Russell John Oakes (c. 1909 – 15 June 1952) was an Australian writer of short stories and plays, perhaps best remembered for his play ''Enduring as the Camphor Tree'', described by one critic as "Australia's first great play".

History

Oakes was born in Paddington, New South Wales, a son of William John Oakes and Maude Matilda Oakes (née Stokes), later of

Pagewood, New South Wales Pagewood is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 8 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. It is part of the Bayside Council. Pagewood has a mixture of residential and industri ...

. Like many Sydney children in the 1920s, he contributed to "The Enchanted Castle" and "Treasure Tower" pages for children in ''The Telegraph'' and became a member of their Junior Literary Society. He was also a member of the ''Sydney Sun'''s "Sunbeamers" and later their Free-Lance Club, which had clubrooms at Burdekin House, where they held a

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

of his play ''As Between Gentlemen'' on 18 August 1931. He joined the Regular Army, and was stationed with the Field Ambulance in Western Australia, where he joined the Society of Playwrights (WA) and was its chairman in 1939. After the outbreak of WWII he was reassigned as an army instructor in Sydney, then was sent to Papua New Guinea on active service.

Works

His works include: *''The Voice of Jerome Keddle'' (1930 play) *''Wool Gathering Russell'' (1935 play) *''Water Goes East'' (three-act play) copyright registration 1939 *''Enduring as the Camphor Tree'' (1946 play) copyright registration December 1950 *''Judgment'' (1950 one-act play) copyright registration 1950 *''No One Spoke'' (1945 wartime short story, in several collections) * ''The Body in Room 13'' (1930 short story) *Two radio plays starring Rod Taylor: :*''Conscious Effort'' (1951), set in Papua, for Actor's Choice broadcast :*''The Hands of Mary Clifford'' (4 April 1952) for ABC

Family

Oakes married (Helena) Joy Truelove of

Kingsford, New South Wales Kingsford is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kingsford is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Lo ...

on 28 June 1941. Their home in 1952 was at 36 Leonard Avenue Kingsford. They had two sons, Geoffrey and Owen, one of whom was born on 17 September 1944.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakes, Russell 1909 births 1952 deaths Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian short story writers People from New South Wales