Guide to the Papers of Robert Gray [MSS 016]

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Manuscript Name Papers of Robert Gray
Manuscript Number MSS 016
Last Updated August 2021
Extent 2.72 m (22 boxes)
Location Special Collections, UNSW Canberra
Abstract The collection includes correspondence, manuscript and typescript drafts of poetry and prose, notes, notebooks, newspaper cuttings, photographs and audio cassettes. The papers document Gray's poetry and prose writings from the early 1960s, through to publication of his most recent poetry collection in 1998. Also unpublished manuscript on Dale Hickey the artist.

Collection Subject Type

Literary

Scope and Content

The collection includes correspondence, manuscript and typescript drafts of poetry and prose, notes, notebooks, newspaper cuttings, photographs and audio cassettes. The correspondence reflects Gray's strong friendships with distinguished literary and artistic figures both in Australia and overseas. There are extensive sequences of letters from notable writers and artists, including Tom Carment, Ted Hillyer, Kevin Hart and Michael Hulse. Other major correspondents include Alec Bolton, Roo Borson, Peter Boyle, John Carrick, Gary Catalano, Michael Duffy, Stephen Edgar, Russell Erwin, Helen Garner, Alan Gould, Philip Hammial, Dennis Haskell, Philip Hodgins, David Ireland, Kate Jennings, Paul Kane, Galway Kinnell, John Kinsella, Alun Leach-Jones, Philip Levine, David Marr, Roger McDonald, Andrew Motion, Les Murray, Geoff Page, Peter Porter, Jennifer Rankin, Elizabeth Riddell, Roland Robinson, Judith Rodriguez, Andrew Sant, Vicki Viidikas, Chris Wallace-Crabbe and Patrick White.

Gray's method of meticulously refining his work is reflected in the large number of drafts of his poems included in the collection. The collection also features prose writings regarding Thomas Hardy, Dale Hickey, Ted Hillyer, Alun Leach-Jones, John Shaw Neilson, Wilfred Owen, Peter Porter, Patrick White, Brett Whiteley and William Carlos Williams. These writings reflect Gray's intense interest in poetry, painting, Buddhism and nature.

Date Range of Content

1957-1999

Biographical Note

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gray_(poet)

Robert William Geoffrey Gray was born 23 February 1945 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. He was educated locally before becoming a cadet journalist on a country newspaper. He moved to Sydney soon afterwards, and worked as a mail sorter and bookseller, and wrote for a magazine and an advertising agency. He later reviewed poetry for the ABC and the Sydney morning herald.

Gray was Writer-in-residence at Geelong College in 1982, followed by the University of New England in 1983, Meiji University, Japan in 1985, and the University of Western Australia in 1990.

Gray is highly regarded by his fellow poets. The Oxford companion to Australian literature quotes Les Murray, who has said that Gray has "the best eye in Australian poetry". Gray's poems are of varied length and form, and his work is noted for its accessibility. His poems frequently explore the details of particular landscapes and the human figures that inhabit them, as well as reminiscences from the poet's childhood.

Gray's publications include:
Introspect, retrospect (1970)
Creekwater journal (1974)
Grass script (1979)
The younger Australian poets (edited with Geoffrey Lehmann, 1983)
The skylight (1984)
Selected poems 1963-1983 (1985)
Piano (1988)
Alun Leach-Jones (edited with Graeme Sturgeon and Christopher Gentle, 1988)
Selected poems (1990)
Australian poetry in the twentieth century (edited with Geoffrey Lehmann, 1991)
Sydney's poems : a selection of the occasion of the city's one hundred and fiftieth anniversary 1842-1992 (edited with Vivian Smith, 1992)
Selected poems of Shaw Neilson (edited 1993)
Certain things (1993)
New and selected poems (1995)
Lineations (1996)
Drawn from life : the journals of John Olsen (edited 1997)
New selected poems (1998)
Lineations: selected poems (1998)
A spill of light, a thrust of shadow (edited 1999)
Grass script : selected earlier poems (2001)
Afterimages (2002).

