Barry Hill
Barry Hill (born 1943) is an Australian historian, writer, and academic. He has written poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and libretti. He is known for his biography of anthropologist Ted Strehlow, called Broken Song: T G H Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession, published in 2002.
Barry Hill
- Name
- Barry Hill
- Born
- 1943
- Birthplace
- Melbourne, Victoria
- Occupation
- Poet
- Awards
- 1990 Anne Elder Award; 1991 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award - Non-Fiction; 1994 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award - Poetry; 2004 National Biography Award
- Nationality
- Australia
- Education
- University of London · University of Melbourne
- Honours
- Judith Wright Prize · Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry · Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- Languages
- English
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q4864306
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
Statements marked “Documentary record” are set in the article beside the passage they confirm. Each is read from the authority records of the institutions named here; select “Prove” to see the record it was read from, where in that record, and when.
Institutions cited
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Not stated by the sources cited: nationality
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
Barry Hill studied at University of London and University of Melbourne. The recorded working language is English. Employment is recorded with University of Melbourne. Distinctions recorded are Judith Wright Prize, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry and Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Barry Hill • Born — 1943 • Birthplace — Melbourne, Victoria • Occupation — Poet • Language — English • Awards — 1990 Anne Elder Award; 1991 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award - Non-Fiction; 1994 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award - Poetry; 2004 National Biography Award • Years Active — 1966-
Documentary record
Barry Hill (born 1943) is recorded as a poet. The birth of Barry Hill is recorded in 1943.
Early life and education
Early life and education
Hill was born in Melbourne. He studied at the University of Melbourne, gaining his Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Education (BEd) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and from there went to London, where he gained his Master of Arts (MA) degree from the University of London.
Writing career
Writing career
Hill has worked in both Melbourne and London. In London he worked for the Times Literary Supplement. In 1975 Hill became a full-time writer. Between 1998 and 2008 he was poetry editor of The Australian newspaper.
Stage
Stage
Hill was part of the cast in the first public performance of Kenneth G. Ross's important Australian play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts, presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Melbourne Athenaeum on 2 February 1978.
Performance works
Performance works
Hill has produced performance works for radio, including Desert Canticles, that premiered on ABC Radio on 5 February 2001. Hill is quoted as saying the piece was inspired by the following: "Desert Canticles arises out of a marriage, a decade of travelling, and some years writing the literary biography of T.G.H. Strehlow out of Central Australia. I was writing my own poems out of love and the landscape, while trying to fathom Strehlow's great achievement in Songs of Central Australia. So the notion of translation as a metaphor for relationship – with place, with others, and with songs of different cultures (Hebraic, Buddhist, and Aboriginal) became a natural one upon which to thread a radio work."
Personal life
Personal life
Hill is married to Rose Bygrave, a member of the band Goanna, and lives in Queenscliffe, Victoria.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1943
Barry Hill born at Melbourne.
Recognition and collections
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Barry Hill received Judith Wright Prize, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry and Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Authors’ Statements [Barry Hill], Australian Literary Studies, 1981
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1981
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4864306: Barry Hill
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
Awards
• 1991 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction, for Sitting In • 1994 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry for Ghosting William Buckley • 2003 Victorian Premier's Literary Award Non-Fiction award for Broken Song: T G H Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession • 2004 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards NSW Premier's Biennial Prize for Literary Scholarship for Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession • 2004 Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate for The Mood We're In: circa Australia Day 2004 • 2004 National Biography Award for Broken Song: T G H Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession • 2004 Tasmania Pacific Bicentenary History Award for Broken Song: T G H Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession • 2005 Victorian Community History Awards for Best Print/Publication, with and the Borough of Queenscliffe, for The Enduring Rip: A History of Queenscliffe • 2012 Shortlisted for 2012 Forward Prize for Naked Clay
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Barry Hill (Australian writer), revision 1371367823 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Austlit. Austlit — Barry Hill.
