List of years in Australian literature

This page gives a chronological list of years in Australian literature (descending order), with notable publications and events listed with their respective years. The time covered in individual years covers the period of European settlement of the country.

See Table of years in literature for an overview of all "year in literature" pages.

Contents 1 21st century 1.1 2000s 2 20th century 2.1 1990s 2.2 1980s 2.3 1970s 2.4 1960s 2.5 1950s 2.6 1940s 2.7 1930s 2.8 1920s 2.9 1910s 2.10 1900s 3 19th century 3.1 1890s 3.2 1880s 3.3 1870s 3.4 1860s 3.5 1850s 3.6 1840s 3.7 1830s 3.8 1820s 3.9 1810s 3.10 1800s 4 18th century 4.1 1790s 4.2 1780s 4.3 1770s 5 External links

History of Literature
Bronze Age literature
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Early Medieval literature
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Medieval literature
Old English Middle English Arabic Byzantine Dutch French German Indian Old Irish Italian Japanese Kannada Nepal Bhasa Norse Persian Telugu Turkish Welsh
Early Modern literature
Renaissance literature Baroque literature
Modern literature
18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century

21st century

2000s

• 2009 in Australian literature - Parrot and Olivier in America - Peter Carey; Ransom - David Malouf
• 2008 in Australian literature - Death of Dorothy Porter; Death of Ivan Southall; Death of Eleanor Spence; The Spare Room - Helen Garner; The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas; Breath - Tim Winton; Sonya Hartnett receives the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
• 2007 in Australian literature - Death of Elizabeth Jolley; The Time We Have Taken - Steven Carroll; The Zookeeper's War - Steven Conte; The Lost Dog - Michelle de Kretser; The Broken Shore - Peter Temple wins the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger award (UK)
• 2006 in Australian literature - Death of Colin Thiele; The Arrival - Shaun Tan; Carpentaria - Alexis Wright
• 2005 in Australian literature - Death of Donald Horne; The Secret River - Kate Grenville; A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia - Tom Keneally; The Ballad of Desmond Kale - Roger McDonald
• 2004 in Australian literature - Death of Thea Astley;Sixty Lights - Gail Jones; The White Earth - Andrew McGahan
• 2003 in Australian literature - Death of Joan Phipson; Mangroves - Laurie Duggan; The Great Fire - Shirley Hazzard wins the National Book Award (USA)
• 2002 in literature - Death of Dorothy Hewett; Moral Hazard - Kate Jennings; Journey to the Stone Country - Alex Miller
• 2001 in literature - Quarterly Essay publishes its first issue; True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey wins the Man Booker Prize; Gould's Book of Fish - Richard Flanagan; Stravinsky's Lunch - Drusilla Modjeska; Dirt Music - Tim Winton
• 2000 in literature - Death of A. D. Hope; Death of Judith Wright; The Day We Had Hitler Home - Rodney Hall; Dark Palace - Frank Moorhouse

20th century

1990s

• 1999 in literature - Death of Morris West; Drylands - Thea Astley; The Idea of Perfection - Kate Grenville; Fredy Neptune - Les Murray; Benang - Kim Scott
• 1998 in literature - Eucalyptus - Murray Bail; Romulus, My Father - Raymond Gaita
• 1997 in literature - The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768-71 - Joseph Banks; Jack Maggs - Peter Carey
• 1996 in literature - Death of P. L. Travers; A Mapmaker's Dream - James Cowan; The Glade within the Grove - David Foster; Remembering Babylon - David Malouf wins the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; Subhuman Redneck Poems - Les Murray
• 1995 in literature - Death of Gwen Harwood; The First Stone - Helen Garner; Highways to a War - Christopher Koch
• 1994 in literature - Death of Frank Hardy; The Hand That Signed the Paper - Helen Demidenko; Permutation City - Greg Egan; The Monkey's Mask - Dorothy Porter
• 1993 in literature - The Grisly Wife - Rodney Hall; Grand Days - Frank Moorhouse; Christina Stead: A Biography - Hazel Rowley
• 1992 in literature - Honk If You Are Jesus - Peter Goldsworthy; Praise - Andrew McGahan; Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta; The Ancestor Game - Alex Miller
• 1991 in literature - Death of Manning Clark; Our Sunshine - Robert Drewe; Patrick White: A Life - David Marr; Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
• 1990 in literature - Death of Patrick White; Cabin Fever - Elizabeth Jolley; The Great World - David Malouf

