Creator: |
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Biography: |
Ray Ericksen was born 2 September 1919, was educated at Austral Coaching College and Melbourne University (B.A. in History 1939- 1941, conferred 1946), then serving in the Australian Army 1941-46. He then lectured in the History Department 1947-59, switching in 1960 to an administrative post as Sub-Dean, then Assistant Dean, in the Arts Faculty 1960-66, 1969. A change of direction found him heading to inland Australia; looking for himself (written up in West of Centre, 1972), he found the story of explorer Ernest Giles and embarked on a biography (Ernest Giles: Explorer and Traveller, 1835-1897, published in 1978). Ericksen also published Cape Solitary (1975, winner of the 1976 National Book Council Award for Australian Literature), and a number of shorter items of prose, in Overland and in learned journals, He was a contributor to Biographers at Work (ed. James Walter and Raija Nugent, The Institute for Modern Biography, Griffith University, 1984). He also left a number of unpublished works of fiction. He had married Margaret Boardman in 1948, and though their marriage was dissolved they remained neighbours and close friends until his death on 1 January 1998. |
Activities/Occupation: |
Historians, Authors |
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