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Ivan Southall
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Ivan Southall
Ivan Francis Southall AM, DFC (8 June 1921 – 15 November 2008) was an Australian writer best known for young adult fiction. He wrote more than 30 children's books, six books for adults, and at least ten works of history, biography or other non-fiction.
Ivan Southall was born in Melbourne, Victoria. His father died when Ivan was 14, and he and his brother Gordon were raised by their mother. He went to Mont Albert Central School (where he wrote the first of his Simon Black stories) and later Box Hill Grammar, but was forced to leave school early, and became an apprentice process engraver. He joined the Royal Australian Air Force on 19 Jun 1942 serving with 461 Squadron RAAF (raised under an Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme) . He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in sinking a German U-boat, U-385, in the Bay of Biscay on 11 August 1944 (in concert with the destroyer HMS Swift). He returned to Australia with his English bride, Joy Blackburn. Their youngest daughter was born with Down syndrome. His was discharged on 19 Nov 1946.
He tried his hand at farming at Monbulk, but the attempt foundered, so he became a full-time writer.
He met his first wife, Joy Blackburn, during the Second World War and they had four children, Andrew, Roberta, Elizabeth and Melissa. He remarried, to Susan Stanton, whom he met in 1974 on his United States visit to deliver the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture at the University of Washington. Southall died of cancer on 15 November 2008 aged 87.
His daughter Elizabeth had three daughters, the eldest of whom was murdered in 1999. Elizabeth wrote a book about the case in 2002 titled Perfect Victim. The story was made into a film called In Her Skin in 2009.
Ivan Southall began his career as a writer primarily writing historical accounts for adults. Notably, he wrote the biography of Keith Truscott, an Australian fighter ace who served in England in the last stages of the Battle of Britain and the aftermath, and later in Darwin and at Milne Bay.
Southall also wrote the official history of his Royal Australian Air Force squadron, 461 Squadron, based at Pembroke Dock, a town in South West Wales, when he was pilot of Short Sunderland flying boats. Later he published a version of this history as They Shall Not Pass Unseen and much later returned to his experiences of combat in Sunderlands in books for younger readers.
Southall also wrote Softly Tread the Brave, describing the courage of Royal Australian Volunteer Naval Reserve bomb disposal officers, Hugh Syme (GC, GM and Bar) and John Mould (GC, GM), who served in England disarming parachute mines. Southall later published a version of this story for younger readers under the title Seventeen Seconds — the time available to run in case the fuse of the mine was accidentally triggered while trying to disarm it.
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Ivan Southall
Ivan Francis Southall AM, DFC (8 June 1921 – 15 November 2008) was an Australian writer best known for young adult fiction. He wrote more than 30 children's books, six books for adults, and at least ten works of history, biography or other non-fiction.
Ivan Southall was born in Melbourne, Victoria. His father died when Ivan was 14, and he and his brother Gordon were raised by their mother. He went to Mont Albert Central School (where he wrote the first of his Simon Black stories) and later Box Hill Grammar, but was forced to leave school early, and became an apprentice process engraver. He joined the Royal Australian Air Force on 19 Jun 1942 serving with 461 Squadron RAAF (raised under an Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme) . He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in sinking a German U-boat, U-385, in the Bay of Biscay on 11 August 1944 (in concert with the destroyer HMS Swift). He returned to Australia with his English bride, Joy Blackburn. Their youngest daughter was born with Down syndrome. His was discharged on 19 Nov 1946.
He tried his hand at farming at Monbulk, but the attempt foundered, so he became a full-time writer.
He met his first wife, Joy Blackburn, during the Second World War and they had four children, Andrew, Roberta, Elizabeth and Melissa. He remarried, to Susan Stanton, whom he met in 1974 on his United States visit to deliver the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture at the University of Washington. Southall died of cancer on 15 November 2008 aged 87.
His daughter Elizabeth had three daughters, the eldest of whom was murdered in 1999. Elizabeth wrote a book about the case in 2002 titled Perfect Victim. The story was made into a film called In Her Skin in 2009.
Ivan Southall began his career as a writer primarily writing historical accounts for adults. Notably, he wrote the biography of Keith Truscott, an Australian fighter ace who served in England in the last stages of the Battle of Britain and the aftermath, and later in Darwin and at Milne Bay.
Southall also wrote the official history of his Royal Australian Air Force squadron, 461 Squadron, based at Pembroke Dock, a town in South West Wales, when he was pilot of Short Sunderland flying boats. Later he published a version of this history as They Shall Not Pass Unseen and much later returned to his experiences of combat in Sunderlands in books for younger readers.
Southall also wrote Softly Tread the Brave, describing the courage of Royal Australian Volunteer Naval Reserve bomb disposal officers, Hugh Syme (GC, GM and Bar) and John Mould (GC, GM), who served in England disarming parachute mines. Southall later published a version of this story for younger readers under the title Seventeen Seconds — the time available to run in case the fuse of the mine was accidentally triggered while trying to disarm it.
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