This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1956.
For an overview of world literature see 1956 in literature.
See also: 1955 in Australian literature, 1956 in Australia, 1957 in Australian literature.
Miles Franklin – Gentlemen at Gyang Gyang : A Tale of the Jumbuck Pads on the Summer Runs
Nevil Shute – Beyond the Black Stump
Randolph Stow – A Haunted Land
Kylie Tennant – The Honey Flow
E. V. Timms – Shining Harvest
Arthur Upfield – Man of Two Tribes
F. B. Vickers – First Place to a Stranger
Morris West
Gallows on the Sand
Kundu
Ethel Anderson – At Parramatta
Leon Gellert – Year After Year
Alan Marshall – How's Andy Going?
Katharine Susannah Prichard – "N'Goola"
David Rowbotham – Town and City : tales and sketches
Judith Wright – "The Vineyard Woman"
Children's and Young Adult fiction
Mavis Thorpe Clark – The Brown Land Was Green
Bruce Beaver – "Cow Dance"
David Campbell – The Miracle of Mullion Hill : Poems
Rosemary Dobson – "Cock Crow"
R. D. Fitzgerald – "This Night's Orbit"
Mary Gilmore – "The Waradgery Tribe"
Gwen Harwood – "The Old Wife's Tale"
James McAuley
"Merry-Go-Round"
"Vespers"
A Vision of Ceremony : Poems
Ronald McCuaig – "Betty by the Sea"
J. S. Manifold – "Fife Tune"
Vivian Smith
"For My Daughter"
The Other Meaning
Douglas Stewart – "A Country Song"
Judith Wright
A Book of Australian Verse (edited)
"The Forest"
Charmian Clift – Mermaid Singing
Ion Idriess – The Silver City
Jack Lang – I Remember
Ruth Park & D'Arcy Niland – The Drums Go Bang!
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1956 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
28 January – Tim Flannery, scientist and science writer
5 November – Gig Ryan, poet
Unknown date
Judith Beveridge, poet and editor
Susan Johnson, novelist
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1956 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
25 August – Lilian Turner, writer for children (born 1867)