Gray's writing has been supported through numerous fellowships from the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and he is recipient of numerous nominations and awards, including:
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, Skills and Arts Development, Individuals, 2004 Note: six-month residency at the BR Whiting Library, Rome, 1 February - 31 July 2005
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, 2003: shortlisted for Afterimages 
The Age Book of the Year Award, Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize, 2002: winner for Afterimages 
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, The C J Dennis Prize for Poetry, 2002: winner for Afterimages 
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, C.J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, 1994: winner for Certain things 
Patrick White Award, 1990: winner
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Poetry, 1986: winner for Selected poems 1963-1983 
Festival Awards for Literature (SA), John Bray Award for Poetry, 1986: winner for Selected poems 1963-1983 
Grace Leven Poetry Prize, 1985: joint winner for Selected poems 1963-1983 
Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, 1981 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Poetry, 1980: commended for Grass script

Reference:
Robert Gray's Web page http://www.duffyandsnellgrove.com.au/authors/gray.htm
Contemporary poets, 7th edition, St. James Press, Detroit, 2001, Robert Gray, p. 446-447
AustLit : The Resource for Australian Literature, January 2005.

 

Administrative Information

 

Access and Copying Conditions

Access: The permission of Robert Gray the donor, is required to access the items. Permission has been approved for researchers to access the unpublished manuscript on the artist Dale Hickey (Box 19). 

This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy. 

Copying: The permission of Robert Gray is required to copy material authored by himself. Permission has been approved to copy his unpublished manuscript on the artist Dale Hickey for private study and research. 

Preferred Citation

Papers of Robert Gray, Special Collections, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, MSS 016, Box [Number], Folder [Number].

Provenance

The collection was acquired from Gray in seven instalments, from 1986 to 1999.

 

Subject Keywords

 

Subjects

Australian poets, Australian poetry, Australian artists

Personal Names

Robert Gray 1945-

Corporate Names

Angus & Robertson, Arc Publications (UK), Australian Council for the Arts, University of Queensland Press, NSW Department of Education Resource Services.

Occupations

Poets

Artists

 

Container List

 

Series 1 Correspondence, 1968-1999

The correspondence documents Gray's strong friendships with distinguished literary and artistic figures both in Australia and overseas. This series features extensive and revealing sequences of letters from artists Tom Carment and Ted Hillyer, and writers Kevin Hart and Michael Hulse. The letters from Hillyer highlight what Gray once described as one of the most influential friendships in his life. There is also correspondence with editors and publishers, fellow poets and other literary figures concerning poetry, publishing and the Australian literary scene. Much of the publishing correspondence concerns plans by Gray and Hulse to publish a festschrift in honour of Les Murray's 60th birthday.

Other major correspondents featured in this series are Angus & Robertson, Arc Publications, Alec Bolton, Roo Borson, Peter Boyle, John Carrick, Gary Catalano, Michael Duffy, Stephen Edgar, Russell Erwin, Helen Garner, Alan Gould, Philip Hammial, Dennis Haskell, Philip Hodgins, David Ireland, Kate Jennings, Paul Kane, Galway Kinnell, John Kinsella, Alun Leach-Jones, Philip Levine, David Marr, Roger McDonald, Andrew Motion, Les Murray, Geoff Page, Peter Porter, Jennifer Rankin, Elizabeth Riddell, Roland Robinson, Judith Rodriguez, Andrew Sant, University of Queensland Press, Vicki Viidikas, Chris Wallace-Crabbe and Patrick White.

Folder 1 
A-B, 1974-1998

Don Anderson, Angus & Robertson, Arc Publications (UK), Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Defence Force Academy Library, Bruce Beaver, John Bell of the Bell Shakespeare Company, Robert Berlind, Judith Beveridge, Harold Bloom, Alec Bolton, Roo Borson (with notes by Borson re Gray's New and selected poems (1995), 2 p.), Janice M. Bostok and Peter Boyle; together with correspondents lists (3) compiled by Robert Gray

Folder 2 
C, 1980-1998

Tom Carment, John Carrick, Gary Catalano, James Charlton, Alan Close, Eleanor Colman, Di Conroy, Joseph Conroy, Paul Croucher and Harry Cummins

Folder 3 
D-F, 1969-1998

Rosemary Dobson, Jeff Doyle, Michael Dransfield, Philip Drew, Michael Duffy, Maurice Dunford, Geoffrey Dutton, Stephen Edgar, Russell Erwin, Beverly Farmer and Anne Friedlander

