image of person or book cover 439869955866949398.jpg
The Age, 8 July 1950, p.1 (supplement)
Barbara Jefferis Barbara Jefferis i(A32193 works by) (a.k.a. Barbara Tarlton Jefferis; Mrs John Hinde)
Also writes as: Margaret Sydney
Born: Established: 25 Mar 1917 Adelaide, South Australia, ; Died: Ceased: 3 Jan 2004 Sydney, New South Wales,
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

The daughter of Lucy Barbara Ingoldsby (Smythe) and Tarlton Jefferis, Barbara Jefferis was educated at Riverside in Adelaide and then began a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide. In 1939, she married John Hamilton Hinde, a film critic for the ABC. She moved to Sydney in her twenties and worked in daily and magazine journalism, then as a freelance radio writer. Jefferis wrote more than 50 radio dramas and dramatised documentaries as well as serials, scientific and educational programmes. She was a regular reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian. Her novels have been widely translated into European and Asian languages.

Jefferis was the first woman President of The Australian Society of Authors (ASA), serving three terms (1973-1976), and was a force in writers' politics from the time the society began in the 1960s. She was a member of the ASA executive from 1973 onwards, with particular interests in publishing contracts and Public Lending Right (PLR). Jefferis represented writers' interests on the Government's PLR committee fron 1979-1985; the last year as Acting PLR Chairman. She held the ASA's PLR portfolio from 1981-1989 and held the ASA's Contract Advisory Service portfolio from its inception.

Jefferis made cultural exchange visits to Russia, India and Canada.

The Barbara Jefferis Award for the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society was created in 2007 after being endowed by Jefferis's husband of sixty-four years John Hinde upon his death.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • In 1961 New Zealand author F. E. Dickie, under the pseudonym of John Tempest, wrote a children's book The White Deer, which was withdrawn from sale because of its strong similarities to Jefferis's Half Angel.

Affiliation Notes

  • Born in SA but moved elsewhere

Personal Awards

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Solo for Several Players 1961 single work novel

'A variation on a theme – a plane aloft and a lone occupant who does not know how to fly – has an Australian setting, a four way communication set-up, and constant climax build-up. An accident causes Dick Garnett to kick the throttle of his Piper Tri-pacer and his fiancee, Janet, who hates flying, finds herself airborne, alone. Dick organizes the flying doctor base and Dave Jordan, who finally gets into touch by radio with Janet, calms her into learning the instrument panel, and makes arrangements for the flying field to stand by (she cannot land on the sheep station strip because floods will not permit an ambulance to get through). Janet, ready to break her engagement to Dick, will only listen to his brother but her fumblings bring Dick back to drive her into cooperation so that he can "talk her down". How he gets her to repeat flying manoeuvers until she is ready to head for the distant field, keeps her on course while maintaining the all-out radio contact, and waits for word of her landing...adds up to an aerial melodrama that does not let go.'

Source: Kirkus Reviews (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/barbara-jefferis-4/solo-for-several-players/).
1961 Best-in-Books (US)
y separately published work icon Half-Angel New York (City) : W. Sloane Associates , 1959 Z898139 1959 single work novel

'A by-passed boy and a lost Siamese cat are at the center of this story about subsistence farm living and a rigid rule against pets – not only for Tim, 7, but for his older and younger brothers. When Chichiboo Lady Precious Gem escapes from her picnicking owners, she is found by Tim, is threatened with death by his father, and rescued by Tim, is hidden away to become an adored secret always in danger with his daring thefts to feed her and his fear-ridden nights of exercising her. He has to share her with his older brother after he has watched her kittens born; he has to be more careful when his mother has her fourth child; and he has to face his father's wrath when the hide-out and his beloved cat are found. But, getting in touch with the owners, there is some reward for all his care even if Tim is ungracious to their offer of money or one of the litter and, in hiding the kitten with the crooked tail, he has a new dependent to care for. A boy, numb with love for this elegant visitor to a harsh, rough and tumble farm life, who is quiet, groping, is a persuasive small fry, matching an instinctive wisdom against elder rulings, and the cat will call out that Siamese fancier audience.'

Source: Kirkus Review (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/barbara-jefferis-3/half-angel/). (Sighted: 18/11/2013)
Best-in-Books (US)
y separately published work icon Undercurrent Return Via Canterbury New York (City) : W. Sloane Associates , 1953 Z897217 1953 single work novel

Follows the daily life of Miss Doxy, a spinster living in a boarding house, who is gradually revealed as a functional but deeply traumatised schizophrenic.

Source: Neglected Books (https://neglectedbooks.com/?p=6045).
1952 joint second The Sydney Morning Herald Literary Competition Pre-publication title at the time of the award was 'Return Via Canterbury'.
Award shared with T. A. G. Hungerford's 'The Ridge and the River'.
VIEW ALL AWARDS

Known archival holdings

University of Queensland University of Queensland Library (QLD)
Last amended 10 Mar 2016 16:03:12
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