Harold Edward (Hal) Porter

Harold Edward (Hal) Porter (Homegrown Hobsons Bay writer photo).gif

Hal Porter (1911-1984), author and artist, was born in Melbourne in 1911, and educated mainly at Bairnsdale in Gippsland, Victoria. After leaving school he worked for a short time as a cadet reporter, and then as a schoolmaster, at Williamstown North Primary School (1927-1937). In 1942 fourteen of his short stories were published in a limited edition titled Short Stories. After the Second World War Porter had numerous occupations, including cook, actor, director, schoolmaster and librarian. In 1961 he became a full time writer. His working rhythm, especially in the 1970s, involved disciplined retreats to the farm owned by his sister and her husband at Glen Avon, near Garvoc in the Western District. These periods were punctuated by binges in Melbourne. In 1983 Hal was hit by a motor car and after remaining in a coma for fourteen months died in Thornbury in 1984.

Life in, and connection to, Hobsons Bay

While working as schoolmaster at Williamstown North Primary School between 1927 and 1937, Hal Porter lived for a time in a room at what is now the Captains Retreat in Ferguson Street.

 

Works

Novels

  • A Handful of Pennies (1958)
  • The Tilted Cross (1961)
  • The Right Thing (1971)

 

Short stories

  • A Bachelor's Children (1962)
  • Short Stories (1942)
  • The Cats of Venice (1965)
  • The Actors: An image of the new Japan (1968)
  • Mr. Butterfry and Other Tales of New Japan (1970)
  • Selected Stories (1971)
  • Fredo Fuss Love Life (1974)
  • The Portable Hal Porter (1978)
  • The Clairvoyant Goat (1981)

Poetry

  • The Hexagon (1956)
  • Elijah's Ravens (1968)
  • In an Australian Graveyard (1974)

Memoirs

  • The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony (1963)
  • The Paper Chase (1966)
  • Criss-Cross (1973)
  • The Extra (1975)

Drama

  •  The Tower (1963)
  • The Professor (1966)
  • Eden House (1969)

Awards

  • Hal Porter received Commonwealth Literary Fund Grants in 1956, 1960, 1965, 1968, 1972 and 1974.
  • In 1982 Hal Porter was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

References

Peter Pierce, 'Porter, Harold Edward (Hal) (1911–1984)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/porter-harold-edward-hal-15483/text26697, published first in hardcopy 2012.

 

 

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