Letter of Patrick White to Neville Wran, 1982 July 2 [manuscript]
- Bib ID:
- 4759030
- Format:
- Manuscript
- Author:
- White, Patrick, 1912-1990
- Access Conditions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
- Description:
-
- [1982]
- 0.03 m. (1 folder)
- Summary:
-
MS Acc09.182 comprises the four-page letter from Patrick White dated 2 July, 1982, to the Right Hon. Neville Wran, president of the Australian Labor Party. The subject of the letter is nuclear disarmament. White handwrote this letter while in Prince of Wales Hospital. As he was ill, he asked Fay Gervasoni to type it for signing and sending to Wran. The typed version was posted, and Gervasoni retained the handwritten original. The letter was published in David Marr's Letters of Patrick White (1 folder).
- Biography/History:
-
Born in England in 1912, Patrick White became Australia's first Nobel Laureate in literature. White published 12 novels and nearly 30 short stories during his lifetime, together with a modest number of poems. His great novels, from The aunt's story (1948) to Memoirs of many in one (1986), were written steadily over a period of almost 40 years. His dozen dramatic works were written in two distinct periods of activity: from The ham funeral in 1947 to A cheery soul in 1962, and then again from Big toys in 1977 to Shepherd on the rocks in 1987.
White published a number of essays, especially in his later years when he became a reluctant activist for the preservation of Centennial Park and other green spaces, for indigenous rights, for an Australian republic and against nuclear arms. He also published a 1981 autobiography, Flaws in the glass. He was a prolific correspondent, with a selection of his thousands of known letters appearing in David Marr's 1994 publication, Patrick White: letters. White died in 1990. His lifelong partner, Manoly Lascaris, survived him for 13 years, dying in 2003.
Lawyer and state premier. Neville Kenneth Wran was born in Balmain, New South Wales, in 1926 and educated at Fort Street Boys' High and the University of Sydney. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1948 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1968. He entered political life in 1970 and was Labor member for Bass Hill in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1973-1986. Wran served as the premier of New South Wales for ten years from 1976-1986, and was national president of the Australian Labor Party from 1980-1986. Following his retirement from Parliament in 1986, he was chairman of the CSIRO and the Lionel Murphy Foundation and a founder of the Australian Republican Movement. Wran was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1988 and, in 1995, the University of Sydney awarded him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
- Notes:
- Manuscript reference no.: MS Acc09.182.
- Subject:
- Time Coverage:
- 1982
- Occupation:
- Copyright:
-
Copyright Undetermined
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- Reason for copyright status:
- A Manuscript Collection may have a range of formats and dates.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
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