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Raymond Frank "Ray" Mathew (14 April 1929 – 27 May 2002) was an Australian author. Mathew wrote poetry, drama, radio plays and filmscripts, short stories, novels, arts and literature criticism, and other non-fiction. He left Australia in 1960 and never returned, dying in New York where he had lived from 1968.

Childhood and education

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Mathew was born in Sydney and lived in Leichhardt and Bondi, Sydney during his childhood, attending Sydney Boys High School. He attended Sydney Teachers College from 1947 to 1949.

Teaching and work in Australia

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Between 1949 and 1951 Mathew taught at small country schools in New South Wales, where he was often the only teacher. His experience as a lone and lonely teacher is expressed in his most well-known play, A Spring Song, which was first performed in 1958.

During the 1950s Mathew also worked in shops, moved furniture, gave school broadcasts and adult education lectures, wrote literary reviews for the Sydney Morning Herald as a freelance journalist, worked for the CSIRO as an accounts officer 1952–1954 and was a tutor and lecturer at the University of Sydney 1955–1960.[1]

Leaving Australia

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Mathew left Australia for Italy in 1960. After some time there he moved to London, where he lived until 1968 when he went to New York and met the inventor, Paul Kollsman and his wife Eva. His British lover, Tony Hippisley, had committed suicide the year before.[2] The Kollsmans, and especially Eva, assisted Mathew through their literary connections.

Mathew remained in New York for the rest of his life. In 1969, he wrote in a letter to his Australian artist friend, Pixie O'Harris, "I have probably not been happier in my life. There are people here I like immensely.... I'm 40 – I feel very grown up."[3] He worked as a freelance writer and art critic while working on his novels and poetry. While he continued to write for the rest of his life publishing success evaded him. His last published book, The Joys of Possession, appeared in 1967.

Eva Kollsman became a lifelong patron and supporter of Mathews, and theirs was an intensely intimate relationship. She donated his papers to the National Library of Australia following his death and established a trust to support research into Australian writers.[4]

List of works

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Plays

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  • Church Sunday (1950)
  • Puppet Love (1950)
  • Sing for St. Ned (1951)
  • The Love of Gautama (radio play, 1952)
  • The Boomerang and the Bantam (1953)
  • The Medea of Euripides (radio play, 1954)
  • We Find the Bunyip (first produced, 1955; published in Khaki, Bush and Bigotry, 1968)
  • The Bones of My Toe (first produced, 1957; unpublished)
  • Lonely Without You (1957)
  • The Life of the Party (first produced 1958; finalist in the 1957 London Observer International Play Competition; published in Plays of the '50s, 2004)
  • A Spring Song (first produced, 1958; published, 1961 and 1985)

Short-story collections

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  • A Bohemian Affair: Short Stories (1961)
  • The Time of the Peacock: Stories with Mena Abdullah (1965)

Novel

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  • The Joys of Possession (1967)

Poetry collections

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  • With Cypress Pine (1951) (Highly Commended in Grace Leven Prize)
  • Song and Dance (1956)
  • South of the Equator (1961)
  • Moonsong and Other Poems (1962)

Prose

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  • Charles Blackman's Paintings (1965)
  • Tense Little Lives: Uncollected Prose of Ray Mathew (2007)

Papers

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The National Library of Australia holds Ray Mathew's papers. They were donated by Eve Kollsman.[5]

References

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Ray Mathew

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''Ray Mathew'' is an Australian playwright and poet known for his innovative dramatic works during the 1950s and his multifaceted contributions to poetry, prose, and literary criticism. Born in Sydney in 1929, he emerged as a prominent figure in the city's literary scene, producing plays that critics later described as ahead of their time and foreshadowing new forms in Australian theatre. His best-known play, A Spring Song, was produced in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney, while other works such as The Life of the Party and Sing for St Ned reflected his distinctive wit and thematic interests in life's randomness. Mathew also published three volumes of verse, short stories, a novel, radio plays, film scripts, and monographs on figures including Miles Franklin and artist Charles Blackman. Mathew was born in Leichhardt, Sydney, and educated at Sydney Boys' High School and Sydney Teachers' College, later teaching in rural New South Wales schools before establishing himself as a writer and adult education lecturer in the 1950s. At the end of the 1950s he left Australia for London with a British Arts Council grant, but never returned permanently, eventually settling in New York in the mid-1960s. There he lived as a companion to patrons Eva and Paul Kollsman in their Fifth Avenue apartment, remaining there until his death from cancer in 2002. Although his published output declined after the late 1960s, his early works continue to be recognized for their originality, and the annual Ray Mathew Lecture at the National Library of Australia, established in 2009 and supported by a bequest from Eva Kollsman, honours his legacy in promoting Australian writing.

