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ACTU Dame Mary Gilmore Award (1956-1985)
Subcategory of Awards Australian Awards
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History

The Trade Unions established a Mary Gilmore Award in 1956 to encourage literature 'significant to the life and aspirations of the Australian People.'

In 1985, the Mary Gilmore Award for Poetry was established: for winners after 1985, see Mary Gilmore Award.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 1980

joint winner Meeting by Moonlight i "The Rocks? Aye, matey,", Dulcie Hall , 1981 single work poetry
— Appears in: Artlook , January - February vol. 7 no. 1-2 1981; (p. 22)
joint winner Land Rights i "At last a place I can call my own!", Merle Glasson , 1981 single work poetry
— Appears in: Artlook , January - February vol. 7 no. 1-2 1981; (p. 22) Landscapes 1982; (p. 10-13) Selected Poems 1988; (p. 39-41)

Year: 1979

winner In the Kitchens : Stockton i "So I moved in with Nana, learning to cook", Susan Hampton , 1981 single work poetry
— Appears in: Costumes : Poems and Prose 1981; (p. 17) The Younger Australian Poets 1983; (p. 176) The Oxford Book of Australian Women's Verse 1995; (p. 200)

Year: 1973

winner y separately published work icon Condolences of the Season : Selected Poems Bruce Dawe , Melbourne : Longman Cheshire , 1971 Z546924 1971 selected work poetry

Year: 1970

winner y separately published work icon Moon in the Ground Keith Antill , Sydney : Norstrilia Press , 1979 Z35599 1979 single work novel science fiction 'What is really happening at the famous and very secret US base just outside of Alice Springs? Communications with satellites . . . or communications with Pandora? And who is Pandora? An ancient Aboriginal god, the origin of the Rainbow Snake legends from the dreamtime? A computer with a quirky sense of humour? A vanguard of an interstellar invasion fleet? Or is the reality much simpler . . . and much more dangerous?' (Source: back cover blurb.)

Year: 1967

winner form y separately published work icon Tilley Landed On Our Shores Pat Flower , Melbourne : ABC Television , 1969 7108860 1969 single work film/TV historical fiction

A comic account of Governor Phillips's 1788 landing in Australia.

Little is now known about this instalment in Australian Plays, although Lenore Nicklin noted in the Sydney Morning Herald ('The Fantastic Life Comes Over', 1 January 1970, p.4) that 'Ready When You Are, C.B., and Tilley Landed On Our Shores would have joint claims for the worst program of the year.'

Works About this Award

For Oodgeroo, the Dawn is at Hand 1993 single work obituary (for Oodgeroo Noonuccal )
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17 September 1993; (p. 19)
The 'Fringe Dweller' Who Won World Literary Acclaim 1993 single work obituary (for Oodgeroo Noonuccal )
— Appears in: The Age , 17 September 1993; (p. 11)
Sydney Teacher Wins Dame Mary Gilmore Award for Poetry 1979 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 September 1979; (p. 4)
"The Last Blue Sea" Wins First Trade Union Novel Award 1959 single work criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 14 1959; (p. 33-34)
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