Anthony Hill

Anthony Hill is an award-winning author of 15 books for children and adults. His work ranges from best-selling historical novels of boys and their families caught up in the First World War, to children's stories, and a picture book for the very young. His novella The Burnt Stick was one of the first to expose the secrets of the 'Stolen Generations' and is widely read in schools. Soldier Boy, which tells of the youngest known Australian soldier to die in war, has appealed to readers across the generations. With the support of the Australia Council for the Arts, Anthony is working on a new novel dealing with Captain Cook and the Endeavour voyage.

Born in Melbourne in 1942, Anthony Hill became a journalist with the Herald and The Australian, reporting on State politics, the law courts and local government. In 1972 he moved with his wife Gillian to Canberra, where he worked in the Parliamentary Press Gallery for the Herald and Financial Review. It was a memorable time: the last six months of the McMahon Government, the Whitlam years, the Dismissal, and the first 18 months of the Fraser Government.

Unable to stand any more of it, in 1977 Hill fled with his family to a village near Yass NSW, where for five years they ran an antique shop ('Junk to buy, Antiques to sell.') Freed from the constraints upon a journalist and able to live as part of the community, the experience formed the basis of Anthony's first three books.

The Bunburyists (from Wilde's Importance) is a largely autobiographical account of escape to the village and eventual return to the city when the healing was done. Antique Furniture in Australia, commissioned by Penguin, is a highly-regarded guide for collectors, and was in print for 17 years. Anthony's first children's novel Birdsong (1988) also drew on his life in the country.

The family returned to Canberra in 1982, where Anthony worked as a journalist for a local television station, several government departments, the infant National Museum of Australia, and the Australian National University. When Bill Hayden was appointed Governor-General in 1989, Anthony Hill became a speech-writer - an appointment initially for six months, which extended to 10 years. The job not only involved writing but also travelling, It was visiting north-west Australia that Hill heard the story that developed into The Burnt Stick, described by Kevin Steinberger as 'one of the outstanding children's books of recent times.'

An Aboriginal man told of how his mother, hearing the welfare officers were coming to take her son, rubbed charcoal into his skin to make him appear darker than he really was - and got away with it, until the welfare returned to the camp in the early morning. The story was a powerful and poignant metaphor for this aspect of Australian history. When the novella, illustrated by Mark Sofilas, was published by Penguin in 1994 it was just at the time the Human Rights Commission was beginning its enquiry into the 'Stolen Generations.' The theme was suddenly very topical. The Burnt Stick won the Christian Children's Book of the Year Award, became a Children's Book Council of Australia Honour Book, and was short-listed for a number of other awards.

The book was followed by the novella Spindrift, a fantasy novel The Grandfather Clock, and the collection Growing Up and Other Stories.

Visiting Gallipoli with Bill Hayden in 1995, Hill was struck by the number of young people attending the Anzac Day service, and wanted to write a book that would speak to them about the nature of war. A few years later, researching for Sir William Deane, he heard the story of James Martin who, at 14, lied about his age, went to Gallipoli, and lasted for only seven weeks before dying of disease: the youngest-known of the Anzacs and almost certainly the youngest Australian soldier to die.

The book became an immediate success and has sold over 70,000 copies. Jim Martin has taken his place in the gallery of Australian war heroes. At a time when there has been a widespread revival of interest in war history by young people - when Anzac Day seems to becoming our true national day - Jim has come to symbolise the face of innocence and tragedy for a new generation. Soldier Boy was a 2002 CBCA Honour Book and won the NSW Premier's Literary Award (Ethel Turner Prize), whose judges described it as 'a model of historical writing for young (and old) readers ... a significant contribution to the nation's culture.'

Soldier Boy was followed by Young Digger - the story of another boy caught up in the First World War, but a symbol of love and hope that can arise from the ashes of conflict. Honoré (called Henri or Young Digger) was a French war orphan, aged only nine, adopted as a mascot by a squadron of Australian airmen and smuggled home at considerable risk in 1919. Eventually permitted to land, Henri grew up in Queensland with the family of Air Mechanic Timothy Tovell, before joining the RAAF as a teenager and finding that fate, on a motor-cycle, could not be denied.

Anthony Hill wrote both books as biographical novels. Unlike some historical novelists who alter facts to suit the demands of story, Hill undertakes detailed research to ensure the external facts are as accurate as possible. Neverthless, the internals that are necessary to bring the characters to life - thought, speech, emotion - can only come from within the writer. 'Faction' certainly has its critical problems: but to help readers distinguish the facts from the fictions, Hill produces comprehensive notes on sources and the assumptions made.

Painstaking historical research underpins some of Anthony Hill's recent books. Animal Heroes is a collection of 21 short pieces on animals involved with Australian forces, from Simpson's donkey to the sniffer dogs in Timor. Harriet is an investigation of a Galapagos tortoise said to have been collected by HMS Beagle, and who died aged around 170 at Australia Zoo. He is working on another biographical novel dealing with one of the boys who sailed with Cook on Endeavour.

Anthony Hill has also written for younger readers. Forbidden is a Scottish ghost story about an enchanted fiddle. River Boy, written for the National Museum of Australia, tells of steamboat life on the Murray in the 19th century. And in 2007 with Melbourne artist Jane Tanner he produced his first picture book Lucy's Cat and the Rainbow Birds. Even that is based on fact: belling the family's own cat to stop it catching the parrots. Truth. Whimsy. And environmental awareness. All three in one.

Anthony Hill continues to live and work as a writer in Canberra.

Publications

• 1985 - The Bunburyists, ill. Peggy Earl (Penguin Books)
• 1985 - Antique Furniture in Australia (Penguin/Viking)
• 1988 - Birdsong (OUP)
• 1994 - The Burnt Stick, ill. Mark Sofilas (Viking/Puffin) & Christian Children's Book of the Year; CBCA Honour Book
• 1996 - Spindrift, ill. Mark Sofilas (Puffin) & CBCA Notable Book
• 1996 - The Grandfather Clock, ill. Mark Wilson (Lothian)
• 1999 - Growing Up and Other Stories, ill. Melissa Strauss (Ginninderra Press) CBCA Notable Book
• 2001 - Soldier Boy (Penguin) & NSW Premier's Award (Ethel Turner Prize); CBCA Honour Book
• 2002 - Young Digger (Penguin) CBCA Notable Book
• 2002 - Forbidden, ill. Mark Sofilas (Penguin) CBCA Notable Book
• 2003 - The Shadow Dog, ill. Andrew McLean (Penguin/Viking) CBCA Notable Book
• 2005 - Animal Heroes (Penguin)
• 2006 - River Boy, ill. Donna Rawlins (National Musem of Australia)
• 2006 - Harriet, ill. Coral Tulloch (Puffin)
• 2007 - Lucy's Cat and the Rainbow Birds, ill. Jane Tanner (Penguin/Viking)