26 Facts About Marjorie Barnard

Marjorie Faith Barnard was an Australian novelist and short story writer, critic, historian and librarian.

Marjorie Barnard went to school and university in Sydney, and then trained as a librarian.

Marjorie Barnard was employed as a librarian for two periods in her life, but her main passion was writing.

Marjorie Barnard was a significant part of the literary scene in Australia between the wars and, for both her work as M Barnard Eldershaw and in her own right, is recognised as a major figure in Australian letters.

Marjorie Barnard was born in Ashfield, Sydney, to Ethel Frances and Oswald Holme Marjorie Barnard, and was their only surviving child.

Marjorie Barnard had polio as a child and was taught by a governess until she was 10 years old.

Marjorie Barnard then attended the Cambridge School and Sydney Girls High School.

Marjorie Barnard was offered a scholarship to Oxford, but her father refused her permission to go, and so she trained as a librarian at the Sydney Teachers' College.

Marjorie Barnard worked as a librarian at the Public Library of New South Wales and then the Sydney Technical College until 1935 when she left to write full-time, at the encouragement of her friend, writer and literary critic, Nettie Palmer, and made possible through a small allowance from her father.

Marjorie Barnard wrote to Nettie Palmer at the time that she was seeking "some sort of fulfilment, to run my vital energy into a creative mould instead of just letting it soak into the thirsty sand of a daily round".

Marjorie Barnard joined the Fellowship of Australian Writers in 1935, of which Flora Eldershaw was President for a couple of terms.

Marjorie Barnard travelled overseas several times, the first time in 1933 with her mother.

Marjorie Barnard admitted to Devanny that the break-up of this relationship was the cause of a serious illness.

Marjorie Barnard's father died in 1940, leaving her with an ailing mother.

Marjorie Barnard returned to library work in 1942, at the Public Library of New South Wales and then the CSIRO.

Marjorie Barnard never married, and destroyed essentially all her correspondence.

Marjorie Barnard died at Point Clare on the Central Coast of New South Wales in 1987, aged 89.

Marjorie Barnard wrote little in the last twenty years of her life.

Marjorie Barnard's writing career was inspired by her meeting Flora Eldershaw in her first year at university, and her first work was a children's book, The Ivory Gate, published in 1920.

Marjorie Barnard admired Franklin's character and energy but was less enamoured of her literary abilities, writing that 'her writings are eclipsed by her personality' and that 'she was no philosopher, displayed little skill in constructing her books, and not much originality in plot.

Marjorie Barnard goes on to say that "her argument is not original, but she states it with clarity, a well-calculated density of detail, and with authority, especially when she writes on the subject she knows best, Macquarie's world".

Marjorie Barnard regarded herself as a 'nineteenth century liberal' and defined herself as a pacifist.

Marjorie Barnard edited a collection of essays defending freedom, which was not published, and a pamphlet The Case for the Future, which was banned by the censor.

Marjorie Barnard joined the Australian Labor Party as confirmed in several letters to Nettie Palmer, although later denied that she had ever joined.

Marjorie Barnard suggests that Barnard received more criticism at that time than Eldershaw, who was frequently defended as a member of the CLF Advisory Board, and that, not being fond of publicity, she was likely to have been "deeply disturbed" by "the accusations and embarrassingly public attention".

Marjorie Barnard provided for a biennial prize in her will, in which $500 is offered as first prize for a short story of 3,000 words.