Magazine article
Australian poetry classics: John Forbes’ On the Beach exposes the nation’s myths of convenience
The Conversation
12/08/2026
Appears in Recent Faculty of Education Publications
Metrics
1 Record Views
Abstract
When John Forbes (1950–98) died of a heart attack at the young age of 47, he left behind a slim but remarkable body of work. He is still influential and widely read. His Collected Poems recently went into a fifth reprinting. A biography and anthology of his prose writings will be published in 2027.
Educated at De La Salle Catholic boys’ schools in the Sydney suburbs of Carringbah and Cronulla, Forbes showed promise as a scholar. He dazzled many of his contemporaries at the University of Sydney, where he studied arts, but his academic transcript wasn’t particularly impressive. A colloquial but original master’s thesis on New York poet Frank O’Hara was ultimately abandoned.
Although he was awarded a series of literary grants, Forbes lived in increasing penury. He was forced to take a range of casual jobs, from telemarketing and furniture removal to working in a tinsel factory. He also taught creative writing. As he aged, he drank more heavily and became more dependent on the codeine-based medicine he began consuming in his early twenties.
Crushes and unrequited loves haunt his poems, but he was popular with men and women alike and was often sought out for his conversational brilliance.
Details
- Title
- Australian poetry classics: John Forbes’ On the Beach exposes the nation’s myths of convenience
- Creators
- Aidan Coleman - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- The Conversation
- Publisher
- The Conversation Media Group Ltd
- Identifiers
- 991013395352102368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Magazine article