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

AO, OBE

Born
31 May 1924
Victoria, Australia
Died
20 Sept 2001
Occupation
Author, Historian and Servicewoman
Alternative Names
  • Beckett, Patricia Jean
  • Smith, Patricia Jean (maiden name)

Summary

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.

Details

The daughter of railway workers, Patsy Adam-Smith was raised in a number of small Victorian country towns. She enlisted as a Voluntary Aid Detachment during the Second World War and was the first female to be articled as a radio officer when she worked on an Australian merchant ship from 1954-1960. In Hobart from 1960-1967 she was employed as an Adult Education Officer before taking the position of manuscripts field officer for the State Library of Victoria from 1970-1982.

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.

Events

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

Sources used to compile this entry: AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource, 2002, http://www.austlit.edu.au/; Lahey, John. (2001) Obituary The Age 26 Sept. 2001 p. 11. (Today section); Johnson, Lyall and Cameron, Deborah. (2001) The Anzac legend's great storyteller dies at 77 The Age 22 Sept. 2001 p. 5; accessed 2001-09-26 Herd, Margaret (ed). (2000) Who's Who in Australia 2001 Melbourne: Information Australia Group Pty Ltd; AustLit entry - 2002, http://www.austlit.edu.au (.

Related entries

Archival resources

Australian War Memorial Research Centre

  • Interview with Patsy Adam-Smith. (When the war came to Australia), 24 June 1991, F04158; Adam-Smith, Patricia Jean (Patsy) (1924 - 2001); Australian War Memorial Research Centre. Details

National Archives of Australia, Melbourne Office

  • BECKETT, Patricia Jean [nee Smith], 1943 - 1946, MT415/1; National Archives of Australia, Melbourne Office. Details

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Patsy Adam-Smith interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection, ORAL TRC 1/550; Adam-Smith, Patricia Jean (Patsy) (1924 - 2001); National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Published resources

The Australian Women's Register Exhibitions

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

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
  • AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource, 2002, http://www.austlit.edu.au/. Details
  • Adelaide, Debra, Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide, 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

Anne Heywood

Created: 26 September 2001, Last modified: 4 May 2009

Comments

What a fantastic lady. Regardless of her circumstances, she rose to the pinnacle of life. A great author whose books I have thoroughly enjoyed. I only recently realised that my future grave is situated beside Patsy's grave. R.I. P. Patsy and thank you for the wonderful stories which my family and I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Grant Armstrong - 14 December 2010, 2:53 PM EST

I am an adoptee looking for family when I came across this information. I was born on the 20/12/1952 and named Jean Smith before I was adopted. I know my maternal grandmother Mrs Smith (Nee ?) lived in South Africa in 1952 when I was born to her daughter Dorothy Smith then 18 years of age. I also know that my grandmother was a prolific Australian writer. I was wondering if there could be any connection ... ? Regards Shirley

Shirley Beall (Born Jean Smith - South Africa) - 10 September 2011, 3:23 PM EST

Patsy was my dads cousin, her biological mother lived in Traralgon, by the name of Vera Gunnulson, one of her sisters was my grandmother Alice, with Stache Sally being my great aunties. Sally lived in a house she covered in shells in seaspray, and Alice mainly resided in Orbost and Lucknow where she died in her latter years, growing up in the wherabouts of gippsland and short time at Caufield..... I am still in Traralgon since the age of 7.

julie - 26 September 2011, 1:02 PM EST

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