1980s

• 1989 in literature - The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay; Oceana Fine - Tom Flood; Maestro - Peter Goldsworthy; I for Isobel - Amy Witting
• 1988 in literature - Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey wins the Man Booker Prize
• 1987 in literature - Dancing on Coral - Glenda Adams; The Songlines - Bruce Chatwin; The Fatal Shore - Robert Hughes; Louisa - Brian Matthews; My Place - Sally Morgan; The Sea and Summer - George Turner; Emerald City - David Williamson
• 1986 in literature - The Well - Elizabeth Jolley; Julia Paradise - Rod Jones
• 1985 in literature - Lillian's Story - Kate Grenville; The Doubleman - Christopher Koch
• 1984 in literature - Death of Xavier Herbert; Milk and Honey - Elizabeth Jolley; Shallows - Tim Winton
• 1983 in literature - Death of Christina Stead; Possum Magic - Mem Fox; "The Quality of Sprawl" - Les Murray
• 1982 in literature - Just Relations - Rodney Hall; Schindler's Ark - Tom Keneally wins the Man Booker Prize; The Plains - Gerald Murnane
• 1981 in literature - Death of Dymphna Cusack; Bliss - Peter Carey; A Fortunate Life - Albert Facey
• 1980 in literature - The Impersonators - Jessica Anderson; The Dying Trade - Peter Corris; Tracks - Robyn Davidson; The Transit of Venus - Shirley Hazzard; Unreliable Memoirs - Clive James

1970s

• 1979 in literature - Death of David Campbell; Death of Ion Idriess; A Woman of the Future - David Ireland; The Visitants - Randolph Stow
• 1978 in literature - Tirra Lirra By the River - Jessica Anderson; An Imaginary Life - David Malouf
• 1977 in literature - Monkey Grip - Helen Garner; The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough; Swords and Crowns and Rings - Ruth Park; The Club - David Williamson
• 1976 in literature - Death of James McAuley; The Glass Canoe - David Ireland; "The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song Cycle" - Les Murray;
• 1975 in literature - Peter's Pence - Jon Cleary; Poor Fellow My Country - Xavier Herbert
• 1974 in literature - Death of Eve Langley; The Mango Tree - Ronald McKie; Harlequin - Morris West
• 1973 in literature - Patrick White is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature; The Breaker - Kit Denton; The Nargun and the Stars - Patricia Wrightson
• 1972 in literature - Death of Martin Boyd; The Acolyte - Thea Astley; The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith - Tom Keneally
• 1971 in literature - Death of Kenneth Slessor; Josh - Ivan Southall wins the Carnegie Medal (UK); The Unknown Industrial Prisoner - David Ireland; A Cartload of Clay - George Johnston; Don's Party - David Williamson
• 1970 in literature - Death of George Johnston; The Female Eunuch - Germaine Greer; A Horse of Air - Dal Stivens; The Vivisector - Patrick White

1960s

• 1969 in literature - Death of Charmian Clift; Death of Norman Lindsay; Death of Katharine Susannah Prichard; Clean Straw for Nothing - George Johnston
• 1968 in literature - Three Cheers for the Paraclete - Tom Keneally
• 1967 in literature - Bring Larks and Heroes - Tom Keneally; Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay
• 1966 in literature - Tyranny of Distance - Geoffrey Blainey; Trap - Peter Mathers; "No More Boomerang" - Oodergeroo Noonuccal; The Solid Mandala - Patrick White
• 1965 in literature - The Slow Natives - Thea Astley; The Ambassador - Morris West
• 1964 in literature - Death of Zora Cross; The Lucky Country - Donald Horne; My Brother Jack - George Johnston; We are Going - Oodgeroo Noonuccal
• 1963 in literature - Careful, He Might Hear You - Sumner Locke Elliott; "A Letter from Rome" - A. D. Hope; Storm Boy - Colin Thiele; The Shoes of the Fisherman - Morris West
• 1962 in literature - Death of Mary Gilmore; The Well Dressed Explorer - Thea Astley; A History of Australia - Manning Clark (to 1987); The Cupboard Under the Stairs - George Turner
• 1961 in literature - Wake in Fright - Kenneth Cook; The One Day of the Year - Alan Seymour; Sun on the Stubble - Colin Thiele; Riders in the Chariot - Patrick White
• 1960 in literature - Death of Nevil Shute; The Irishman - Elizabeth O'Conner

1950s

• 1959 in literature - Kings in Grass Castles - Mary Durack; The Big Fellow - Vance Palmer; The Devil's Advocate - Morris West
• 1958 in literature - First Miles Franklin Literary Award presented; 10 for 66 and All That - Arthur Mailey; To the Islands - Randolph Stow
• 1957 in literature - Tiger in the Bush - Nan Chauncy; On the Beach - Nevil Shute ; Voss - Patrick White
• 1956 in literature - Death of a Doll - Carter Brown; The Brown Land was Green - Mavis Thorpe Clark; Beyond the Black Stump - Nevil Shute
• 1955 in literature - Summer of the Seventeenth Doll - Ray Lawler; I Can Jump Puddles - Alan Marshall; The Shiralee - D'Arcy Niland; The Tree of Man - Patrick White
• 1954 in literature - Death of Miles Franklin; White Topee - Eve Langley; "At Cooloolah" - Judith Wright
• 1953 in literature - The Big Chariot - Charmian Clift and George Johnston
• 1952 in literature - The Sundowners - Jon Cleary
• 1951 in literature - Death of Daisy Bates; Come in Spinner - Dymphna Cusack & Florence James
• 1950 in literature - Farewell to Cricket - Don Bradman; Power Without Glory - Frank Hardy; A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

1940s

• 1949 in literature - Poor Man's Orange - Ruth Park
• 1948 in literature - The Harp in the South - Ruth Park; Golden Miles - Katharine Susannah Prichard; The Aunt's Story - Patrick White
• 1947 in literature - Death of Lennie Lower; Tomorrow and Tomorrow - M. Barnard Eldershaw
• 1946 in literature - Death of Henry Handel Richardson; Lucinda Brayford - Martin Boyd; My Career Goes Bung - Miles Franklin; "Woman to Child" - Judith Wright
• 1945 in literature - The Cousin from Fiji - Norman Lindsay; "The Tomb of Lieut. John Learmonth, AIF" - J. S. Manifold
• 1944 in literature - Ern Malley poems first published; "The Road to Yesterday" - Frank Dalby Davison; "Beach Burial" - Kenneth Slessor; For Love Alone - Christina Stead; "Bullocky" - Judith Wright
• 1943 in literature - Ride on Stranger - Kylie Tennant
• 1942 in literature - "Nationality" - Mary Gilmore; The Pea-Pickers - Eve Langley
• 1941 in literature - Death of Banjo Paterson; The Battlers - Kylie Tennant
• 1940 in literature - Meanjin magazine publishes its first issue; The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead

