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| Manuscript Name | Papers of Liam Davison |
| Manuscript Number | MSS 122 |
| Last Updated | August 2021 |
| Extent | 52 cm (4 boxes) |
| Location | Special Collections, UNSW Canberra |
| Abstract | This collection comprises manuscript papers and related material produced or accumulated by Liam Davison. |
Scope and Content
Drafts and typescripts of Davidson's works The velodrome (1988), The shipwreck party (1989) and Soundings (1993) together with notebooks and editor's and proof reader's notes.
Date Range of Content
1984-1993
Organization
This collection has been arranged into box then folder order.
Biographical Note
Liam Patrick Davison was born on the 29 July 1957 in Melbourne, Victoria. He has taught history, English and creative writing in Victorian high schools and colleges.
His short fiction has won many awards and his first novel The Velodrome (1988) was shortlisted for the 1987 Australian/Vogel Award. His short stories are widely published and broadcast, many of which are included in Collected stories (2001). Supported by grants from the Australia Council, Davison wrote Soundings (1993) which won the National Book Council Banjo Award for fiction. Set in the Westernport Bay area of Victoria, the novel describes events from several periods of Australian history. Historical events are conflated in a complex narrative that demonstrates how the past continues to exist in the present.
Davison has since won more grants, including a Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship which he used to travel in Italy and France. His third novel The White Woman (1994) was short-listed for several prizes, including the Age Book of the Year. Set in Gippsland, Victoria, the novel explores the notions of civilisation, history and myth surrounding the disappearance of a woman during the 1840s. Davison explores similar themes in Betrayal (1999). Set mainly in France, the novel examines the actions of a woman who is forced to remember a brutal crime she witnessed thirty years earlier.
Davison's awards include:
James Joyce Foundation Suspended Sentence Award, 1999: winner
The Canberra Times Pat Rappolt Memorial Prize, 1983: winner
NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1993: winner for Soundings
ABC / ABA Bicentennial Literary Award, State of the Art Short Story Award, 1988: runner-up for 'The wetlands'
The Canberra Times National Short Story Competition, Pat Rappolt Prize for Writers Under 25, 1983: winner for 'The swimmer'.
References:
AustLit : The Resource for Australian Literature, November 2002.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Papers of Liam Davison, Special Collections, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy, MSS 122, Box [Number], Folder [Number].
Access Terms
Topical Subjects
Authors, Australian -- 20th century -- Archives.
Australian literature -- 20th century.