Ronald Cecil Hamlyn McKie (11 December 1909 – 8 May 1991) was an Australian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. He was born on 11 May 1909 in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

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 ...

. After receiving his education at the

Brisbane Grammar School Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) is an Independent school, independent, fee charging, non-denominational, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in Spring Hill, Queensland, Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Austra ...

and 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 ...

, he worked as a journalist on newspapers in Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, and China. He served in the AIF during

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 ...

from 1942–1943, following which he served as war correspondent for several Australian and UK newspapers. After the war he worked for

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

's ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

''. McKie died from kidney disease on 8 May 1991 in Canterbury, Melbourne, Australia.

Awards

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

, 1974, and FAW Barbara Ramsden Award (joint winner 1974) for ''The Mango Tree''.

Bibliography

The Australian Dictionary of Biography references a biography and cites other references.

Novels

* '' The Mango Tree'' (1974) * ''The Crushing'' (1977) * ''Bitter Bread'' (1978)

Autobiography

* ''Bali'' (1969) * ''We Have No Dreaming'' (1988)

Non-fiction

* ''This Was Singapore'' (1947) * ''Proud Echo'' (1953) * ''The Survivors'' (1953) * ''The Heroes'' (1960) * ''The Emergence of Malaysia'' (1963) * ''Malaysia in Focus'' (1964) * ''The Company of Animals'' (1966) * ''Singapore'' (1972) * ''Echoes from Forgotten Wars'' (1980)

References

1909 births 1991 deaths Australian non-fiction writers Miles Franklin Award winners People from Toowoomba Writers from Queensland 20th-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian male non-fiction writers People educated at Brisbane Grammar School {{australia-writer-stub