations of readers and
fellow-writers who recall how important and what a pleasure
his work has been to them. Many established writers gained
their first prominence because of his reviews. Many of the
young seek him out.
The Penguin Book
The editors of his Penguin Book of New and Selected Poems
(1994) said: “This will introduce a new generation of
readers to (his) work, and will remind his contemporaries that
in this writer a lifetime devoted to poetry has created a new
and exciting voice. Few writers indeed have achieved such a
rare range and compass of work.” David Rowbotham’s voice
will remain evergreen, and vital to the history of his
country.
An American View
The late American critic Vernon Young, of New York, wrote that
“his poems are a revelation”; their use of language has
remained modern, making his outlook on Australia and the world
forceful today, balanced and wise. He is viewed with respect,
and regarded with affection: a major poet and a figure of
stature. The themes of his work involve language itself, and
places, travel, politics, injustices, history, and
“geography as a physical fact of mind”.
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