Folder 4 
G, 1977-1998

Helen Garner, Sophie Gee, David Gilbey, Jonathan Goodman, Alan Gould, Jamie Grant, Robert Gray and Dorothy Green

Folder 5 
H, 1975-1999

Hale & Iremonger, Ian Hamilton, Philip Hammial, Harbourfront Centre (Canada), Robert Harris, Martin Harrison, Kevin Hart (with Hart's typescript poem 'Nadia Comanechi (Montreal, 1976)'), Hartley [?], Dennis Haskell, Helen Hayward-Brown, Kris Hemensley (with Hemensley's annotated typescript poems 'The address' and 'The badger: along a line of Seamus Heaney's (for Peter Gebhardt)' and annotated typescript photocopy poem 'Resurrection') and Philip Hodgins

Folder 6-7 
Ted Hillyer, 1985-1999

Folder 8 
Michael Hulse, 1992-1998

With Hulse's typescript poems 'For Dorle, from Fatehpur Sikri' and 'Simla'

Folder 9 
I-K, 1975-1999

David Ireland, Kate Jennings, Jeremy [?], Jo [?], John [?], Harriet Jones, Manfred Jurgenson, Paul Kane, Galway Kinnell, John Kinsella and Christopher Koch (with photocopies of 11 published poems by Koch)

Folder 10 
L-M, 1973-1999

Alun Leach-Jones, Philip Levine, David Marr, David McCooey, Roger McDonald of University of Queensland Press, Alex McGregor, Stephen McInerney, Lesley McKay, Mark McLeod, Gillian Mears, Julian Mellick, Anthony Miller, Andrew Motion and Les Murray

Folder 11 
N-P, 1972-1999

Vera Newsom, Pixie O'Harris (with O'Harris's annotated typescript of story extract 'The changeling', 2 p.), Carole Oles, Oxford University Press, Geoff Page (with Page's typescript poem 'As if the earth'), K. F. Pearson, Phil [?], Justice C. W. Pincus, Poetry International, Peter Porter (with Porter's typescript poem 'We 'see' his poems with a thrilling freshness') and Primavera Press enclosing letter of Les Murray

Folder 12 
R-S, 1968-1998

Jennifer Rankin, Peter Reading, Elizabeth Riddell, Roland Robinson, William Robinson, Judith Rodriguez (with annotated transcript photocopy of Rodriguez interviewing Gray regarding Jennifer Rankin, 10 p., 31 March 1989, and typescript notes by Gray, 1 p.), Sue Ross, John Rowland, Mary Jo Salter, Andrew Sant, Michael Sariban, Thomas Shapcott, Janet Shaw, Elizabeth Webby of Southerly, Arthur Spyrou (with Spyrou's annotated typescript poems 'The truth about the somnambulist', 'Maples', 'Canvas', 'Mother's ageing mother', 'Now', 'Looking for Mallarme in London' and 'Letter to my father'), Noel Stock, Stuartholme School (Qld) and Sydney Grammar School

Folder 13 
T-Y, 1975-1998

Peter Thompson, Lyn Tranter, Brian Turner, University of Queensland Press, University of Western Australia, Sonja Vanderaa, Vicki Viidikas, Chris Wallace-Crabbe (with Wallace-Crabbe's typescript poem 'Western district - for Robert Gray'), Rosanna Warren, Sean Wayman, Bryan Westwood, Rodney Wetherell (with Wetherell's typescript comment 'The Patrick White award for 1990', 2 p.), Patrick White, William [?], William Heinemann, Barbara Williams, Amy Witting, Larraine Wood and William Yang

 

Series 2 Poetry

This series comprises drafts of poems and other papers relating to Gray's poetry collections Introspect, retrospect (1970), Creekwater journal (1974), Grass script (1979), The skylight (1984), Selected poems 1963-1983 (1985), Piano (1988), Selected poems (1990), Certain things (1993), New and selected poems (1995), Lineations (1996), New selected poems(1998) and Lineations: selected poems (1998). There are also drafts of miscellaneous and unpublished poems by Gray. The numerous drafts of individual poems reflect Gray's meticulous method of reworking and refining his work, often over long periods of time.