Biography

Early life and education

Raymond Frank Mathew was born on 14 April 1929 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He grew up in the Sydney suburbs of Leichhardt and Bondi, moving to the latter with his family at the age of twelve. Mathew attended Sydney Boys High School. He then studied at Sydney Teachers' College from 1947 to 1949, completing his formal education there before beginning his professional working life.

Career in Australia (1949–1960)

Ray Mathew began his professional life in Australia by teaching in one-teacher country schools in New South Wales from 1949 to 1951, a period that included a posting at Derriwong near Condobolin. This rural experience as the sole teacher in isolated settings profoundly shaped his perspective and later influenced his creative work, including his best-known play A Spring Song, which he wrote during these years. After leaving teaching, Mathew held a range of positions to support himself while pursuing writing and criticism. He worked as an accounts officer at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) from 1952 to 1954, and subsequently as a tutor and lecturer in drama at the University of Sydney from 1955 to 1960. During this time, he also took on freelance reviewing for the Sydney Morning Herald, contributed to school broadcasts, delivered adult education lectures, and performed manual jobs such as shop work and furniture removal. From 1956 to 1957, he served as a writer in the Department of the Interior Film Division. Mathew gained early literary recognition in the 1950s through his poetry and other writing. His collection With Cypress Pine received a letter of commendation in the Grace Leven Prize for poetry in 1952. In 1957, he was awarded a Commonwealth Literary Fellowship, which provided support for his ongoing creative efforts during this formative decade. These achievements and varied roles established him as a promising figure in Australian literature before his departure in 1960.

Expatriation and later years (1960–2002)

In 1960, Ray Mathew left Australia permanently after receiving the first bursary for drama awarded by the British Arts Council to a Commonwealth writer. He traveled by boat to Europe, initially via Naples, Italy, before settling in London, where he resided until 1968. During this period, he lived in Italy from 1964 to 1966. In 1968, Mathew relocated to New York City and remained there until his death in 2002. He continued working as a freelance writer and art critic, serving as senior editor and art critic for Art/world magazine from 1981 onward. Mathew published no new books after his 1967 novel The Joys of Possession.

Personal life and relationships

Ray Mathew maintained long-term friendships and correspondence with several prominent Australian literary figures throughout his life. He was particularly close to artist and writer Pixie O'Harris, with whom he exchanged letters, sketches, poems, and photographs of her paintings until her death in 1991. He also shared enduring personal connections with poets Rosemary Dobson and Nancy Keesing, novelist Patrick White, artist Barbara Blackman and her husband Charles Blackman, and writer Donald Horne. During the 1960s, while living in London and Italy, Mathew had a significant relationship with his British partner Tony Hippisley. Their relationship included extensive correspondence, particularly during 1964–1965 when Mathew was in Italy and later through 1969. Hippisley died by suicide in 1967; the collection preserves suicide letters from Hippisley, papers related to his estate and will, and condolence letters Mathew received afterward, including from Barbara and Charles Blackman. In 1968 Mathew moved to New York, where he formed a close, long-term relationship with Eva Kollsman, wife of German-American inventor Paul Kollsman. He shared the Kollsmans' uptown apartment and lived with them until his death in 2002. Eva Kollsman became a key patron and literary supporter, assisting Mathew through her connections in the art and literary worlds. Following Mathew's death, Eva Kollsman donated portions of his papers to the National Library of Australia.

Death

Ray Mathew died of cancer on 27 May 2002 in New York City at the age of 73. He had shared an apartment with his longtime companion Eva Kollsman on Fifth Avenue since the late 1960s, where he continued working as a freelance writer and art critic until his final illness. Following his death, Eva Kollsman donated the bulk of Mathew's papers to the National Library of Australia, beginning with three cartons in 2002 and followed by two more in 2003; a final installment of four cartons was donated in 2006 by Jeff Hyland, executor for both Mathew and Kollsman (who died in 2005). The Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust was later established at the National Library of Australia through a bequest from Eva Kollsman to support and promote Australian writing. This trust has funded initiatives including the annual Ray Mathew Lecture, which began in 2009.

