Adam-Smith, Patricia Jean (Patsy) (1924 - 2001)

Patsy Adam-Smith introduced many readers to Australian history. Of her many publications three in particular stand out: The Anzacs (1978), Australian Women at War (1984) and Prisoners of War (1992).

On Australia Day 1994 Patricia Adam-Smith was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to community history, particularly through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and the recording of oral histories. She also received an Order of the British Empire - Officer (Civil) (OBE) in the Queens Birthday Honours list on 14 June 1980 for her services to literature.

• Beckett, Patricia Jean
• Smith, Patricia Jean (maiden name)

In 1978 her book The Anzacs shared The Age Book of the Year Award and was made into a 13 part TV series. In 1980 she was the recipient of an OBE for services to literature. Prisoners of War won the 1993 triennial Order of Australian Association Book Prize. In 1994 Adam-Smith was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her outstanding services to community history.

Her autobiography was published in two parts - Hear The Train Blow and Good-bye Girlie. For Good-bye Girlie Adam-Smith won the 1995 Benalla Award for Audio Book of the Year, and the 1995 TDK Australian Audio Book Awards, Unabridged Non-Fiction Category.

Chronology

17 March 1943 - 14 July 1944	Served with the Australian Army Medical Women's Service
1954 - 1960	Radio operator on an Australian merchant ship
1960 - 1967	Adult Education Officer in Hobart
1970 - 1982	Manuscript Field Officer for the State Library of Victoria
1973	State President of Australian Writers, Victoria
1973	Federal President of the Fellows Australian Writers, Victoria
1976 - 2001	Member of the Board of Directors for the Royal Humane Society Australasia
1980	Appointed Officer of the British Empire
1983 - 2001	Committee Member of the Museum of Victoria
1993	Received Triennial Award from the OBE Association
1994	Awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia

Related Corporate Bodies

• Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) (1942 - 1951)

  Service no: VFX124737

  [1943 - 1944]

• The Sybil Irving Memorial Fund Committee

  Committee member

• Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) (1914 - )

Books

• Adam-Smith (text); Phillips, Arthur (drawing), Port Arthur Sketchbook, Rigby, [Adelaide], 1971, 64 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Hear the Train Blow: An Australian Childhood, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1964, 222 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Moonbird People, Rigby, Adelaide, 1965, 220 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, There was a Ship, Rigby, Adelaide, 1967, 220 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Tiger Country, Rigby, Adelaide, 1968, 206 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, The Rails Go Westward, Macmillan of Australia, [Melbourne], 1969, 163 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, No Tribesman, Rigby, [Adelaide], 1971, 168 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Romance of Australian Railways, Rigby, Adelaide, 1973, 245 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, The Barcoo Salute, Rigby, Adelaide, 1973, 180 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, The Desert Railway, Rigby, Adelaide, 1974, 138 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Patsy Adam Smith's Romance of Australian Railways, Hale, London, 1974, 247 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Trader to the Islanders [There was a Ship], Rigby, Adelaide, 1977, 220 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Footloose in Australia, Rigby, Adelaide, 1977, 180 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, The ANZACS, Thomas Nelson (Australia), West Melbourne, Vic., 1978. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Victorian and Edwardian Melbourne from old photographs, John Ferguson, Sydney, 1979, 11 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Outback Heroes, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1981, 255 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, The Shearers, Nelson, Melbourne, 1982, 416 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, When We Rode the Rails, Lansdowne, Sydney, 1983, 246 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Australian women at war, Nelson, Melbourne, 1984, 386 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Heart of Exile: Ireland, 1848, and the Seven Patriots Banished…, Nelson, Melbourne, 1986, 369 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Prisoners of War, Viking, Ringwood, Vic., 1992, 599 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Goodbye Girlie, Viking, Ringwood, Vic., 1994, 265 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Across Australia by Indian-Pacific, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, c1971, 80 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy, Trains of Australia: All Aboard, Australia Post, Melbourne, c1993, 40 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy (collected and edited), Folklore of the Australian Railwaymen, Macmillan of Australia, [Melbourne], 1969, 308 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy (text), Angus, Max (drawings), Hobart Sketchbook, Rigby, Adelaide, 1968, 62 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy (text); Angus, Max (drawings), Tasmania Sketchbook, Rigby, Adelaide, 1982, 54 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy (text); Phillips, Arthur (drawings), Launceston Sketchbook, Rigby, Adelaide, 1973, 60 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy (text); Powell, John (photographs), Islands of Bass Strait, Rigby, Adelaide, 56 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy and Woodberry, Joan (text); Angus, Max; Mather, Frank and Phillips, Arthur (drawings), Historic Tasmania Sketchbook, Rigby, [Adelaide], 1977, 250 pp. [ Details... ]
• Adam-Smith, Patsy; Dugan, Michael and Hamilton, J S (edited by), Neon Signs to the Mutes: Poetry by Young Australians, Fellowship of Australian Writers and BHP, Melbourne, 1976, 95 pp. [ Details... ]
• Beckett, Pat and Piet Maree; Harris, Ian (ed), Re-discovering Tasmania: The North-West Coast, associate edn, The Advocate, Burnie, Tas., 1955, 184 pp. [ Details... ]
• Keneally, Thomas; Adam-Smith, Patsy and Davidson, Robyn, Australia: Beyond the Dreamtime, William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne, 1987, 244 pp. [ Details... ]

Newspaper Articles

• Ebury, Sue, 'Weaver of dreams, teller of our tales', Sydney Morning Herald, 6 October 2001, p. 63. [ Details... ]
• Stanley, Peter, 'Storyteller brought Anzac legend alive', Australian, 25 September 2001, p. 14. [ Details... ]
• Wood, Danielle, 'Leading Tasmanian literary figure dies', Mercury, 22 September 2001, p. 10. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

• Department of Veterans' Affairs, 'BECKETT, PATRICIA JEAN', in World War 2 Nominal Roll, 2002, http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=526213. [ Details... ]

See also

• 'Adam-Smith, Patsy, (1926-', A Celebration of Women Writers, 2001, http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/. [ Details... ]
• 'Patsy Adam-Smith AO OBE', 2001, http://www.saxton.com.au/speakers. [ Details... ]
• 'Penguin Books Author Profile: Patsy Adam-Smith', 2001, http://www.penguin.com.au. [ Details... ]
• Adelaide, Debra, Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide, Title Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide / Debra Adelaide. Published, Pandora Press, London ; Sydney, 1988, 208 pp. [ Details... ]
• Herd, Margaret (ed.), Who's who in Australia 2001, 37 edn, Information Australia Group Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2000, 1920 pp. [ Details... ]
• Johnson, Lyall and Cameron, Deborah, 'The Anzac legend's great storyteller dies at 77', The Age, 22 Sept 2001, p. 5. [ Details... ]
• Lahey, John, 'Patricia Jean (Patsy) Adam-Smith, AO, OBE', The Age, Today, 26 Sept 2001, p. 11. [ Details... ]
• Ricketson, Matthew, 'Anzacs author led us through our history', Herald Sun, 24 October 2001, p. 69. [ Details... ]