Terry O'Neill

Research Fellow

BA (Melb), MA (Melb)

Contact details | Publications

Terry arrived at Monash in 1994 to work on one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in Australian literature, the Bibliography of Australian Literature project. He had previously completed, at the University of Melbourne, an MA in German Literature. He had also worked for many years in the administration at that University, reaching the position of Assistant Registrar. During that time he also assisted Brenda Niall in the compilation of Martin Boyd (Australian Bibliographies) (1977) and discovered the previously unknown Martin Boyd novel Dearest Idol (see “Martin Boyd’s Missing Novels”, Australian Literary Studies, May 1978). In 1981 Terry was awarded an ARGC grant to travel to England and Italy to interview friends and relatives of Boyd, and these interviews are now held at the National Library. He also visited on several occasions Boyd's cousin Joan Lindsay, author of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and was able to establish previously unrecognized connections between their works (see “Literary Cousins” in ALS, May 1982). His Australian Dictionary of Biography Joan Lindsay entry is in press.

Terry then turned his attention to children's books. A literary sleuth, he discovered many previously unknown early Australian children’s books (see “Confessions of a Literary Sleuth”, in Orana November 1988).

Terry is now nearing completion of his work on The Bibliography of Australian Literature, of which he is Associate Editor. Three volumes have already been published, with the final volume (P-Z) scheduled to appear in October 2008. It is hoped that an Addenda volume will be published.

Publications

The Bibliography of Australian Literature (University of Queensland Press) (Associate Editor). Three volumes already published (2001-2007), covering A-O. The fourth volume (P-Z) is to be published in October 2008.

Australian Children's Books to 1980: a select bibliography of the collection held in the National Library of Australia. Canberra, NLA, 1989 (with Frances O'Neill).

German Poetry in Australia 1830-1992: a checklist of literary translations, adaptations and comments by Australian authors by Horst Priessnitz. Clayton, Vic: National Centre for Australian Studies, 1995. Editor (with Sally Batten).