1930s

• 1939 in literature - This Vital Flesh - William Baylebridge; "Five Bells" - Kenneth Slessor; Happy Valley- Patrick White
• 1938 in literature - Death of C. J. Dennis; Moonlight Acre - R. D. Fitzgerald; Capricornia - Xavier Herbert
• 1937 in literature - The Picnic - Martin Boyd; The Young Desire It - Seaforth Mackenzie; Under Capricorn - Helen Simpson
• 1936 in literature - My Natives and I - Daisy Bates; Return to Coolami - Eleanor Dark; "Garrakeen" - Rex Ingamells
• 1935 in literature - Death of Louise Mack; Earth's Quality - Winifred Birkett
• 1934 in literature - Prelude to Christopher - Eleanor Dark; Mary Poppins - P. L. Travers
• 1933 in literature - Pageant - G. B. Lancaster; Blinky Bill - Dorothy Wall
• 1932 in literature - Death of Christopher Brennan; Flesh in Armour - Leonard Mann
• 1931 in literature - Man-Shy - Frank Davison; "Five Visions of Captain Cook" - Kenneth Slessor
• 1930 in literature - Here's Luck - Lennie Lower; The Passage - Vance Palmer

1920s

• 1929 in literature - Death of Barbara Baynton; A Man's Life - Arthur H. Adams; The Golden Shanty - Edward Dyson; Ultima Thule - Henry Handel Richardson
• 1928 in literature - The Montforts - Martin Boyd; Up the Country - Miles Franklin; Coonardoo - Katharine Susannah Prichard; "Choker's Lane" - Kenneth Slessor
• 1927 in literature - "The Gentle Water Bird" - John Shaw Neilson
• 1926 in literature - The Butcher Shop - Jean Devaney
• 1925 in literature - Out of the Silence - Erle Cox; The Way Home - Henry Handel Richardson
• 1924 in literature - The Boy in the Bush - D. H. Lawrence and M. L. Skinner
• 1923 in literature - Kangaroo - D. H. Lawrence
• 1922 in literature - Death of Henry Lawson; "Schoolgirls Hastening" - John Shaw Neilson; "Nuremberg" - Kenneth Slessor
• 1921 in literature - The Shadow of Evil - Carlton Dawe; "Said Hanrahan" - John O'Brien
• 1920 in literature - "The Farmer Remembers the Somme" - Vance Palmer

1910s

• 1919 in literature - Death of Nat Gould; The Burning Marl - John Le Gay Brereton; The Escapades of Ann - Edward Dyson; Heart of Spring - John Shaw Neilson; The Shrieking Pit - Arthur J Rees
• 1918 in literature - Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie: Their Wonderful Adventures - May Gibbs; The Magic Pudding - Norman Lindsay
• 1917 in literature - Songs of Love and Life - Zora Cross; Songs of a Campaign - Leon Gellert; Australia Felix - Henry Handel Richardson
• 1916 in literature - The Moods of Ginger Mick - C. J. Dennis
• 1915 in literature - Death of Rolf Boldrewood; The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke - C. J. Dennis
• 1914 in literature - Poems: 1913 - Christopher Brennan
• 1913 in literature - "The Pleiades" - Arthur H. Adams; "The Robe of Grass" - John Le Gay Brereton; Backblock Ballads and Other Verses - C. J. Dennis; A Curate in Bohemia - Norman Lindsay
• 1912 in literature - Death of Joseph Furphy; The Poems of Adam Lindsay Gordon - Adam Lindsay Gordon
• 1911 in literature - "A Ballad of Eureka" - Victor Daley; Jonah - Louis Stone
• 1910 in literature - Death of Mary Fortune; The Getting of Wisdom - Henry Handel Richardson

