Charmian Clift
Charmian Clift was an influential Australian writer and journalist, born on August 30, 1923, in Kiama, New South Wales. Raised in a family that valued education and literature, Clift showed early promise in both academics and sports, though she struggled with social connections. After leaving school at fourteen, she began her career in writing and journalism, gaining recognition after winning a modeling competition in 1941 and serving in the Australian Women's Army Service during World War II. Her personal life intertwined with her professional journey when she began a long-term relationship with fellow writer George Johnston, with whom she collaborated on various literary projects.
Clift's family relocated to Greece in the 1950s, where she found inspiration for her writing, resulting in notable works such as *The Mermaid Singing* and *Walk to the Paradise Gardens*. Her writing often reflected her experiences and struggles, including themes of motherhood, marriage, and personal fulfillment. Despite achieving fame, Clift faced significant personal challenges, including her husband's declining health and her disillusionment with Australian society. Tragically, Clift's life ended in 1969 due to an overdose, leaving behind a legacy of introspective and poignant literature that continues to resonate with readers today.
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Charmian Clift
Writer
- Born: August 30, 1923
- Birthplace: Kiama, New South Wales, Australia
- Died: July 9, 1969
Biography
Charmian Clift was born on August 30, 1923, to Sydney and Amy Currie Clift, in Kiama, New South Wales, Australia. Clift’s father instilled the importance of education and literature on his three children, while her mother shared her love of poetry with them. As a child, Clift excelled academically and in sports, but she had a harder time making friends. She left school after completing her Intermediate Certificate at age fourteen. In 1941, Clift won Pix Magazine’s Beach Girl competition and moved to Sydney.
At nineteen, Clift gave birth to an illegitimate girl, whom she put up for adoption. In 1943, Clift enlisted in the Australian Women’s Army Service and worked as an anti- aircraft gunner. She was promoted to lieutenant, and, in 1944, Clift was transferred to Melbourne, where she edited the Ordnance Corps’s newssheet. At the same time, the Australia National Journal published her first article, and she was offered a job at a newspaper called The Melbourne Argus. While working there, she met George Johnston. The pair began a love affair that would cost them their jobs but would last for twenty-three years and produce three children: Martin, Shane, and Jason.
By 1949 Johnston and Clift were married and had finished the first of many collaborative novels, High Valley. Clift began working on solo projects and wrote six radio dramas. In 1951, the family relocated to London for Johnston’s career. Unhappy there, Clift took the family on a Grecian holiday in 1954; it would prove life changing. Over the next ten years the family lived on the islands of Kalymnos and Hydra. While there, Clift published her family’s memoirs in a travel book, The Mermaid Singing, followed by a guide book to Hydra, Peel Me a Lotus. Completing two nonfiction works, Clift published the novel she had been working on throughout her marriage, Walk to the Paradise Gardens, in 1960. The story described the guilt two women felt while caring for and protecting their less-than-ideal husbands and unhappy marriages.
In 1959, as her career soared, Clift’s husband was diagnosed with tuberculosis and emphysema, and Clift was transformed into a full time care giver. During her private moments, Clift worked on her novel, Honour’s Mimic, whose protagonist is recovering on a Greek isle after a failed suicide attempt when she falls in love with a sponge diver and promises to be the air in his lungs. In a similar way, Clift served as the air for her ailing husband. By 1964, the family had returned to Australia and Clift was offered a weekly column at The Melbourne Herald where she wrote pieces that described her experiences abroad. The column was a huge success and quickly appeared in the Morning Herald as well.
Clift became a household name, but she did not enjoy the sudden limelight. Meanwhile, Johnston’s health and temperament were deteriorating, and Clift was becoming increasingly depressed over Australia’s foreign and domestic policies as well as the complacency and selfishness of her fellow countrymen. These factors contributed to Clift’s overdose on sleeping pills; she died in her sleep July 9, 1969.