The Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) is a collection or federation of state-based organizations aiming to support and promote the interests of Australian writers. It was established in Sydney in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

, with the aim of bringing writers together and promoting their interests. The organisation played a key role in the establishment of the

Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...

in 1963, a national body and now the main professional organisation in Australia for writers of literary works. , the following state-based independent organisations carried the name: Fellowship of Australian Writers NSW Inc. (a continuation of the original), Fellowship of Australian Writers Queensland, Fellowship of Australian Writers Tasmania, Fellowship of Australian Writers (VIC) Inc., and the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA) Inc.

History

Various claims have been made about its origin, but it seems that poet,

Mary Gilmore Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry. Gi ...

, was encouraged by

Roderic Quinn Roderic Joseph Quinn (26 November 1867 – 15 August 1949) was an Australian poet. Early life Quinn was born in Sydney the seventh child of Irish parents: Edward Quinn, letter-carrier, and his wife Catherine. He was educated at Catholic school ...

, and helped by Lucy Cassidy (wife of poet R.J. Cassidy), to hold a meeting of writers, at which a president,

John Le Gay Brereton John Le Gay Brereton (2 September 1871 – 2 February 1933) was an Australian poet, critic and professor of English at the University of Sydney. He was the first president of the Fellowship of Australian Writers when it was formed in Sydney in ...

was elected.Wilde et al. (1994) It was founded in 1928, and at that time quite a political body, affiliated with the

Australian labour movement The Australian labour movement began in the early 19th century and since the late 19th century has included industrial (Australian unions) and political wings (Australian Labor Party). Trade unions in Australia may be formed on the basis of cra ...

as well as international peace organisations. It advocated for fair pay for written work, which continued to be one of its aims for 50 years. By the end of 1932 (a difficult time economically, being the

Great Depression in Australia Australia was affected badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street crash of 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia had years of high unemployment, poverty, ...

), there were 290 members; among the ranks were

Miles Franklin Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 187919 September 1954), known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel ''My Brilliant Career'', published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While s ...

Dorothea Mackellar Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar (1 July 1885 – 14 January 1968) was an Australian poet and fiction writer. Her poem " My Country" is widely known in Australia, especially its second stanza, which begins: "I love a sunburnt country / ...

, and

Frank Clune Francis Patrick Clune, OBE, (27 November 189311 March 1971) was a best-selling Australian writer, travel writer and popular historian. Early life and career Clune was born in Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney in 1893, and grew up in Re ...

. It was initially a Sydney-based organisation, but gradually spread to other states, to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. In 1947 a branch was created in Tasmania by historian John Reynolds, E. Morris Miller, Louis Triebel, Basil Rait, and Joyce Eileen Eyre, who took the role of corresponding secretary. In 1955 a federal council was established, under the title Commonwealth Council of the Fellowships of Australian Writers. Under the Council Constitution, the Council president (chair) rotated between the state FAW presidents every two years, with writer and academic Tom Inglis Moore being elected the first president in 1956. Early prominent members include: in New South Wales,

Flora Eldershaw Flora Sydney Patricia Eldershaw (16 March 1897 – 20 September 1956) was an Australian novelist, critic and historian. With Marjorie Barnard she formed the writing collaboration known as M. Barnard Eldershaw. She was also a teacher and later ...

Marjorie Barnard Marjorie Faith Barnard (16 August 18978 May 1987) was an Australian novelist and short story writer, critic, historian and librarian. She went to school and university in Sydney, and then trained as a librarian. She was employed as a libraria ...

, Frank Dalby Davison,

Dymphna Cusack Ellen Dymphna Cusack Order of Australia, AM (21 September 1902 – 19 October 1981) was an Australian writer and playwright. She also wrote as Atalanta. Personal life Born in Wyalong, New South Wales, Cusack was educated at Saint Ursula's Col ...

; in Victoria,

Nettie Palmer Janet Gertrude "Nettie" Palmer (née Higgins) (18 August 1885 – 19 October 1964) was an Australian poet, essayist and Australia's leading literary critic of her day. She corresponded with women writers and collated the ''Centenary Gift Book'' ...

; and in Western Australia,

Henrietta Drake-Brockman Henrietta Drake-Brockman (27 July 1901 – 8 March 1968) was an Australian journalist and novelist. Early life Henrietta Frances York Jull was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1901 to public service commissioner Martin Edward Jull (1862–19 ...

and

Katharine Susannah Prichard Katharine Susannah Prichard (4 December 18832 October 1969) was an Australian author and co-founding member of the Communist Party of Australia. Early life Prichard was born in Levuka, Fiji in 1883 to Australian parents. She spent her childhood ...

