Summary

Scope and Content

Michael Dransfield corresponded and exchanged poems with Peter Kocan from 1967-1969, whilst Kocan was a patient at the Morisset Mental Hospital. The letters comprise drafts of poems by Dransfield; quotes of poems by other poets; and recommendations for books Kocan should read.

The letters also reflect Dransfield's extensive writing and reveals insights into his mental state and daily life struggles, during the period 1967-1969. One letter dated 15/X/1967, provides considerable biographical and publishing information, including poetry published in Australian, British and US magazines and newspapers, and radio and television interviews.

Biographical Note

Michael Dransfield was born on the 12 September 1948 in Sydney, and educated in Sydney, New South Wales. He studied English literature and language at the University of New South Wales and at Sydney University for a brief period before dropping out. He worked intermittently, living mainly in Paddington, Balmain, and Darlinghurst in Sydney and Casino, and travelled frequently between Tasmania and Queensland, visiting his large group of friends and fellow poets. His work often reflected the voices of people marginalised by society. Dransfield experimented with drugs and alternative lifestyles and was a member of Sydney's counter-culture. He was an active protester against the Vietnam War and was conscripted, but excused for health reasons.

Dransfield wrote his first poem at the age of eight and began to write regularly at fourteen. His poetry was first published in the mid sixties in the underground press that sprang up during that time of great political and social unrest. The quality of his poetry soon saw him gain a broader audience, and he became one of the most widely read poets of his generation. Dransfield's poems were published in Meanjin, Southerly, Poetry Australia and Poetry magazine, and his first collection, Streets of the long voyage, was published in 1970. He published two more books, including Drug poems (1972) which was the result of a drug-inspired poetic experiment.

With others of his generation, Dransfield rebelled against older conservative poets like James McAuley and A. D. Hope, but he often drew on traditional forms when crafting his poems. Critics have drawn comparisons with Tennyson and Swinburne, but his unconventional use of punctuation, typography and language produced unique expressions of his own time. Dransfield spent several periods in rural Australia, inspiring many poems which explore the differences between urban and rural existence. He also regularly explored issues related to drug use and the fragility of human relationships.

On the 20 April 1973, Dransfield, plagued for some time by ill health died, aged 24 in Sydney. The reputation of Dransfield's poetry remains strong. Rodney Hall edited and posthumously published several collections of Dransfield's poetry during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Patricia Dobrez published in 1999 a significant biography entitled Michael Dransfield's lives : a sixties biography.

Peter Kocan was born Peter Raymond Douglas on 4 May 1947 in Newcastle, New South Wales and was raised in Melbourne, Victoria. His father, an engineer was killed in a motorcar accident three months before his birth. After his birth, his mother moved to Melbourne, and married Kocan. The marriage failed, and Peter, his mother and younger brother moved to Sydney. After a childhood of loneliness and disadvantage, Kocan left school at fourteen to work in country New South Wales as a labourer and station-hand, before returning to Sydney and to work as a factory-hand in a dye-factory. On Tuesday 30 August 1966, he fired a sawn-off .22 rifle at the Labor politician Arthur Calwell. Fortunately, Calwell suffered only superficial facial injuries, and he returned to work a week later, and publicly forgave Kocan. At the age of 19, Kocan was sentenced to life imprisonment in Long Bay Goal for the attempted murder.

In late December 1966, he was transferred from goal to Ward 6 for the Criminally Insane in Morisset Mental Hospital. Kocan was incarcerated for 10 years, where he studied literature and began to write poetry in 1967. This experience he wrote about in his novellas The treatment (1980) and its sequel The cure (1983). Two selected works of poetry Ceremonies for the lost (1974) and The other side of the fence (1975) were published while he was at Morisset.

Kocan was released on license from Morisset in August 1976, and lived on the Central Coast of New South Wales teaching, acting, and writing drama, poetry, and fiction. He gained public recognition for his work and received regular support from the Literary Arts Board of the Australia Council. He graduated from the University of Newcastle in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), and recently obtained a Masters degree. He moved to Brisbane in 2003.

Kocan has been awarded:
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Best Fiction Book, 2005: shortlisted for Fresh fields
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2005: shortlisted for Fresh fields
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Fiction, 1983: winner for The cure
National Book Council Award for Australian Literature, 1983: shortlisted for The cure
Mattara Poetry Prize, 1982: winner for 'From the private poems of Governor Caulfield'.

References:
Dransfield's letters to Kocan, 1967-1969
AustLit : The Resource for Australian Literature, August 2005
'Poet who lives underground', by Maurice Dunlevy, published in The Canberra times, Saturday, September 30, 1972.

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