2.1 Introspect, retrospect (1970)

This subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts of poems included in Gray's first poetry collection, which was published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Lyre Bird Writers. A selection of poems from Introspect, retrospect was republished in Creekwater journal in 1974, and drafts of these poems are included in Subseries 2.2.

Folder 1 
Manuscript and typescript drafts of poems

Including 'During the bombing, 1967', 'Fragment', 'The idiom', 'The moth', 'Sitting about, watching the boats', 'The thief', 'Thinking of Malliol' and 'To Albert Marquet'

2.2 Creekwater journal (1974)

This subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts, page proofs and a copy of Creekwater journal, which was published in St Lucia, Queensland, by the University of Queensland Press. The poetry drafts include poems originally published in Introspect, retrospect (1970).

Folder 1-2 
Manuscript, annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts of poems

Including 'A labourer', 'Back there', 'Boarding house poems', 'Bright day', 'The cats', 'Church grounds', 'Credo', 'The death of Ronald Ryan (February 3 1967)', '18 poems', 'Evening', 'The farm woman speaks', 'The great Buddha, Kamakura', 'The hospital', ''I'm sitting inside...'', 'Journey to the North Coast', 'Kangaroo', 'Landscape 1', 'Landscape 2', 'Landscape 3', 'Landscape 4', 'The meat works', 'Morning', 'Outside', 'North Coast town', 'The pine', 'On climbing the Stone Gate peak', 'Poem', 'Salvation Army hostel', 'The sawmill shacks', 'Scattered lights', 'The single principle of forms', 'To the master, Dogen Zenji (1200-1253 AD)', '27 poems', '23 poems' and 'Within the traveller's eye'

Folder 3-4 
Annotated page proofs (4 sets)

Folder 5 
Annotated copy of Creekwater journal (1974)

2.3 Grass script (1979)

This subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts, page proofs and a copy of Grass script, which was published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Angus & Robertson.

Folder 1-6 
Manuscript, annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts of poems

Including 'Afterwards', 'An afternoon', 'Bellingen', 'Brushtail possum', 'The calm', 'The chair', 'Dharma vehicle', 'The dusk', 'The estates', 'Flames and dangling wire', '14 poems', 'Going back, on a hot night', 'Greyhounds', 'In the bus', 'Late ferry', 'Looking after a friend's house', 'The name', 'Old house', 'Old man', ''The old wooden venetian blinds...'', 'Philosophy', 'Poem to Kristina', 'Poem to my father', 'Pumpkins', 'Reflection', 'Scotland, visitation', ''Smoke of logs...'', 'The swallows', 'Telling the beads', 'Tropical morning', '21 poems' and 'The visit'

Folder 7-8 
Annotated page proofs and photocopied page proofs

Folder 9 
Annotated copy of Grass script (1979)

2.4 The skylight (1984)

This subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts and page proofs for The skylight, which was published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Angus & Robertson.

Folder 1-6 
Manuscript, annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts of poems

Including 'A country town', 'A day at Bellingen', ''A storm...'', 'At the inlet', 'Aphorisms: on politics', 'Aubade', ''The best place...'', 'Bondi', 'Bringing the cattle', 'The canoe', 'Curriculum vitae', 'Dark glasses', 'Daybreak', 'Diptych', 'Emptying the desk', ''Following the wheel tracks...'', 'For Harriet', 'The garden', 'Home', ''In the early hours...'', 'Karl Marx', 'Landscape 5', 'Last will', 'Memories of the coast', 'Motel room', 'Mr Nelson', 'On contradictions', 'The poem', 'The sea-shell', '16 poems', 'Sketch of the harbour', 'Smoke', 'Travels en famille', 'Walking in an American wood' and 'Watching by the harbour'

Folder 7-8 
Annotated page proofs and photocopied page proofs

2.5 Selected poems 1963-1983 (1985)

Selected poems 1963-1983 was first published in North Ryde, New South Wales, by Angus & Robertson. This subseries comprises a typescript draft and page proofs for the poetry collection.

Folder 1 
Annotated typescript and typescript photocopy draft

Folder 2 
Annotated page proofs

2.6 Piano (1988)

This subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts, page and galley proofs and a mock-up of Piano, which was published in North Ryde, New South Wales, by Angus and Robertson.

