07 Feb Vale Emeritus Professor John Barnes (1931-2023).
John Barnes was an enthusiastic and beloved teacher and researcher in Australian Literature. John spent much of his career at La Trobe University in Melbourne, but he also taught at Melbourne University, and the University of Western Australia, where he was an editor of Westerly in the late 1960s.Back in Melbourne he launched with colleagues the La Trobe University English journal Meridian, which he edited for many years. He was also involved with the journal Meanjin. In later years John was an editor of the Victorian State Library publication, The La Trobe Journal. Professor Barnes was author and editor of a huge number of articles and chapters on contemporary and historical Australian literature, the discipline of English, and related topics, and of a number of valuable books and collections on Australian literary topics. These include document, poetry, and short story collections, most notably his frequently set Penguin Henry Lawson and works on Joseph Furphy, including the 1990 biography, The Order of Things: A Life of Joseph Furphy, and volumes of criticism on Furphy and Henry Kingsley. His most recent book was the 2017 biography of Charles Joseph La Trobe: La Trobe: Traveller, Writer, Governor. John was a generous and genial colleague, and a teacher who inspired in his students his own level of meticulous research and enthusiastic on-site investigations. He is a model of the engaged scholar, who continued researching, publishing, and engaging with colleagues into his 90th year.
Susan Martin