. The FAW was, with ex-Prime Minister Jim Scullin, largely responsible for a trebling of the

Commonwealth Literary Fund The Commonwealth Literary Fund (CLF) was an Australian Government initiative founded in 1908 to assist needy Australian writers and their families. It was Federal Australia's first systematic support for the arts. Its scope was later broadened to e ...

's budget in 1939. The organisation grew in the 1970s and 1980s, and in 1985, under president

Hilarie Lindsay Hilarie Lindsay (18 April 1922 – 5 May 2021) was an Australian toy manufacturer and writer of short stories, poetry, instructional texts, biography and other genres.Lofthouse, Andrea (Comp.). ''Who's Who of Australian Women.'' Methuen Austra ...

, there were nine metropolitan groups, 11 in country areas and a group of "Isolated Writers". A country regional branch was started in the Riverina in 2010. In 2011 the Fellowship of Writers adopted its new constitution and a new logo. Its activities over the years included the creation and running of events such as Authors' Week (1930s),

Children's Book Week Anne Carroll Moore (July 12, 1871 – January 20, 1961) was an American educator, writer and advocate for children's libraries. She was named Annie after an aunt, and officially changed her name to Anne in her fifties, to avoid confusion with An ...

(1940s), and a number of competitions and awards for writers.

Australian Authors' Week

In 1935 the Fellowship organised an Authors' Week to, in the words of their press release, "encourage the development of our national literature, especially by bringing the work of our authors before the general public and schools". The week took place from 8 to 13 April and was held at Farmers' Blaxland Galleries. Events included personal appearances by authors, display of Australian books, dramatisations from Australian works, lectures by writers, radio broadcasts and an authors' ball.Dever (1992) p.101 The event was prompted by a longstanding desire of the FAW to strengthen the place of Australian literature in Australian society, and it was believed that a way to do this was to encourage a closer dialogue between authors and their audience. The week was preceded by significant promotion and communication to the community primarily through newspapers and magazines. An editorial written in ''The Telegraph'' during the week commented on the popularity of

Ion Idriess Ion Llewellyn Idriess (20 September 18896 June 1979) was a prolific and influential Australian author. He wrote more than 50 books over 43 years between 1927 and 1969 – an average of one book every 10 months, and twice published three books i ...

and suggested that:

Therein is cause to hope that ere long the appreciation for Australian writings will grow and widen to embrace the works of many others who, with a growing confidence in ultimate success, are continually and obscurely working to give Australians a literature which they may call their own.

The events of the week were mostly held during the day and hence primarily reached, or in some cases specifically targeted at, women, children and teachers. Indeed, it was generally accepted that women formed the bulk of the readership.

Norman Lindsay Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxing, boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of hi ...

, for example, wrote that "My personal opinion is that the average woman reads much better stuff than the average man".Dever (1992) p. 107 In his Authors' Week talk, Frank Dalby Davison said that "many people preferred yelling themselves hoarse at a test match or racecourse to reading a book by a cultured author". Overall, the Week was deemed a success, with Marjorie Barnard writing that they'd received "a good deal of publicity" and were "pretty satisfied with the effort".

Awards

Historical

Patricia Weickhardt Award

The FAW Patricia Weickhardt Award to an Aboriginal Writer was awarded from 1976 to 1991 to

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

authors. It took its name from Patricia Weickhardt, who sponsored the award herself. The award ceased after an unnamed committee member suggested that Aboriginal authors were becoming mainstream and it was patronising to provide a separate award for them. Winners included: *1976:

Dick Roughsey Dick Roughsey (c. 1920 – 1985) was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Lardil language group on Mornington Island in the south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. His tribal name was Goobalathaldin, meaning “the ocean, dancing”, d ...

*1977: Kath Walker (later known as Oodgeroo Noonuccal) *1978: Kevin Gilbert *1979: Colin Johnson, aka Mudrooroo *1980: Jack Davis *1981:

Hyllus Maris Hyllus Noel Maris (25 December 1933 – 4 August 1986) was an Aboriginal Australian activist, poet and educator. Maris was a Yorta Yorta woman. She was a key figure in the Aboriginal rights movement of the 1970s and 1980s, a poet, an educator and ...

