Clement Byrne Christesen (28 October 1911 – 28 June 2003) was the founder of the Australian literary magazine '' Meanjin''. He served as the magazine's editor from 1940 until 1974.

Biography

Early years

Clement Byrne Christesen was born and spent his early life in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

. His father, Patrick, was of mixed Irish and Danish descent, while his mother Susan (née Byrne), was mostly Irish. The family moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in 1917, where Christesen later attended the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

Career

After leaving university, Christesen worked as a journalist at Brisbane's ''

Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

'' and the ''Telegraph'', as well as a publicity officer for the Queensland government. Christesen was founding editor of '' Meanjin Papers'' which was first published in 1940, following his return from overseas travel. With an offer of full-time salary and commercial support for the publication, the magazine and its editor moved to the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in 1945. He retired as editor in 1974.

Personal life

In January 1942, he married Nina Maximoff, only daughter of Captain and Mrs. Michael Maximoff of South Brisbane, Queensland. Nina Christesen would found the Russian Department at the University of Melbourne. In the 1940s they moved to "Stanhope" in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

, Victoria.

Awards

Christesen was granted several awards and state honours in recognition of his achievements: * Officer of the Order of British Empire, 1 January 1962, ''In recognition of service to Australian literature'' * Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

, 26 January 2000, for ''service to the development of Australian creative and critical writing as founder and editor of Meanjin Quarterly'' *

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

, 1 January 2001, for ''service to Australian society and the humanities in writing and literature''

Bibliography

Books

* ''The Hand of Memory : Selected Stories and Verse'' (1970)

Short story collection

* ''The Troubled Eyes of Women'' (1990)

Poetry collections

* ''Having Loved'' (1970) * ''Ebb-Tide : Selected Verse'' (1997)

Edited

* ''Australian Heritage : A Prose Anthology'', Longmans (1949) * ''On Native Grounds : Australian writing from Meanjin quarterly'', Selected with a preface by C.B. Christesen (1968)

Selected articles

Christesen's life and work

Death

Christesen died on 28 June 2003 at Templestowe nursing home two years after his wife's death. "He was lucid right to the end," said his niece Nina Joan Christesen.

References

Sources

* * *
Clem Christessen 1911–2003
at

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christesen, Clem 1911 births 2003 deaths Australian people of Danish descent Australian people of Irish descent Australian literary critics Meanjin people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Townsville Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia