• Source: Patsy Adam-Smith

Patricia Jean Adam-Smith, (31 May 1924 – 20 September 2001) was an Australian author, historian and servicewoman. She was a prolific writer on a range of subjects covering history, folklore and the preservation of national traditions, and wrote a two-part autobiography. Her other notable works include The Anzacs (1978), Australian Women at War (1984) and Prisoners of War (1992).




Life


Born out of wedlock, Patricia Jean Smith was adopted by railway workers, her mother a Caretaker and her father a Ganger. She lived in a number of small Victorian country towns and was educated at small country schools. She enlisted as a nursing Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) during the Second World War, serving from 17 March 1943 to 14 July 1944. Later, she was the first female Australian articled seaman when she worked on an Australian merchant ship from 1954 to 1960 and trained as a radio operator. She then lived in Hobart, Tasmania, from 1960 to 1967, where she worked as an Adult Education Officer. In 1970, she took the position of Manuscripts Field Officer for the State Library of Victoria, a job she held until 1982.
From 1976 to 2001, Adam-Smith was a member of the Board of Directors for the Royal Humane Society Australasia, and from 1983 to 2001 she was a Committee Member of the Museum of Victoria. Her appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1994 was made in recognition of her service to community history, particularly through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and the recording of oral histories.
While her main study of and work in oral history was carried out in Australia, Ireland, England and the United States, Adam-Smith's research took her to over 60 countries.




Literary career


Adam-Smith wrote on a wide range of subjects, but her deepest interest was Australian railways. She contributed actively to Australia's literary community, and in 1973 she was State President of Australian Writers in Victoria and the Federal President of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.
In 1978 her book The Anzacs shared The Age Book of the Year Award and was made into a 13-part TV series.
Her autobiography was published in three parts: Hear The Train Blow, the award-winning Good-bye Girlie, and There was a Ship.




Awards


1978: The Age Book of the Year Award for The Anzacs
1980: Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire
1993: Order of Australian Association Book Prize for Prisoners of War
1994: Awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia
1995: Audiobook of the Year, Benalla Award, for Good-bye Girlie
1995: TDK Australian Audio Book Awards, Unabridged Non-Fiction Category, for Good-bye Girlie




Bibliography


Hear the Train Blow: An Australian Childhood, Ure Smith, 1964
Moonbird People, Rigby, 1965
There was a Ship, Rigby, 1967
Hobart Sketchbook (with drawing by Max Angus), Rigby, 1968
Tiger Country, Rigby, 1968
The Rails Go Westward, Macmillan of Australia, 1969
Folklore of the Australian Railwaymen (collected and edited), Macmillan of Australia, 1969
No Tribesman, Rigby, 1971
Across Australia by Indian-Pacific, Thomas Nelson, c1971
The Barcoo Salute, Rigby, 1973
Launceston Sketchbook (with drawing by Arthur Phillips), Rigby, 1973
Romance of Australian Railways, Rigby, 1973
The Desert Railway, Rigby, 1974
Neon Signs to the Mutes: Poetry by Young Australians (ed. with Michael Dugan and J.S. Hamilton), Fellowship of Australian Writers and BHP,1976
Footloose in Australia, Rigby, 1977
Historic Tasmania Sketchbook (with text by Joan Woodberry, and drawings by Max Angus, Frank Mather and Arthur Phillips), Rigby, 1977
Port Arthur Sketchbook (with drawings by Arthur Phillips), Rigby, 1977
Tasmania Sketchbook (with drawing by Max Angus), Rigby, Adelaide, 1977
Trader to the Islanders (originally published as There was a Ship), Rigby, 1977
The ANZACS, Thomas Nelson (Australia), 1978
Islands of Bass Strait (with photographs by John Powell), Rigby, 1978
Victorian and Edwardian Melbourne from Old Photographs, John Ferguson, 1979
Romance of Victorian railways, Rigby, 1980
Hear the Train Blow: Patsy Adam-Smith's Classic Autobiography of Growing Up in the Bush, Nelson, 1981
Outback Heroes, Lansdowne Press, 1981
The Shearers, Nelson, 1982
When We Rode the Rails, Lansdowne, 1983
Australian Women at War, Nelson, 1984
Heart of Exile: Ireland, 1848, and the Seven Patriots Banished..., Nelson, 1986
Australia: Beyond the Dream-time, William Heinemann Australia, 1987
Prisoners of War, Viking,1992
Trains of Australia: All Aboard, Australia Post, c1993,
Goodbye Girlie, Viking, 1994




See also


Australian outback literature of the 20th century




Notes






References


Adelaide, Debra (1986) Australian Women Writers: A Bibliographic Guide, London, Pandora
Australian Women Biographical Entry
Price, Jenna (1994) "When the spirit is willing, write about it", The Canberra Times, 12 November 1994




External links


Patsy Adam-Smith interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection – audio recording

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Adam Levine
• Daftar penulis perempuan Australia
• The Tribe (seri televisi)
• Daftar penyanyi country
• Gwyneth Paltrow
• Kematian dan pemakaman Pangeran Philip, Adipati Edinburgh
• Daftar film Amerika tahun 1996
• Patsy Adam-Smith
• Robyn Davidson
• Van Diemen's Land
• 1924 in Australia
• Deaths in September 2001
• List of authors by name: A
• Anzacs
• List of Australian women writers
• Australian folklore
• Patricia Neal