1900s

• 1909 in literature - Death of George Essex Evans; The Golden Treasury of Australian Verse - Bertram Stevens; "The Meeting of Sighs" - John Shaw Neilson; Some Everyday Folk and Dawn - Miles Franklin
• 1908 in literature - "The Austra-laise" - C. J. Dennis; "My Country" - Dorothea Mackellar
• 1907 in literature - Human Toll - Barbara Baynton
• 1906 in literature - Betty the Scribe - Lilian Turner
• 1905 in literature - Death of Victor Daley; Rigby's Romance - Joseph Furphy
• 1904 in literature - Sisters: A Novel - Ada Cambridge
• 1903 in literature - Thirty Years in Australia - Ada Cambridge; Such is Life - Joseph Furphy
• 1902 in literature - Death of Breaker Morant; Tommy Cornstalk - J.H.M. Abbott; Bush Studies - Barbara Baynton
• 1901 in literature - My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin; 'The Loaded Dog" - Henry Lawson
• 1900 in literature - Death of Charles De Boos; Humorous Verses - Henry Lawson; Popular Verses - Henry Lawson; "Australia" - Bernard O'Dowd; An Outback Marriage - A. B. Paterson

19th century

1890s

• 1899 in literature - "Narcissus And Some Tadpoles" - Victor Daley
• 1898 in literature - Girls Together - Louise Mack
• 1897 in literature - Kirkham's Find - Mary Gaunt; Following the Equator - Mark Twain
• 1896 in literature - Death of Henry Clay; "The Chosen Vessel" - Barbara Baynton; Dr Nikola - Guy Boothby; Rhymes from the Mines - Edward Dyson; "Mulga Bill's Bicycle" - Banjo Paterson
• 1895 in literature - "Waltzing Matilda" - Banjo Paterson
• 1894 in literature - In Strange Company - Guy Boothby; Seven Little Australians - Ethel Turner
• 1893 in literature - "The Geebung Polo Club" - Banjo Paterson
• 1892 in literature - Death of Barcroft Boake; The Bulletin Debate, (to 1893); "The Drover's Wife" - Henry Lawson; "The Man from Ironbark" - Banjo Paterson
• 1891 in literature - "Where the Dead Men Lie" - Barcroft Boake; "The Bunyip" - Campbell Praed; "Bannerman of Dandenong" - Alice Werner
• 1890 in literature - A Marked Man - Ada Cambridge; "The Man from Snowy River" - Banjo Paterson

1880s

• 1889 in literature - "Clancy of the Overflow" - Banjo Paterson
• 1888 in literature - The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 - Ernst Favanc
• 1887 in literature -
• 1886 in literature - The Mystery of the Hansom Cab - Fergus Hume; In the Days When the World was Wide and Other Verses - Henry Lawson; While the Billy Boils - Henry Lawson
• 1885 in literature -
• 1884 in literature -
• 1883 in literature -
• 1882 in literature - Death of Henry Kendall; Robbery Under Arms - Rolf Boldrewood
• 1881 in literature - Death of Marcus Clarke
• 1880 in literature - The Bulletin magazine publishes its first issue

1870s

• 1879 in literature - "To My Sister" - Adam Lindsay Gordon; The Jerilderie Letter - Ned Kelly
• 1878 in literature -
• 1877 in literature -
• 1876 in literature -
• 1875 in literature -
• 1874 in literature -
• 1873 in literature - "The Aurora Australis" - Mary Hannay Foott; By and By: an historical romance of the future - Edward Maitland; "The Dark Companion" - J. Brunton Stephens; "My Other Chinee Cook" - J. Brunton Stephens; Harry Heathcote of Gangoil : A Tale of Australian Bush Life - Anthony Trollope
• 1872 in literature -
• 1871 in literature -
• 1870 in literature - Death of Adam Lindsay Gordon; For the Term of His Natural Life - Marcus Clarke until 1872; "The Sick Stockrider" - Adam Lindsay Gordon

1860s

• 1869 in literature - Leaves from Australian Forests - Henry Kendall
• 1868 in literature - Death of Charles Harpur
• 1867 in literature -
• 1866 in literature -
• 1865 in literature -
• 1864 in literature -
• 1863 in literature -
• 1862 in literature -
• 1861 in literature -
• 1860 in literature - South Australian Lyrics - C. J. Carleton; Tasmanian Rhymings - John Anthony Moore; Margaret Falconer - Eliza Winstanley

