- Born
- 16 Aug 1897
Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia - Died
- 8 May 1987
Point Clare, New South Wales, Australia - Alternative Names
- Eldershaw, M. Barnard (pseudonym)
Summary
Barnard was born at Sydney and attended university there, turning down a scholarship to Oxford at her father's insistence. She began work as a librarian, writing in her spare time, and publishing a collection of short stories, The Ivory Gate, in 1920. In 1927 she collaborated with close friend Flora Eldershaw as 'M Barnard Eldershaw' to produce A House is Built (1929), sharing first prize in a Bulletin literary competition with Katharine Susannah Prichard's Coonardoo (1929). Another five collaborative novels followed, and Barnard also continued writing independently, publishing short stories as well as biographies, history and criticism. During the 1930s and 40s she mixed in literary circles that included Vance and Nettie Palmer, Jean Devany and Miles Franklin. She sustained her writing career throughout much of the twentieth century, and was awarded several prizes towards the end of her life.