David Harold Rowbotham (27 August 1924 – 6 October 2010) was an Australian poet and journalist.

Early life

Rowbotham was born in the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, in the city of

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

. He attended

Toowoomba Grammar School , motto_translation = Faithful in All Things , city = Toowoomba , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, day & boarding , denomination = Non-denominational , established = 18 ...

and studied at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

.''Australian Verse: An Illustrated Treasury'', edited by Beatrice Davis, State Library of New South Wales Press, 1996 He served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

on the Pacific front.

Literary career

Rowbotham worked as a journalist for the

Toowoomba Chronicle ''The Toowoomba Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs regional areas in Queensland, Australia. As of 2016, the newspaper is owned by News Corp Australia, and forms part of their Regional M ...

and

Brisbane 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 ...

(1955–64). He lectured in English at the University of Queensland (1965–1969), and became the literary critic of the Brisbane Courier-Mail (1969–1980), and its literary editor (1980–1987). Though lyrical in form, Rowbotham's poems are often concerned with history. After the publication of his ''Selected Poems'' by Penguin in 1994, covering a period of fifty years, Rowbotham entered a startling late period of productivity which culminated in the publication of the much-lauded ''Poems for America'' in 2002. In 2005 the

Wagtail Wagtails are a group of passerine birds that form the genus ''Motacilla'' in the family Motacillidae. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus ''Dendronanthus'' which is closely related to ''Motacilla'' and sometimes included therein. ...

series from Picaro Press published a chapbook of Rowbotham's called ''The Brown Island''.

Later life

A friend and mentor to many other Australian writers, Rowbotham also maintained extensive international connections, travelling frequently to the United States. He died on 6 October 2010.

Awards and recognition

Rowbotham was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1991 in recognition of his service to literature. In 2007 Rowbotham received the

Patrick White Award The Patrick White Award is an annual literary prize established by Patrick White. White used his 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature award to establish a trust for this prize. The $25,000 cash award is given to a writer who has been highly creative o ...

; the presentation was made 9 November 2007, in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Bibliography

* ''Ploughman and Poet'' (1954) * ''Inland'' (1958) * '' All the Room'' (1964) * ''Bungalow and Hurricane'' (1967) * ''The Makers of the Ark'' (1970) * ''The Pen of Feathers'' (1971) * ''Maydays'' (1980) * ''Selected Poems'' (1994) * ''The Ebony Gates'' (1996) * ''Poems for America'' (2002) * ''The Brown Island'' (2005) * '' The Cave in the Sky'' (2005) * ''The Star of Engelmeer'' (2006) * ''Rogue Moons'' (2007)

References

External links

David Rowbotham: A Chronicle

* 1924 births 2010 deaths Australian journalists People from Toowoomba Writers from Queensland Patrick White Award winners 20th-century Australian poets Australian male poets People educated at Toowoomba Grammar School 20th-century Australian male writers Members of the Order of Australia {{Australia-writer-stub