Jill Hellyer

Jill Hellyer (1925–2012) was an Australian poet and writer, and one of the founding members of the Australian Society of Authors.[1] She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to Australian poetry.

Jill Hellyer
BornApril 1925 (1925-04)
Sydney, Australia
DiedDecember 2012 (2013-01) (aged 87)
Goulburn, Australia
Occupationpoet, novelist

Biography

Jill Hellyer was born in 1925 in Sydney, Australia, to parents Harold and Ruby. Her father died when Jill was a child, followed by her elder brother Allan, who died of a chronic illness in his teenage years. Jill's mother, Ruby, was diagnosed with leukaemia and died when Jill was 12. Jill was sent to live with two unmarried aunts in the Sydney suburb of Seaforth, who raised her until adulthood and inspired several of her better-known poems, including "Living With Aunts", which is included in The Puncher and Wattman anthology of Australian Poetry.[2] She attended North Sydney Girls High School.

An avid writer throughout her life, Jill Hellyer was a consistent contributor of poetry and prose to literary magazines such as Southerly, Overland, Meanjin and Heat. She helped to establish the Australian Society of Authors and was its foundation secretary from 1963 to 1971. She was subsequently made a life member for her services. In 2006 she was awarded an OAM for that work and her contribution to Australian poetry. She published three collections of verse and a novel, as well as editing a biography and compiling a collection of satirical epitaphs.

Hellyer raised three children, two of whom had significant disabilities. She had six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She died in Goulburn on 27 December 2012.

Bibliography
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Poetry
Collections
  • The Exile – Selected Verse, 1969, Alpha Books.
  • Song of the Humpback Whales – Selected Verse, 1981, Sisters Publishing Ltd.
  • The Listening Place, 2007, Ginninderra Press.
List of poems
Title Year First published Reprinted/collected
Moment past 1965 Hellyer, Jill (March 1965). "Moment past". Meanjin Quarterly. 24 (1): 115.

Novels
  • Not Enough Savages, 1975 Alpha Books

Non-fiction
  • Tomb It May Concern Ed.

Themes

Hellyer's work was highly influenced by her upbringing and adult life in Australia. Many of her poems centred around Australian history (The Last Song of Edward Kelly, The Ballad of Elinor Magee) or native landscape and wildlife (Song of the Humpback Whales, Dingo, Manly Pines). Others offered poignant portraits of Australian life (O'Regan's Bride, Miss Petty's Sunlight). However, Hellyer's most enduring and engaging work related to her subjective experiences of love, loss, and intensely felt details of everyday life (Alone, Living with Aunts, Young Girl Awakening, The Exile). Poems including To My Deaf Son, Facing Blindness, and Schizophrenia depicted Hellyer's struggles in raising two disabled sons.

Awards

Notes
  1. Australian Society of Authors' history http://www.asauthors.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=ASP0016/ccms.r?PageID=10014 Archived 4 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ISBN 978-1-921450-29-7 (2010)

References
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.