This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1947.
For an overview of world literature see 1947 in literature.
See also: 1946 in Australian literature, 1947 in Australia, 1948 in Australian literature.
The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry, worth £50, is awarded for the first time to Pacific Sea by Nan McDonald.
Jon Cleary – You Can't See 'Round Corners
Erle Cox – The Missing Angel
M. Barnard Eldershaw – Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Miles Franklin – The Thorny Rose
Arthur Gask – The Dark Mill Stream
Catherine Gaskin – With Every Year
Ion L. Idriess – Isles of Despair
Norman Lindsay – Halfway to Anywhere
Vance Palmer – Cyclone
Nevil Shute – The Chequer Board
Myra Morris – The Township
Judah Waten – "To a Country Town"
Children's and Young Adult fiction
Ruth C. Williams – Timothy Tatters
David Campbell – "Small-Town Gladys"
Victor Daley – Creeve Roe : Poetry
Rosemary Dobson – "Country Press"
R. D. Fitzgerald – "Fifth Day"
A. D. Hope – "Conquistador"
Nancy Keesing – "Detective Story"
Nan McDonald – Pacific Sea
John Shaw Neilson – Unpublished Poems of John Shaw Neilson
Will H. Ogilvie – "Harry Morant"
Elizabeth Riddell – "A Train in the Night"
Roland Robinson – "Drifting Dug-Out"
Judith Wright
"The Bull"
"The Cycads"
Vance Palmer – Hail Tomorrow
Douglas Stewart – Shipwreck
Patrick White – The Ham Funeral
Awards and honours
Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1947 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
15 January – Richard Harland, novelist
21 March – Terry Dowling, novelist and short story writer
13 April – Amanda Lohrey, novelist
4 May
Marele Day, novelist
Peter Kocan, author and poet
14 July – David Marr, journalist and biographer
23 September – Gary Crew, novelist
30 October – Gary Catalano, poet and art critic (died 2002)
Unknown date
Eric Beach, poet and playwright
Michael Dugan, poet (died 2006)
Martin Johnston, novelist and poet (died 1990)
Rhyll McMaster, novelist
Bruce Pascoe, novelist
Graham Rowlands, poet
Arnold Zable, novelist
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1947 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
12 February – Douglas Sladen, poet and biographer (born 1856)
19 July – Lennie Lower, journalist and novelist (born 1903)
18 October – R. H. Croll, poet and writer (born 1869)
