Guide to the Papers of David Williamson, 1958-2023
Collection context
Summary
- Collection number:
- MS 7378
- Creator:
- Williamson, David (1942)
- Extent:
- (111 ms boxes + 1 large folio box + 1 map folio + 9 digital carriers)
- Language:
- English and English
- Preferred citation:
- Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of David Williamson, National Library of Australia, MS 7378, [box and file number]'.
- Availability:
- Available
- Access conditions:
- Part available for research; part requires permission for research; part not available for research. Not for loan.
Background
- Content Summary:
-
This is a comprehensive collection comprising papers relating to David Williamson's professional and personal life. His writings are richly documented, with the kernel of the collection consisting of drafts of Williamson's plays, as well as scripts for film and television work, and other writings. This material is supported by related correspondence, notes, diaries, photographs, fan mail, financial documents, juvenilia and memorabilia. There are also theatre programmes, talks, articles by and about Williamson, theses on Williamson and unsolicited scripts by others.
Correspondents include Janet Albrechtsen, Ray Barrett, Peter Beattie, John Bell, Bruce Beresford, Michael Blakemore, Graeme Blundell, Bryan Brown, Peter Carey, Tim Curnow, Peter Collins, Hector Crawford, Don Dunstan, Bob Ellis, Richard Franklin, Derek Freeman, Gerard Henderson, Israel Horovitz, Judy and Tom Keneally, Christopher Koch, Kathy Lette, Michael Leunig, Judy Lovell, Pat Lovell, Robyn Nevin, Kerry O'Brien, Carol Oliver, Vincent Serventy, Bruce Spence, Alison Summers, Ross Terrill, Don Watson, Jackie Weaver, Peter Weir, Peter Wherrett, Michael Wilding, Kristin Williamson, Tina Williamson and Lord Willis.
- Biographical Note:
-
David Keith Williamson was born in Melbourne on 24 February 1942 and was educated at Bairnsdale and University High Schools, Melbourne University and Monash University (where he graduated in mechanical engineering in 1964). Williamson worked as a Design Engineer for General Motors Holden in 1965 and as a lecturer in engineering and psychology at Swinburne Technical College in 1966-1972, before becoming a fulltime writer.
Williamson was a writer and actor with La Mama Company and the Australian Performing Group in 1970-1972, a member of the Australia Council for the Arts, 1972-1975, Commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1978-1979 and President of the Australian Writers' Guild between 1979-1993.
Williamson was awarded an Order of Australia in 1983 and has received Honorary Doctors of Literature from the University of Sydney and Monash University. He won the George Devine award for The removalists in 1972. He won the AFI award for best screenplay four times and the Australian Writers' Guild award for best script in any media 11 times between 1968 and 2005. Williamson was voted an Australian National Living Treasure in 1997.
Williamson married Carol Cranby in 1965 and Kristin Lofven in 1974. He has two sons and a daughter.
Austlit: the Australian Literature Resource, entry for David Williamson, http://www.austlit.edu.au/, 28 May 2008.
- Reading Room Access Note:
-
For preservation reasons, we are unable to deliver digital or audio/visual carriers to the Special Collections Reading Room. Please contact Ask a Librarian to enquire about access.
- Provenance:
-
The first consignment of papers was donated to the Library in 1987 under the Australian Government's Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, which later became the Cultural Gifts Program. Additions to the collection were made in 1989, 1990, 1995, 2003, 2015, 2020 and 2021 under the Cultural Gifts Program, and in 2022 and 2023 via gratis donation.
- Arrangement:
-
The papers, received in ten consignments between 1987 and 2023, have been sequentially arranged and described using a simple box/folder approach with continuous folder numbering. Within each consignment similar papers have been grouped together.
The first part of this guide (to Box 50) is a revised version of one provided with the collection when it was received in 1987. Some of the items originally listed were not received and, conversely, the collection was found to contain items not mentioned on the original list.
Regarding the 2003 consignment of papers, Williamson stated in an email that he 'simply periodically cleared material from [his] filing cabinet.' Draft play scripts in this consignment have been arranged by play title in rough chronological order by the Library. The correspondence, which was loosely piled inside several boxes by Williamson, has been placed into archival folders in the order in which it was removed from the boxes in an attempt to retain any relationships existing between adjacent papers. In some cases this has resulted in a disruption to the chronological order of the correspondence.
Access and use
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1080034).
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Preferred citation:
- Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of David Williamson, National Library of Australia, MS 7378, [box and file number]'.
- Location of this collection:
-
Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: