Joan Phipson
Joan Phipson was an Australian author born on November 16, 1912, in Warrawee, New South Wales. Growing up as an only child, she found solace in books, a passion that would later influence her writing career. After her early education at Frensham School, Phipson worked in London as a secretary and reporter before returning to Australia to establish a school press at her alma mater. During World War II, she served in the Women’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force.
Phipson's literary career began later in life, ignited by a desire to create stories for children, culminating in her first novel, *Good Luck to the Rider*, published in 1952. Over nearly four decades, she authored nearly thirty books, evolving from themes centered on family and rural life to addressing more serious societal issues. Her works have garnered multiple awards, including the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award, and have been translated into several languages. Joan Phipson remained a significant figure in Australian literature until her passing on April 2, 2003, at the age of ninety.
Subject Terms
Joan Phipson
Australian young adult and children's novelist.
- Born: November 16, 1912
- Birthplace: Warrawee, New South Wales, Australia
- Died: April 2, 2003
Biography
Joan Phipson was born on November 16, 1912, in Warrawee, New South Wales, Australia. Her parents had moved to Australia after her father was captivated by its depiction in a novel. As an only child, Phipson dealt with her frequent solitude by immersing herself in books. She traveled widely, accompanying her homesick mother on frequent visits to Birmingham, England. During World War I, mother and daughter stayed with an uncle in India.
Phipson attended the Frensham School in Mittagong, New South Wales. During the late 1930s she went to London to work as a secretary and reporter for Reuters, but in 1936 she was invited by the Frensham School to join the staff as a librarian and to establish a small school press. She later worked as a copywriter and scriptwriter for a Sydney radio station. She served in the Woman’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force during World War II, sending and receiving telegraph messages. In 1944 she married Colin Hardinge Fitzhardinge. The couple had two children, Anna and Guy, and lived on a sheep and cattle station in New South Wales, about two hundred miles west of Sydney.
Phipson did not begin writing until her daughter Anna was about nine years old. On a whim, Phipson turned to the typewriter to write the sort of children’s story she might have enjoyed when she was that age. Using the pseudonym Joan Phipson, the name she would use for all of her publications, she sent the story to a publisher to see whether she had any talent for writing. This first story was published in a magazine, and the publisher asked for more. Phipson’s first novel for children was Good Luck to the Rider (1952), set in New South Wales. Like many of her subsequent novels, Good Luck to the Rider featured an awkward adolescent protagonist who learns self-confidence and the respect for others.
During the next thirty-seven years she published almost thirty additional books of fiction for children and adolescents. Her early books were set in the countryside and centered on the family, but by the 1970s she was writing more serious books for an older audience and tackling darker social themes. In 1998, her husband Colin Fitzhardinge died and Phipson, who had longed to return to England, surprised herself by deciding to remain in Australia. She died on April 2, 2003, at the age of ninety.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Phipson was among a small group of writers who introduced British and American readers to Australia and Australians. Phipson’s books have won several awards and have been translated into seven languages. Good Luck to the Rider won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award for 1953, and The Family Conspiracy (1962) received the same award in 1963. Several of her novels have been recorded as audiobooks.
Author Works
Young Adult Literature:
Good Luck to the Rider, 1953
Six and Silver, 1954
It Happened One Summer, 1957
The Boundary Riders, 1962
The Family Conspiracy, 1962
Threat to the Barkers, 1963
Birkin, 1965
A Lamb in the Family, 1966
The Crew of the Merlin, 1966
Cross Currents, 1967
Peter and Butch, 1969
Haunted Night, 1970
Bass and Billy Martin, 1972
The Way Home, 1973
Polly's Tiger, 1973
Helping Horse, 1974 (also known as Horse with Eight Hands)
The Cats, 1976
Hide Till Daytime, 1976
Fly into Danger, 1977 (also known as The Bird Smugglers)
Keep Calm, 1978 (also known as When the City Stopped)
No Escape, 1979 (also known as Fly Free)
Mr. Pringle and the Prince, 1979
A Tide Flowing, 1981
The Watcher in the Garden, 1982
The Grannie Season, 1985
Dinko, 1985
Hit and Run, 1985
Beryl the Rainmaker, 1987
Bianca, 1988
Bibliography
Berger, Laura Standley. Twentieth-Century Children's Writers. 4th ed. St. James Press, 1995. Includes a profile of Phipson.
Bolton, Robert, and Elizabeth Thurston. "A Country to Write Home About." Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Apr. 2003, www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/18/1050172758089.html. Accessed 29 June 2017. This obituary provides a fairly detailed overview of Phipson's life and career, including discussion of major themes and elements of her writing.
Eccleshare, Julia. "Joan Phipson." The Guardian, 11 May 2003, www.theguardian.com/news/2003/may/12/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries. Accessed 29 June 2017. An obituary providing a brief biographical profile of Phipson and mention of her best-known works.
"Joan Phipson Papers." De Grummond Children's Literature Collection, McCain Library and Archives, University of Southern Mississippi, June 2001, www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/degrum/public‗html/html/research/findaids/phipson.htm. Accessed 29 June 2017. This reference page for a collection of Phipson's papers at the University of Southern Mississippi includes a brief biography along with details on some of her books and other materials.
Tucker, Nicholas. "Joan Phipson." Independent, 24 Apr. 2003, www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/joan-phipson-36469.html. Accessed 29 June 2017. An obituary of Phipson is presented, portraying her as a pioneer of Australian children's writing.