Works

Plays

Ray Mathew's plays during the 1950s established him as a trailblazer in Australian theatre, recognized for his innovative experiments with realism, verbal techniques, and unorthodox plots often drawn from rural experiences. His early one-act works included Church Sunday (1950), which received second prize in the National Theatre Movement Author's Competition in Ballarat, and Puppet Love (1950). Sing for St. Ned (1951), a satirical musical, was runner-up in the Commonwealth Jubilee award and later produced in Brisbane and Sydney. The Boomerang and the Bunyip followed in 1953 with a production at the Sydney Mercury Theatre. In 1955, We Find the Bunyip, a three-act comedy, premiered at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney after being runner-up in the Playwrights' Advisory Board competition and was published in 1968. The Life of the Party, a drama exploring post-war urban anxieties, was a finalist in the 1957 London Observer International Play Competition, produced in 1960, and published in 2004. Other plays from this era include The Bones of My Toe (produced 1962, unpublished) and Lonely Without You (1957), runner-up in the Tasmanian Mercury Play Competition. Mathew also authored radio plays such as The Love of Gautama (1952) and The Medea of Euripides (1954). His most significant and widely regarded work is A Spring Song, written in 1955 and first produced in 1958 in Brisbane and Sydney, with further stagings in Edinburgh and London. Published in 1961 by Queensland University Press and republished in 1985 by Currency Press, the play was televised in Canada in 1966 and stands as his best-known drama for its Chekhovian portrayal of three sisters in a rural Australian setting. It has been praised for foreshadowing more indigenous forms of Australian theatre that emerged in subsequent decades.

Poetry

Ray Mathew's poetry gained recognition in the Australian literary scene during the 1950s and early 1960s through a series of published collections. His debut volume, With Cypress Pine, appeared in 1951, issued by Lyre-Bird Writers. This collection received a letter of commendation for the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1952. The commendation reflected early critical notice of his lyrical style and engagement with Australian landscapes and themes. Mathew followed with Song and Dance in 1956, again published by Lyre-Bird Writers through Edwards & Shaw. In 1961, South of the Equator was released by Angus and Robertson. This was his final published poetry collection. Mathew published no further poetry collections after the early 1960s.

Prose fiction

Ray Mathew published three volumes of prose fiction during his career: two collections of short stories and one novel. His debut short story collection, A Bohemian Affair: Short Stories, appeared in 1961 from Angus and Robertson. The book gathered stories written earlier in his career, reflecting his early style as a prose writer alongside his work in poetry and drama. Mathew collaborated with fellow writer Mena Abdullah on The Time of the Peacock: Stories, published in 1965 by Angus and Robertson. The collection, which drew on their shared experiences and observations of immigrant life, was reissued in 1967 and again in 1992. It remains one of his notable collaborative works in fiction. Mathew's only novel, The Joys of Possession, was published in 1967 by Chapman and Hall in London. Described as his sole completed novel, it was his last major published book of prose fiction. In later years, he worked on additional novel drafts, including American Beauty: The Making of Andrew, though these remained unpublished.

Scripts, radio, and non-fiction

Ray Mathew wrote verse plays for radio broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Commission during the early 1950s. His radio play The Love of Gautama aired in 1952. This was followed by his adaptation of Euripides' tragedy as The Medea of Euripides, with the script dated around 1954. Mathew also worked in film and television scripts. He served as a writer for the Department of the Interior Film Division from 1956 to 1957. Later credits include the 1966 television adaptation of his play A Spring Song for an episode of the Canadian series Festival. He provided the original story for the 1971 film Say Hello to Yesterday. In non-fiction, Mathew published the critical study Miles Franklin with Lansdowne Press in 1963 and Charles Blackman's Painting with Georgian House in 1965. From 1981 he worked as senior editor and art critic for the New York magazine Art/world. A posthumous collection of his uncollected prose, Tense Little Lives: Uncollected Prose of Ray Mathew, selected and introduced by Thomas Shapcott, appeared in 2007 from the National Library of Australia.

Legacy

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