Robert David FitzGerald III AM

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(22 February 1902 – 24 May 1987) was an Australian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

FitzGerald was born in

Hunters Hill, New South Wales Hunters Hill is a suburb of Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hunters Hill is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municip ...

, a third-generation Australian of Irish extraction, and studied science at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He left before graduating, however, and followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather Robert D. FitzGerald by taking up a post as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

. In the 1930s he travelled to

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

where he worked the Native Lands Commission, surveying tribal boundaries, an experience important to his poetry. He spent

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

doing engineering surveys in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and working for the Australian Department of the Interior (from 1939 to 1965). FitzGerald's poetry, together with that of

Kenneth Slessor Kenneth Adolphe Slessor (27 March 190130 June 1971) was an Australian poet, journalist and official war correspondent in World War II. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences int ...

, was an important

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

influence on Australian literature of the late 1920s and 1930s, being at once more serious and more workmanlike than much of the poetry of the period.

Jack Lindsay John Lindsay , FRSL (20 October 1900 – 8 March 1990) was an Australian-born writer. He was born in Melbourne, but spent his formative years in Brisbane. He was the eldest son of Norman Lindsay and brother of author Philip Lindsay. Early li ...

wrote of them: In later life, too, FitzGerald was influential, not only through his poetry but as a lecturer and reviewer. He died in

Glen Innes, New South Wales Glen Innes is a parish and town on the Northern Tablelands, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the centre of the Glen Innes Severn Shire Council. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and ...

, aged eighty-four.

Bibliography

Poetry collections

* ''To Meet the Sun'' (1926) * ''The Greater Apollo : Seven Metaphysical Songs'' (1927) * '' Moonlight Acre'' (1938) * ''This Night's Orbit : Verses'' (1953) * ''

Southmost Twelve ''Southmost Twelve'' (1962) is the fifth poetry collection by Australian poet Robert D. Fitzgerald. It won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1962. The collection consists of 32 poems, all except three of which were previously published in ...

'' (1962) * ''Robert D. Fitzgerald : Selection and introduction by the author'' (1963) * ''Of Some Country : 27 Poems'' (1963) * ''Forty Years' Poems'' (1965) * ''R. D. Fitzgerald Reads From His Own Work'' (1971) * ''Product : Later Verses'' (1977) * ''Some Poems of R. D. Fitzgerald'' (1983)

Single poem volumes

* ''Heemskerck Shoals'' (1944) * ''

Between Two Tides ''Between Two Tides'' (1952) is a long narrative poem by Australian poet R. D. Fitzgerald, which included illustrations by Norman Lindsay. It won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1952. Outline The poem is "drawn from ''An Account of the Nat ...

'' (1952) * '' The Wind at Your Door'' (1958) * ''One Such Morning'' (1966)

Edited

* ''Australian Poetry 1942'' (1942) * ''Mary Gilmore'' (1963) * ''The Letters of Hugh McCrae'' (1970)

Essays

* ''Of Places and Poetry'' (1976)

Criticism

* ''The Elements of Poetry'' (1963)

Drama

* ''Time Wasted : A Play'' (1926)

Awards

* 1928 Panton Arts Club (UK), Festival of Arts and Letters Bronze Medal, winner for ''To Meet the Sun'' * 1938 Australian Literature Society Poetry Gold Medal winner for ''Moonlight Acre'' * 1938 Australia's Sesquicentenary Celebration Long Poem Prize, winner for ''Essay on Memory'' * 1951 Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature * 1952

Grace Leven Prize for Poetry The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was an annual poetry award in Australia, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by William Baylebridge who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress ...

winner for ''Between Two Tides'' * 1959

winner for ''The Wind at Your Door : A Poem'' * 1962

winner for ''Southmost Twelve'' * 1974 Robert Frost Medallion (now known as

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 ...

) * 1982 Member 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 ...

(AM) for services to literatureAM 1982
/ref>

Notes

External links

biographical essay by Rafe Champion.

Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA (Retrieved 13 August 2007) 1902 births 1987 deaths Members of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian poets Australian male poets ALS Gold Medal winners 20th-century Australian male writers {{Australia-writer-stub