# 1950 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1950.

## Books

* James Aldridge – The Hunter
* Jon Cleary – Just Let Me Be
* Miles Franklin – Prelude to Waking
* Catherine Gaskin
** All Else is Folly
** Dust in the Sunlight
* Frank Hardy – Power Without Glory
* Ion Idriess – The Wild White Man of Badu
* Norman Lindsay – Dust or Polish?
* Philip Lindsay – There is No Escape
* Katharine Susannah Prichard – Winged Seeds
* Nevil Shute – A Town Like Alice
* F. J. Thwaites – Oasis of Shalimar
* E. V. Timms – The Beckoning Shore

## Short stories

* Nancy Cato – "The Trap"
* Alan Marshall – "Street Scene at Midday"
* John Morrison – "The Children"
* Dal Stivens – "The Batting Wizard from the City"
* Judah Waten
** "Mother"
** "Uncle Isaac"

## Children's and Young Adult fiction

* Ivan Southall – Meet Simon Black
* Ruth C. Williams – Verity of Sydney Town

## Crime and mystery

* Alec Coppel – Mr. Denning Drives North
* Arthur Upfield
** The Bachelors of Broken Hill
** The Widows of Broome

## Poetry

* David Campbell
** "Ariel"
** "Night Sowing"
** "Who Points the Swallow"
* Nancy Cato
** The Darkened Window : Poems
** "Mallee Farmer"
* C.J. Dennis & Alec H. Chisholm – Selected Verse of C. J. Dennis
* Rosemary Dobson
** "The Bystander"
** "The Raising of the Dead"
* Dorothy Hewett
** "Go Down Red Roses"
** "In Midland Where the Trains Go By"
** "Once I Rode With Clancy..."
* Jack Lindsay – Peace is Our Answer
* Vance Palmer & Margaret Sutherland – Old Australian Bush Ballads
* Roland Robinson
** "The Coal"
** "Deserted Homestead"
* Douglas Stewart – "Helmet Orchid"
* Francis Webb – "Morgan's Country"
* Judith Wright
** "The Cedars"
** "The Cicadas"
** "Legend"
** "To a Child"

## Drama

* Kylie Tennant – Tether a Dragon
* Musette Morell – Ten Puppet Plays

## Biography

* Don Bradman – Farewell to Cricket
* Nettie Palmer – Henry Handel Richardson : A Study

## Non-fiction

* Arthur Groom – I Saw A Strange Land: Journeys in Central Australia

## Awards and honours
### Literary

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| ALS Gold Medal | Jon Cleary | Just Let Me Be | Werner Laurie |

### Children's and Young Adult

| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Older Readers | Alan J. Villiers, illustrated by Charles Pont | Whalers of the Midnight Sun | Angus and Robertson |

### Poetry

| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Grace Leven Prize for Poetry | Not awarded | | |

## Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1950 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
* 15 January – Peter Pierce, academic, editor and critic (died 2018)
* 16 January – Brian Castro, novelist
* 24 March – Andrea Goldsmith, novelist
* 26 July – Terry Denton, writer and illustrator
* 8 August – Philip Salom, poet and novelist
* 1 September – John Forbes, poet (died 1998)
* 6 September – Robyn Davidson, travel writer
* 27 September – John Marsden, writer and teacher
* 14 October – Kate Grenville, novelist
* 25 November – Alexis Wright, novelist
* 12 December – Louis Nowra, playwright
* 22 December – Nick Enright, playwright (died 2003)
Unknown date
* Ian Irvine, novelist
* Andrew Sant, poet
* Carole Wilkinson, writer for children

## Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1950 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
* 10 August – Peter Airey, poet and politician (born 1865)
* 20 November – Erle Cox, novelist (born 1873)