Folder 1-4 
Manuscript, annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts of poems

Including 'After writing all day', 'A garden shed', 'A port of Europe', 'A summer evening', 'A winter morning', 'Black landscape', 'Byron Bay: winter', 'Configuration', 'Cows in Massachusetts', 'Description of a walk', 'Eight poems after Kusado', 'Fire sermon', 'Harbour dusk', 'The lake', 'Matins', 'Mist', 'Nine bowls of water', 'Other people', 'Piano', 'Plurality', 'Prunus nigra', 'Rainy windows', '17 poems from the Japanese', 'The shark', 'Small town', 'To Philip Hodgins', 'Under the summer leaves', 'Very early' and 'Walking around at night'

Folder 5 
'Colonnades' (early title) typescript draft photocopy

Folder 6 
Annotated typescript draft

Folder 7 
Annotated page proofs

Folder 8 
Annotated galley proofs photocopy

Folder 9 
Mock-up draft

2.7 Selected poems (1990)

Selected poems was first published in North Ryde, New South Wales, by Collins/Angus & Robertson. This subseries comprises page and galley proofs, notes and a copy of the 1994 revision of the poetry collection, together with photocopies of published poems from Selected poems, 1963-1983 (1985).

Folder 1 
Annotated page proofs and photocopies of poems published in Selected poems 1963-1983 (1985)

Folder 2 
Annotated photocopies of poems published in Selected poems 1963-1983 (1985)

Folder 3-4 
Annotated page proofs

Folder 5 
Annotated galley proofs

Folder 6 
Notes re corrections for 1994 revision of Selected poems (1990)

Folder 7 
Annotated copy of 1994 revision of Selected poems (1990)

2.8 Certain things (1993)

This subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts, page and galley proofs for Certain things, which was published in Port Melbourne, Victoria, by William Heinemann. Poems from this collection were published together with poems from Lineations (1996) as Lineations: selected poems (1998).

Folder 1-6 
Manuscript, annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts of poems

Including 'Afternoon walk', 'Arrivals and departures', 'A testimony', 'Dawn', 'Descent', 'Doodling', 'The girls', 'Going outside', 'Harmonica', 'The Hawkesbury River', 'Illusions', 'Impromptus', ''In one ear...'', 'In thin air', 'Landscape', 'The life of a Chinese poet', 'Malthusian Island', 'On South Head', 'On a forestry trail', ''The pines'', 'Renga', 'The room', 'Shard', 'Small hours', 'The South Coast, while looking for a house', 'Souvenir', 'Stanzas', '13th May (at Ted's)', 'Today', '(Traditional)', 'Travelling', 'The west', 'The white roads' and 'Wintry evenings'

Folder 7 
Annotated typescript draft

Folder 8 
Typescript photocopy draft

Folder 9 
Annotated typescript draft

Folder 10 
Draft preliminary pages

Folder 11 
Annotated page proofs

Folder 12-13 
Annotated galley proofs (5 sets)

2.9 New and selected poems (1995)

This subseries comprises page and galley proofs for the poetry collection, which was first published in Port Melbourne, Victoria, by William Heinemann. Series 1 includes notes by Canadian poet Roo Borson concerning Gray's poems for New and selected poems.

Folder 1 
Annotated page proofs (incomplete)

Folder 2-3 
Annotated galley proofs (2 sets)

2.10 Lineations (1996) and Lineations: selected poems (1998)

Lineations (1996) was published in Potts Point, New South Wales, by Duffy & Snellgrove. Lineations: selected poems (1998) was published in Todmorden, United Kingdom, by Arc Publications, and includes a selection of poems from Certain things(1993) and Lineations (1996). This subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts, page proofs and photocopies of poems published in earlier poetry collections.