- 2.University of Melbourne, Faculty of Arts – School of Culture and Communication. Dr Barry Hill, ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, English Literary Studies.
- 3.The Australian Jewish News, 27 January 1978, p12. "Aussie drama".
- 4.ABC Classic FM. The Listening Room, February 2001.
- 5.Music Australia. Desert Canticles.
- 6.Austlit. Austlit — Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction (1989-1991).
- 7.Austlit. Austlit — New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.
- 8.Austlit. Austlit — The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction (2002-2005).
- 9.Austlit. Austlit — Literary Scholarship (2004-2010).
- 10.State Library of Victoria. The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate: Winner 2004.
- 11.State Library of NSW. "National Biography Award – Past Winners". 21 May 2020.
- 12.2004 Bicentenary of Tasmania, Department of Tourism, Parks, Heritage and the Arts. Winners of the Tasmanian Bicentenary History Prizes.
- 13.. "Victoria Community History Awards – Best Print / Publication".
- 14.Flood, Alison. Jorie Graham takes 2012 Forward prize. The Guardian. 1 October 2012.
- 15.Monash University Publishing. "Barry Hill". 26 July 2022.
- 16.Music Australia. Barry Hill, books and texts.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 34
- Raft: Poems 1983–1990 (Penguin, 1990)
- Ghosting William Buckley (Heinemann, 1993)
- The Inland Sea (Salt Publishing, 2001)
- The War Sonnets (Picaro Press, 2006)
- Necessity: Poems 1996–2006 (soi3 modern poets, 2007)
- As We Draw Ourselves (Five Islands Press, 2008)
- Four Lines East (Whitmore Press, 2009)
- Lines for Birds (UWA, 2011)
- Naked Clay (Shearsman, 2012)
- Grass Hut Work (Shearsman, 2016)
- Eagerly We Burn (Shearsman, 2019)
- Kind Fire (Arcadia, 2020)
- Cold Mountain and the Sea (Arcadia, 2021)
- Lamb (Re.Press, 2024)
- A Rim of Blue (McPhee Gribble, 1978)
- Headlocks & Other Stories (McPhee Gribble, 1983)
- The Schools (Penguin, 1977)
- Near the Refinery (McPhee Gribble, 1980)
- The Best Picture (McPhee Gribble, 1988)
- Sitting In (Heinemann, 1991)
- The Rock: Travelling to Uluru (Allen & Unwin, 1994)
- The Enduring Rip: A History of Queenscliffe (MUP, 2004)
- The Mood We're In: circa Australia Day 2004. Overland 77.
- Broken Song: T G H Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession (Knopf-Random House 2002)
- Music Australia. Barry Hill, books and texts.
- Desert Canticles, Veronica Dobson (performer), Elena Kats-Chernin (composer) (Australian Music Centre, 2001)
- Song of Songs, music by Andrew Schultz (Australian Music Centre)
- Love Strong as Death: a New Song of Songs, composer Andrew Schultz, performed at 'The Studio', The Sydney Opera House, May 2004
- Peacemongers 2014
- University of Melbourne, Faculty of Arts – School of Culture and Communication. Dr Barry Hill, ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, English Literary Studies.
- Austlit. Agent details – Hill, Barry.
- Music Australia. Barry Hill, books and texts.
- 5 Islands Press. Five Islands Press Authors.
- Wallace-Crabb, Chris. 'Free as the hawks above us' : art in the happenstance of the organic. Australian Book Review. 332. 46–47. June 2011.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Authors’ Statements [Barry Hill], Australian Literary Studies, 1981Crossref registry
Institutional witnessInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q4864306: Barry HillWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Barry CornwallAuthor
- Barry DempsterAuthor
- Barry Edward O'MearaAuthor
- Barry GiffordAuthor
- Barry HinesAuthor
- Barry L. ZaretAuthor
- Barry MacSweeneyAuthor
- Barry MitcalfeAuthor
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