1850s

• 1859 in literature - The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn - Henry Kingsley; Botany Bay, or, True Stories of the Early Days of Australia - John Lang
• 1858 in literature - The Kangaroo Hunters, or, Adventures in the Bush - Anne Bowman
• 1857 in literature - Gertrude, the Emigrant: A Tale of Colonial Life - Louisa Atkinson; The Two Convicts - Friedrich Gerstaecker; Songs Without Music - James Lionel Michael
• 1856 in literature -
• 1855 in literature - The Eureka Stockade - Raffaello Carboni
• 1854 in literature -
• 1853 in literature - The Bushrangers - Charles Harpur
• 1852 in literature - Life and Adventures of William Buckley - John Morgan
• 1851 in literature -
• 1850 in literature -

1840s

• 1849 in literature -
• 1848 in literature -
• 1847 in literature - "The Genius and the Ghost" - William Forster; Australian Sketches - Thomas McCombie
• 1846 in literature - The Bushranger of Van Diemen's Land - Charles Rowcroft
• 1845 in literature - "The Creek of the Four Graves" by Charles Harpur
• 1844 in literature -
• 1843 in literature -
• 1842 in literature - Tales of the Colonies - Charles Rowcroft
• 1841 in literature -
• 1840 in literature -

1830s

• 1839 in literature - "A Convict's Tour to Hell" - Francis McNamara
• 1838 in literature -
• 1837 in literature -
• 1836 in literature -
• 1835 in literature -
• 1834 in literature -
• 1833 in literature -
• 1832 in literature -
• 1831 in literature - Quintus Servinton - Henry Savery
• 1830 in literature -

1820s

• 1829 in literature -
• 1828 in literature -
• 1827 in literature -
• 1826 in literature -
• 1825 in literature -
• 1824 in literature -
• 1823 in literature -
• 1822 in literature - The Life and Times of John Nicol, Mariner - John Nicol
• 1821 in literature -
• 1820 in literature - Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales: Undertaken by Order of the British Government in the Years 1817-18 - John Oxley

1810s

• 1819 in literature - First Fruits of Australian Poetry - Barron Field; Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux - James Hardy Vaux
• 1818 in literature -
• 1817 in literature -
• 1816 in literature -
• 1815 in literature -
• 1814 in literature - A Voyage to Terra Australis - Matthew Flinders
• 1813 in literature -
• 1812 in literature -
• 1811 in literature -
• 1810 in literature -

1800s

• 1809 in literature -
• 1808 in literature -
• 1807 in literature -
• 1806 in literature -
• 1805 in literature -
• 1804 in literature -
• 1803 in literature -
• 1802 in literature -
• 1801 in literature - Adventures on a Journey to New Holland - Therese Huber
• 1800 in literature - "Botany Bay Ecologues" - Robert Southey

18th century

1790s

• 1799 in literature -
• 1798 in literature -
• 1797 in literature -
• 1796 in literature -
• 1795 in literature -
• 1794 in literature - Letters from an Exile at Botany Bay - Thomas Watling
• 1793 in literature -
• 1792 in literature -
• 1791 in literature -
• 1790 in literature -

1780s

• 1789 in literature -
• 1788 in literature - Journal of a First Fleet Surgeon - George Bouchier Worgan
• 1787 in literature -
• 1786 in literature -
• 1785 in literature -
• 1784 in literature -
• 1783 in literature -
• 1782 in literature -
• 1781 in literature -
• 1780 in literature -

1770s

• 1779 in literature -
• 1778 in literature -
• 1777 in literature -
• 1776 in literature -
• 1775 in literature -
• 1774 in literature -
• 1773 in literature -
• 1772 in literature -
• 1771 in literature -
• 1770 in literature -

External links

• Literature Timeline An interactive timeline of major literary events, books and authors.