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Arthur Groom Arthur Groom i(A12294 works by)
Also writes as: Poppa ; A. G.
Born: Established: 11 Dec 1904 St Kilda, Caulfield - St Kilda area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria, ; Died: Ceased: 14 Nov 1953 Melbourne, Victoria,
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Arthur Groom was the second child of Arthur Champion Groom, the Federal Member for Flinders, and his wife Eva Rosabelle. When Arthur was about three years old, his parents moved their young family to Julia Creek, North Queensland, where they settled on a property they named 'Rosabelle Downs'. Growing up here, Arthur received a 'bush'-oriented education and he went on to work as a jackeroo in the Northern Territory, and later as a journalist with the Brisbane Courier Mail.

In 1930 he wrote, and had published, his first book, a novel entitled Merry Christmas. A passionate environmentalist, in this same year he also became the first honorary secretary of the National Parks Association of Queensland, and in 1933 he helped to establish Binna Burra Lodge, on the edge of Queensland's Lamington National Park, where he subsequently worked as manager and guide.

In addition to writing social commentary and fiction, Arthur Groom also wrote books about travelling in Australia: One Mountain After Another (1949), Wealth in the Wilderness (1955), and I Saw a Strange Land : Journeys in Central Australia (1977).

Groom is not to be confused with Arthur (William) Groom (1898-1964), the prolific English author, mainly of children's books, among whose works is the Flying Doctor Annual (1963) (Muir 3097).

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Throughout the late 1920s and the 1930s, Groom wrote a number of articles on his bushwalks in south-east Queensland for the Queenslander, the Brisbane Courier and later Courier-Mail, and other Brisbane newspapers. Groom was also a prolific photographer, and his photographs of the Lamington National Park and other wild areas of south-east Queensland appeared regularly in the Brisbane newspapers in this period. He also wrote numerous letters to the press over the years, promoting the national parks and conservation cause.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Merry Christmas! 1929 single work novel Sandy Jackson, drunk and destitute, hides in a commercial traveller's car boot. The salesman, Pratten, picks up a hitchhiker named Jack and then, driving too fast, almost kills all of them in an accident. The car is repaired and Jack leaves Pratten and Sandy to continue the journey to Cloncurry.
1928 highly commended The Bulletin Novel Competition
VIEW ALL AWARDS
Last amended 19 May 2011 16:21:58
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