Fifty years in book publishing is not a particularly long period of time. In the centuries-old tradition of European universities and the dissemination of knowledge, it is but a brief span of years. In Aboriginal terms it is only a fleeting moment during forty thousand years or more of continuous cultural practice.
For half a century UQP has not only been inextricably bound up in the scholarly and literary life of the nation, it has played a crucial role in giving voice to emerging writers who now contribute so much to mainstream Australian cultural life. It has been very much a writer’s press.
Born in 1948 in the aftermath of the Second World War and nurtured in the heady and turbulent years of the sixties and seventies UQP has been an intimate part of the evolution of modern Australia. Its extraordinary range of titles has reflected the preoccupations of a nation undergoing rapid, continuous change. Many UQP authors have been at the forefront of that change.
As a publisher UQP has always been prepared to take risks. It has had the courage to back its judgment as to the innate value of authors and subjects that, whilst not fashionable at the time, soon proved to be central to the needs of an increasingly eager reading public. UQP developed and sustained a remarkable track record as a pacesetter in Australian publishing and as a nurturer of new writing talent. It has consistently broken through, against the constraints of conservative thinking and timid editorial practice in Australian publishing.
What is equally remarkable is that UQP has achieved all of this from a small base, on a university campus at the geographical and cultural outer edge of the continent. Perhaps by not being at the centre of population, and therefore not so caught up in the daily machinations of big city life, UQP has had a vantage point, an acuteness of vision, that has provided a wider perspective on Australian life. Certainly this has better enabled UQP to respond to the regional differences in Australian writing and has allowed a greater empathy with the voice of the individual just starting out.
A university press should be a risk taker. It should be at the forefront of change. It should be involved with the difficult aspects of cultural expression and new writing. It should be concerned about standards and should also be a pacesetter and provide leadership. It should come as no surprise then that UQP strives conscientiously in all of these areas. As to the success of our endeavours, that is for others to judge.
This book attempts to chart our course to date and to provide some insight into the workings of UQP at critical times in its existence and to give personal voice to the individuals who developed UQP with passion and daring over the past half century. It does not attempt to be exhaustive or encyclopedic. Over the fifty years there have been many, many talented people who have made UQP into a publishing house that is respected and admired both nationally and internationally.
For those of us still rowing in the galleys of UQP we salute those who have been at the oars before us and we modestly hope that we have maintained and perhaps added to the proud legacy of UQP as an innovative and fiercely independent Australian publisher.
We hope too that whilst reading this somewhat unconventional history of UQP you not only enjoy it, but gain some inkling of the sense of achievement and pride in UQP's reputation as a writer's press.
Laurie Muller, AM, General Manager, September 1998