*1983:

Archie Weller Archie Weller (born 1957) is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and screen plays. Early life and education Archie Weller was born in 1957 in Subiaco, Western Australia, and grew up on a farm, Wonnenup, near Cranbrook in the Great S ...

*1984?: James Wilson-Miller *1985:

Oodgeroo Noonuccal Oodgeroo Noonuccal ( ; born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska, later Kath Walker (3 November 192016 September 1993) was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, artist and educator, who campaigned for Aboriginal rights. Noonuccal was best known for ...

and

David Unaipon David Ngunaitponi (28 September 1872 – 7 February 1967), known as David Unaipon, was an Aboriginal Australian preacher, inventor, and author. A Ngarrindjeri man, his contribution to Australian society helped to break many stereotypes of Abo ...

(posthumously) *1986: Bob Merritt *1987:

Eric Willmot Eric Paul Willmot , (31 January 1936 – 20 April 2019) was an Australian scholar, educator, writer, and engineer. He latterly claimed aboriginal heritage, which formed a significant portion of his personal and professional identity. It was late ...

*1988:

Lionel Fogarty Lionel Fogarty (born 1958), also published as Lionel Lacey, is an Indigenous Australian poet and political activist. Early life Fogarty was born in 1958 on an Aboriginal reserve at Barambah (now called Cherbourg) in Queensland, where he grew up. ...

*1989: Sally Morgan *1990: Sam Watson *1991: Glenys Ward (also known as Glenyse Ward) and/or

Richard Walley Richard Barry Walley (born 1953) is a Nyungar man and an Aboriginal Australian performer, musician and writer, who has been a campaigner for the Indigenous cause. Walley is also a visual artist. Life and career Walley, born in 1953 in Meekat ...

Other former awards

The Walter Stone Award was established in 1984, named after bibliophile and publisher Wal Stone. The inaugural prize was won by Berenice Eastman for her book about

Nan Chauncy Nan Chauncy (28 May 1900 – 1 May 1970) was a British-born Australian children's writer. Early life Chauncy was born Nancen Beryl Masterman in Northwood, Middlesex (now in London), and emigrated to Tasmania, Australia, with her family in 1912 ...

. In 1999,

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

and

Bruce Pascoe Bruce Pascoe (born 1947) is an Australian writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children's literature. As well as his own name, Pascoe has written under the pen names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass. Pascoe identifies as Abor ...

jointly won the FAW Australian Literature Award.

Current

The national, state and regional offices of the FAW offer a large number of literary competitions and awards. The Victorian chapter offers national awards known as the Fellowship of Australian Writers Victoria Inc. National Literary Awards, including: *

Christopher Brennan Award The Christopher Brennan Award (formerly known as the Robert Frost Prize after American writer Robert Frost) is an Australian award given for lifetime achievement in poetry. The award, established in 1973, takes the form of a bronze plaque which is ...

(formerly the Robert Frost Prize) for lifetime achievement in poetry * Christina Stead Award * Melbourne University Publishing Award "an award for a non-fiction book first published in Australia, of sustained quality and distinction with an Australian theme", annual for over 30 years, sponsored by

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

Press. *

Anne Elder Award The Anne Elder Trust Fund Award for poetry was administered by the Victorian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers from its establishment in 1976 until 2017. From 2018 the award has been administered by Australian Poetry. It is awarded an ...

for poetry *

Barbara Ramsden Award The Barbara Ramsden Award was administered by Fellowship of Australian Writers and awarded annually to an author and editor in recognition of the efforts of both parties to produce a quality fiction or non-fiction book. The winners receive a memo ...

for the editor as well as the author of "a book of quality writing in any field of literature" The FAW Marjorie Barnard Short Story Award is a New South Wales award.

Presidents

Presidents of the Fellowship of Australian Writers include: *

(1928) inaugural * Walter Francis John Jago (1931) *

(1935, the first woman president) * Bartlett Adamson () *

Patsy Adam-Smith Patricia Jean Adam-Smith, (31 May 1924 – 20 September 2001) was an Australian author, historian and servicewoman. She was a prolific writer on a range of subjects covering history, folklore and the preservation of national traditions,Adelaide ...

(1973) * Donald Stuart (1974-1975) *

(1982–1984, 1992–1994)

Footnotes

References

External links

* * * * * {{authority control 1928 establishments in Australia Australian writers' organisations Arts organizations established in 1928