Cirrus@Austlit

Caroline Caddy was born during World War Two, to an Australian mother and an American father. A significant part of her childhood was spent in the USA and Japan. On her return to live in Western Australia she continued her schooling, living both in the northern and southern parts of the state. Some of her poetry reflects those war years, personal experiences of her childhood in America and memories of school life on her return to Australia, when she was considered to be a Yank

As an adult she has lived, worked and travelled widely in China and her longstanding interest in Asia and Asian cultures had its roots in the three years she spent there as a child. She has also worked as a dental nurse with the Western Australian Road Dental Unit travelling through the country centres of Western Australian. Other poems reflect the unyielding and harsh landscape of northern Western Australia, as well as the coast, beaches and seacapes.

In 1991 Caddy approached the Antarctic Division with a proposal to visit there to gather material for a new book of poetry. In 1992 she was offered a passage on the icebreaker Aurora Australis on a voyage to service the bases of Mawson and Davis. Her book Antarctica : Poems (1996) was the result of this trip.

Besides her own published books of poetry, Caroline Caddy has had her work published in Australian journals such as Southerly and Westerly, in anthologies and broadcast on radio 6NR, Perth.