This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1970.
Major publications
Books
Jessica Anderson – The Last Man's Head
Jon Cleary – Helga's Web
Geoffrey Dutton – Tamara
Catherine Gaskin – Fiona
Shirley Hazzard – The Bay of Noon
Barry Oakley – A Salute to the Great Macarthy
Dal Stivens – A Horse of Air
Colin Thiele – Labourers in the Vineyard
Patrick White – The Vivisector
Short stories
Murray Bail – "Paradise" Alexandra Hasluck – Of Ladies Dead : Stories Not in the Modern Manner Frank Moorhouse – "The Coca-Cola Kid" Hal Porter – Mr Butterfly and Other Tales of New Japan
Children's and Young Adult fiction
Hesba Brinsmead – Listen to the Wind
Mavis Thorpe Clark – Iron Mountain
Max Fatchen – Conquest of the River
Lilith Norman – Climb a Lonely Hill
Ruth Park
The Muddle-Headed Wombat in the Springtime
The Muddle-Headed Wombat on the River
Joan Phipson – The Haunted House
Ivan Southall
Bread and Honey
Chinaman's Reef is Ours
Science fiction and fantasy
Damien Broderick – Sorcerer's World
Michael Wilding – "The Man of Slow Feeling"
Poetry
Jack Davis – The First-Born and Other Poems
Michael Dransfield – "Fix" Robert Gray – "Journey : The North Coast" Rodney Hall – Heaven, in a Way A. D. Hope – Dunciad Minor David Malouf – Bicycle and Other Poems Peter Porter – The Last of England David Rowbotham – The Makers of the Ark : Poems Kath Walker – My People : A Kath Walker Collection
Drama
David Williamson – The Coming of Stork
Non-fiction
Germaine Greer – The Female Eunuch
Awards and honours
Literary
Children and Young Adult
Poetry
Births
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1970 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
8 June – Paul Haines, short story writer (died 2012)
Unknown date
Lee Battersby, novelist and short story writer
Julia Leigh, novelist and script writer
Martin Livings, short story writer
Caroline Overington, novelist and journalist
Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1970 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
20 April - Ronald Campbell, novelist and short story writer (born 1896) 1 May – Nan Chauncy, writer for children (born 1900) 24 May – Frank Dalby Davison, novelist and short story writer (born 1893) 22 July – George Johnston, novelist (born 1912) 30 July – Walter Murdoch, academic and essayist (born 1874)