Folder 1-5 
Manuscript, annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts of poems included in Lineations and Lineations: selected poems

Including 'Acceptance speech', 'A garage', 'A pine forest', 'A sight of Proteus', 'A stranger', 'At the 'Ocean View' (1970)', 'A traveller', 'Beach shack', ''By a candlegrease moon...'', 'The circus', 'Coastline', 'C26', 'Epigrams', 'Flight at dusk', 'His muse, to Dylan Thomas', 'Impromptus', 'Inscription', 'March past', 'Nambucca Heads', 'Note', ''Out rowing...'', 'Passage', 'Philip Hodgins (1959-1995)', 'Ritual', 'Sapientia lacrimae', 'The sea-wall', 'The sideboard', '10 poems', 'To John Olsen', 'The trendies', 'Twilight', 'Über Deutschland', 'Vale', 'Version', 'View' and 'Wintry dusk, Bellingen'

Folder 6-7 
Annotated typescript drafts (4) for Lineations (1996)

Folder 8 
Annotated page proofs of Lineations (1996)

Folder 9 
Photocopies of poems published in Certain things (1993) and Lineations (1996) for Lineations: selected poems (1998)

Folder 10-11 
Annotated page proofs photocopies (2 sets) of Lineations: selected poems (1998)

2.11 New selected poems (1998)

New selected poems was published in Potts Point, New South Wales, by Duffy & Snellgrove. This subseries comprises notes, page proofs and photocopies of poems published in Certain things (1993).

Folder 1 
Notes; annotated page proofs (2 incomplete sets); annotated photocopies of poems published in Certain things (1993); annotated page proofs photocopy fragment from New and selected poems (1995)

2.12 Miscellaneous Poems

This small subseries comprises manuscript and typescript drafts of early, unpublished and miscellaneous poems by Gray. There are also unidentified drafts and poem fragments.

Folder 1-3 
Manuscript, annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts of poems

Including 'A country churchyard', 'A hymn to Proteus', 'All I can manage', 'A lucid exposition of the Buddha's way', 'A nausea experience', 'An essay on painting', 'A poem of not more than forty lines on the subject of nature', 'At Waverley', 'Before the sun dies', 'Blowing curtains', 'Child's play', 'Days of '74', 'Distant rain', 'The dying light', 'Evenings', 'The fishermen', 'Flemington Racecourse', 'Gardenias', 'Garie Beach', 'The headland', 'Heaven', 'His mother', 'Home', 'Impromptus', 'In passing', 'In the mallee', 'Kristallnacht', 'Morning, Halligan's Road', ''My arm becomes too cold...'', 'Neurasthenia', 'Open season', 'The panther' (translation of the poem by Rainer Marie Rilke), 'The pen', 'Pilgrimage', 'Postcards of the harbour', 'Reading Dogen (after Ryokan)', 'Retired', 'Reverie', 'The salamander', 'Song', 'South Coast', 'Spring days, full of possibilities', 'The street', 'Summer, summer', 'Tonight', 'Towards night', 'Urunga', 'Vacancies', 'Weather report' and 'Youth'

Folder 4 
Draft fragments of miscellaneous poems

 

Series 3 Poetry Collections edited by Gray

This series includes a notebook, notes, manuscript and typescript drafts, and page and galley proofs relating to a poetry collection and an anthology edited by Gray. There are working papers for Australian poetry in the twentieth century (co-edited with Geoffrey Lehmann, 1991) and Selected poems of Shaw Neilson (1993).

3.1 Australian poetry in the twentieth century (1991)

This subseries comprises notes, manuscript and typescript drafts and galley proofs for the anthology, which was published in Port Melbourne, Victoria, by William Heinemann. The material primarily relates to biographical entries that Gray and Geoffrey Lehmann wrote for each of the poets included in the anthology.

Folder 1-2 
Manuscript and typescript drafts of biographical entries

Folder 3 
Manuscript notes and drafts of biographical entries

Folder 4 
Annotated typescript draft of biographical entries

Folder 5 
Manuscript and typescript notes and drafts of preliminary pages, including the introduction

Folder 6 
Galley proofs for preliminary pages and biographical entries

3.2 Selected poems of Shaw Neilson (1993)

This subseries comprises a notebook, notes, manuscript and typescript drafts and page proofs for the poetry collection, which was published in Pymble, New South Wales, by Collins/Angus & Robertson.

