1956 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1956.

Books

Miles Franklin – Gentlemen at Gyang Gyang : A Tale of the Jumbuck Pads on the Summer Runs
Nevil Shute – Beyond the Black Stump
Randolph Stow – A Haunted Land
Kylie Tennant – The Honey Flow
F. J. Thwaites – That Was the Hour
E. V. Timms – Shining Harvest
Arthur Upfield – Man of Two Tribes
F. B. Vickers – First Place to a Stranger
Morris West
* Gallows on the Sand
* ''Kundu''

Short stories

Ethel Anderson – At Parramatta
Leon Gellert – Year After Year
Alan Marshall – How's Andy Going?
Katharine Susannah Prichard – "N'Goola"
David Rowbotham – Town and City : Tales and Sketches
Judith Wright – "The Vineyard Woman"

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Mavis Thorpe Clark – ''The Brown Land Was Green''

Poetry

Bruce Beaver – "Cow Dance"
David Campbell – The Miracle of Mullion Hill : Poems
Rosemary Dobson – "Cock Crow"
R. D. Fitzgerald – "This Night's Orbit"
Mary Gilmore – "The Waradgery Tribe"
Gwen Harwood – "The Old Wife's Tale"
James McAuley
* "Merry-Go-Round"
* "Vespers"
* A Vision of Ceremony
Ronald McCuaig – "Betty by the Sea"
J. S. Manifold – "Fife Tune"
Vivian Smith
* "For My Daughter"
* The Other Meaning
Douglas Stewart – "A Country Song"
Judith Wright
* A Book of Australian Verse
* "The Forest"

Biography

Charmian Clift – Mermaid Singing
Ion Idriess – The Silver City
Jack Lang – I Remember
Ruth Park & D'Arcy Niland – ''The Drums Go Bang!''

Awards and honours

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal	Not awarded

Children's and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers	Patricia Wrightson, illustrated by Margaret Horder	The Crooked Snake	Angus and Robertson
Children's Book of the Year Award	Picture Book	Peggy Barnard, illustrated by Sheila Hawkins	Wish and the Magic Nut	John Sands

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry	James McAuley	A Vision of Ceremony	Angus & Robertson

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth of births in 1956 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

9 January – Bill Leak, editorial and political cartoonist, caricaturist and portraitist
28 January – Tim Flannery, scientist and science writer
25 October – Kerry Reed-Gilbert, poet and author
5 November – Gig Ryan, poet

Unknown date

Judith Beveridge, poet and editor
Susan Johnson, novelist

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death of deaths in 1956 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

3 March – Dale Collins, journalist and novelist
15 April – Jane Fletcher, poet, nature writer and children's writer
25 August – Lilian Turner, writer for children
20 September – Flora Eldershaw, novelist