Michael Noonan (writer)

Michael John Noonan (19 September 1921 in Sumner, near Christchurch, New Zealand — 4 March 2000 in Brisbane) was an Australian / New Zealand novelist and radio script writer. He also created the Australian TV series Riptide, featuring Australian actors "including Tony Ward, Rowena Wallace, Michael Pate, Bill Hunter, Helen Morse, John Meillon, Chips Rafferty and Jack Thompson".^[1]

Noonan served with the Second Australian Imperial Force in New Guinea during World War II. He moved to England in 1957 but returned frequently to Australia and returned there to live in Brisbane in 1979.^[2]

The beach, his favourite place, inspired most of his books. He spent the last years of his life living in Queensland, Australia.

Works

• 1946: In the land of the talking trees : a fantasy
• 1947: The golden forest : the story of Oonah the platypus
• 1959: The patchwork hero (translated into Polish and German)
• 1961-1969: The Flying Doctor Series:
  • 1961: Flying Doctor (also translated into German, French, Dutch, Portuguese)
  • 1962: Flying Doctor and the secret of the pearls (translated into German)
  • 1962: Flying doctor on the Great Barrier Reef (translated into German and Polish)
  • 1964: Flying doctor shadows the mob (translated into German)
  • 1965: Flying doctor hits the headlines (translated into German)
  • 1969: Flying doctor under the desert (translated into German)
• 1963: December Boys; made into a film of the same name released in 2007.
• 1967: Air taxi (translated into Polish)
• 1969: The pink beach
• 1973: The sun is God - biographical fiction about J. M. W. Turner
• 1978: The invincible Mr Az
• 1982: Magwitch
• 1983: A different drummer : the story of E.J. Banfield, the beachcomber of Dunk Island
• 1987: McKenzie’s boots - listed as one of the Best Books for Young Adults of 1988 by the American Library Association^[3]
• 1995: In with the tide : memoirs of a storyteller - autobiography

References

1. ^ "Many well known Australian actors appeared as guest artists, including Tony Ward, Rowena Wallace, Michael Pate, Bill Hunter, Helen Morse, John Meillon, Chips Rafferty and Jack Thompson". http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/Riptide1.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-22. 
2. ^ "Michael Noonan". University of Queensland Press. http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/author_details.php?id=170. Retrieved 2007-10-15. 
3. ^ University of Queensland book blurb for McKenzie's boots

Persondata
Name	Noonan, Michael John
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1921
Place of birth
Date of death	2000
Place of death