Ruth Park was born
on this day in 1923 in Auckland, New Zealand. She moved to Australia in 1942 and
married the writer D'Arcy Niland. She is best known for her "Harp in the South" novels: The Harp in the South 1948, Poor Man's Orange 1949 and Missus 1985. She was awarded the Miles Franklin
Award for her novel Swords and Crowns and Rings in 1977. Beyond her adult novels she also wrote many works for children, including The Muddle-Headed Wombat series and Playing Beattie Bow 1980, which won the Children's Book of the Year Award. After Niland's death in 1967, Ruth Park lived on Norfolk Island from 1973-85 before returning to Sydney, where she now lives.
David Ireland was born on this day in 1927, in Lakemba, New South Wales. His second novel The Unknown Industrial Prisoner won the Miles Franklin Award in 1971, as did his later novels The Glass Canoe in 1976, and A Woman of the Future in 1979. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1981.
