David Williamson
David Williamson AO gained a Bachelor of Engineering at Monash University in 1965 before briefly working as a design engineer at General Motors Holden and in 1966 he began lecturing in thermodynamics and social psychology at Swinburne Technical College.
Mr Williamson began writing and performing plays in 1968 with La Mama Theatre Company.
The Removalists and Don's Party established him as Australia's best-known playwright and established his reputation overseas on the stages of Europe and America.
His success in films is notable, having written the screenplays to Don's Party (1976), The Club (1980) and Phar Lap (1982), as well as collaborating with Peter Weir to make Gallipoli (1980) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Over 30 years, his work has encompassed more than 36 plays and numerous films and television productions.
Mr Williamson has won four AFI awards and the Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE award 11 times. He has received honorary doctorates of Literature from the University of Sydney (1988), Monash University (1990), Swinburne University of Technology (1996) and the University of Queensland (2004).
“One thing I'll have to face about myself, I suppose, is that while I've always loved mankind in general, I have been less than generous to some of those I've been involved with in particular.”