Papers of Philip Hammial
MSS 080

Collection Description

This small collection comprises a typescript draft and page proofs for Hammial's poetry collections Squeeze (1985) and Pell mell (1988), together with letters of Dane Thwaites and Angus & Robertson.

Administrative / Biographical history

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Hammial

Philip Hammial was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1937, and grew up in the United States. Hammial migrated to Australia in 1972 and became an Australian citizen in 1992. After serving with the US Navy for three years he completed a BA with Honours in English Literature and Philosophy at Ohio University.

His poems have been included in many Australian poetry anthologies, in Australian literary magazines and newspapers and in literary magazines in Egypt, France, Japan, New Zealand and the U.S. As a recipient of a Category A Writer's Fellowship in 1996, Hammial went on a reading tour of Japan. In 2000 he represented Australia at three overseas poetry festivals: Poetry Africa 2000 in Durban; the Franco-Anglais Festival of Poetry in Paris; and The World Festival of Poets in Tokyo.

Hammial is a not only a poet but a painter and sculptor as well, and in addition to his poetry publications, Hammial has held over twenty-five solo art exhibitions and has participated in over fifty group exhibitions. He has been Director and Co-founder of the Australian Collection of Outsider Art. Since 1979 (except for a break in publication 1988-1992) he has been editor of Island Press.

Apart from his artistic endeavours, Hammial has participated in a number of political and environmental groups and has been a member of the Woodford Bush Fire Brigade.

Hammial has received the following grants and awards:
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, Grants for Established Writers, 2004
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, 2004: shortlisted for In the Year of our Lord slaughter's children
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, 2001: short-listed for 'Bread'
Rothmans Foundation `Banjo' Writing Award, 1988: second for 'A room with a view'.

Hammial's publications include:
Foot falls and notes (1976)
Hear me eating (1977)
Mastication poems (1977)
Chemical cart (1977)
More bath, less water (1978)
Swarm (1979)
Squeeze (1985)
Vehicles of refuge, abundance, repentence, jubilation, beatitude, transfiguration, supplication, etc. (with drawings by Anthony Mannix, 1985)
Pell mell (1988)
Travel (1989)
Aim for the stars! : poem, by Les Wicks ; sculpture by Philip Hammial [1992]
With one skin less (1994)
Just desserts (1995)
Bread (2000)
Auto one (2002)
In the year of our Lord slaughter's children (2003)
Swan song (2004)
Voodoo realities (2005).

References:
AustLit : The Resource for Australian Literature, May 2006.

Acquisition Details

Scope and Content

This small collection comprises a typescript draft and page proofs for Hammial's poetry collections Squeeze (1985) and Pell mell (1988), together with letters of Dane Thwaites and Angus & Robertson.

Access Restrictions

Existence and Location of Orginals

Disclaimer