Folder 1 
Notebook and notes; manuscript and typescript draft fragments

Folder 2 
Manuscript draft; annotated typescript draft photocopy, 34 p.; annotated typescript and typescript photocopy drafts (2), p. 1-20

Folder 3 
Annotated typescript drafts (2); annotated page proofs photocopy

 

Series 4 Biographies

This series features working papers for Alun Leach-Jones (1988), which Gray co-edited with Graeme Sturgeon and Christopher Gentle. Further material relating to Leach-Jones is included in Series 1Series 5 and Series 8. This series also includes working papers for an unpublished book concerning the artist Dale Hickey, together with an incomplete book of memoirs largely based on Gray's father.

4.1 Alun Leach-Jones (1988)

This subseries includes manuscript and typescript drafts of Gray's biographical essay for the work on artist Alun Leach-Jones, which was published in Roseville, New South Wales, by Craftsman House.

Box 19

Folder 1 
'Alun Leach-Jones and baroque abstraction' essay manuscript; annotated typescript drafts and notes

4.2 'Dale Hickey' 1983

This subseries comprises notes and unpublished typed draft manuscript for the book on the artist Dale Hickey. Written in 1983 while writer in residence at the University of New England. Extensive handwritten comments and notes on the draft by Dale Hickey and an unidentified reader concerning.

Folder 1 
Annotated typescript draft photocopy, 126 p. 'Dale Hickey' by Robert Gray 1983.

Folder 2 
Handwritten comments and notes on the draft manuscript by Dale Hickey;

notes on manuscript by unknown reader;

Chapter 7 annotated re-drafted typescript draft fragment A, B, C. 

Loose notes/drafts.

4.3 'Extreme people' [nd]

This subseries comprises an outline and other draft material for the unfinished book of memoirs, largely based on Gray's father.

Folder 1 
'Proposal for a book of memoirs' annotated typescript; manuscript and typescript draft fragments

 

Series 5 Other Prose, 1968-1997

This series comprises notes, manuscript and typescript drafts, proofs and cuttings for various reviews, criticisms and articles by Gray. There is also a draft of Gray's speech regarding the American poetic tradition, delivered at the The American modelconference, Macquarie University, 1979. The series features Gray's review of Philip Hodgins' Selected poems (1997), together with writings concerning Michael Esson, Thomas Hardy, Ted Hillyer, Alun Leach-Jones, Wilfred Owen, Peter Porter, Patrick White, Brett Whiteley and William Carlos Williams. Letters from Hodgins, Hillyer, Leach-Jones, Porter and White are included in Series 1, and further material relating to Leach-Jones is included in Series 4 and Series 8.

Folder 1 
Cuttings of reviews and criticisms, 1968-1992

Folder 2-4 
Manuscript and typescript drafts, proofs and cuttings of reviews, criticisms and other articles, 1983-1997

Including 'To William Carlos Williams in heaven' annotated typescript; 'Some thoughts on the women's anthology' typescript photocopy draft and cutting from Island, 1986; 'Peter Porter' annotated typescript; 'In the picture' annotated typescript and typescript photocopy draft for column re Max Beckmann's painting 'Old woman in ermine', The Sydney Morning Herald, 1996; and annotated typescript drafts and notes for reviews of various books including David Marr's Patrick White: a life (1991), David Malouf's Remembering Babylon (1993) and Philip Hodgins' Selected poems (1997)

Folder 5-6 
Manuscript and typescript drafts and cuttings of miscellaneous prose, 1979-1988

Including 'Poetry and living: an evaluation of the American poetic tradition' annotated typescript, The American modelconference, Macquarie University, 1979; 'Some comments on my poetry' annotated typescript photocopy, page proofs and cutting, from Access related, 1987; 'Writer-in-residence in Tokyo' cutting, from Australian studies overseas: a guide, 1988; 'Wilfred Owen' annotated typescript photocopy and transcript photocopy, ABC Radio, [nd]; 'A few takes on Brett Whiteley' cutting photocopy; 'An introduction to Australian poetry' annotated typescript; 'Extraordinary fires: the life and poetry of Thomas Hardy' manuscript draft and annotated transcript, ABC Radio, [nd]

Folder 7 
Annotated typescript drafts and cuttings of essays for artist's catalogues and exhibitions, 1988-1991

Including 'Ornate physicians and learned artisans', for paintings by Michael Esson, November 1988; 'Classicism and the coast light', for paintings by Ted Hillyer, April 1991; 'Alun Leach-Jones', for Alun Leach-Jones: new paintings exhibition, March-April 1991

 

Series 6 Writings re Gray, 1970-1996

This series includes drafts and cuttings of interviews with Gray, together with reviews, criticisms, articles and other writings regarding Gray and his work. Publications featured in the series include To a coast of light: a focus on the poetry of Robert Gray (1988), by NSW Department of Education Resource Services, and The poetry of Robert Gray (1995) by Barry Spurr.

