Photograph by Peter Everard Smith
Rochford Street Review was saddened to learn of the death of Chris Wallace-Crabbe on 16 December 2025. Chris was born in Melbourne in 1934 and spent most of his life in that city. He published his first collection The Music of Division in 1959 while in his BA honours year at Melbourne University and in 1961 he became the Lockie Fellow in Australian Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne. He maintained a relationship with the University for more than 60 years, serving as an active staff member for several decades before continuing as a professor emeritus until his death.
Wallace-Crabbe published more than 25 collections of poetry over his long career. Writing in the Conversation, David McCooey made the point that Wallace-Crabbe could be seen as bridging the gap between the older generation of Australian poets, such as McAuley and Dobson with the so-called generation of 68 poets. Even so his work was always open to new influences and was constantly looking for new ways to develop his work.
Rochford Street Review extends our condolences to Chris Wallace-Crabbe’s family, friends, colleagues and many, many readers.
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