Folder 1-2 
Cuttings of reviews, 1970-1995

Regarding Introspect, retrospect (1970), Creekwater journal (1974), Grass script (1979), The younger Australian poets (1983), The skylight (1984), Selected poems 1963-1983 (1985), Piano (1988), Selected poems (1990), Australian poetry in the twentieth century (1991), Sydney's poems: a selection of the occasion of the city's one hundred and fiftieth anniversary 1842-1992 (1992), Certain things (1993) and New and selected poems (1995)

Folder 3 
Typescript drafts and cuttings of writings re Gray, 1976-1996

Including 'The poet's tongue: some poems of Robert Gray' by Martin Harrison, ABC Radio, c. 1979-1980; 'Humanism and sensual awareness in the poetry of Robert Gray' by Dennis Haskell, Southerly, no. 3, 1986; 'Robert Gray' by Alan Gould, Quadrant, March 1994; 'Robert Gray and the vitalist tradition' by John Hawke, Southerly, Summer 1995; 'The tendency of metaphor: subject and predicate in the imagery of an Australian poet' by R. J. Chadwick, Semiotica, 1996

Folder 4 
Annotated typescript drafts and cuttings of interviews with Gray, 1981-1994

Folder 5 
Teaching resources re Gray, 1988-1995

Including To a coast of light: a focus on the poetry of Robert Gray (1988) by NSW Department of Education Resource Services, and The poetry of Robert Gray (1995) by Barry Spurr

 

Series 7 Miscellaneous Papers, 1957-1993

Among the papers in this series are school reports, cuttings of various articles, responses from a writer's workshop with Gray and an inscribed flyleaf from Les Murray's Lunch and counter lunch (1974). There are also two music scores based on Gray's poems, including 'An afternoon' by Stewart Eagles and 'Flames and dangling wire' by Matthew J. Corlovich. An audio cassette featuring Eagles' composition is included in Series 9.

Folder 1-2 
Miscellaneous papers, 1957-1993

Including school reports, 1957-1958; inscribed flyleaf from Les Murray's Lunch and counter lunch (1974); Fiction and Poetry Journal, vol. 1, no. 5, November 1984; 'An afternoon' photocopied music score by Stewart Eagles based on Gray's poem, 1985; 'Flames and dangling wire' photocopied music score by Matthew J. Corlovich based on Gray's poem; student responses from a writer's workshop with Gray, 1989; cuttings of various articles

 

Series 8 Photographs, c. 1987-c. 1991

This small series includes photographs of paintings by Alun Leach-Jones, associated with Alun Leach-Jones: new paintings(1991), an exhibition catalogue for which Gray wrote the introduction. Further material relating to Gray's writings on the painter are included in Series 4 and Series 5, and correspondence from Leach-Jones is included in Series 1.

Folder 1 
Photographs (7) and negative of Gray, c. 1987
Photographs (16) of paintings by Alun Leach-Jones, c. 1991

 

Series 9 Audio Cassettes, 1988

This small series includes a cassette recording relating to To a coast of light: a focus on the poetry of Robert Gray (1988), a study guide produced by the NSW Department of Education Resource Services. The cassette features an interview with Gray by John Foulcher, and readings from a selection of Gray's poems. There is also a cassette featuring music by Stewart Eagles and others, including Eagles' musical version of Gray's poem 'An afternoon'. A photocopy of the music for this composition is included in Series 7.

Folder 1 
Audio cassette featuring To a coast of light: a focus on the poetry of Robert Gray (1988)

Folder 2 
Audio cassette featuring 'An afternoon' by Stewart Eagles; '7:5:3' by Synergy; 'Butterfly' by Conservatorium students