Australian poetry classics: John Forbes’ On the Beach exposes the nation’s myths of convenience

Cover details from John Forbes' Collected Poems and The Stunned Mullet. Background: Jay Wennington/Unsplash In this series, we explore influential Australian poems. When John Forbes (1950–98) died of a heart attack at the young age of 47, he left behind a slim but remarkable body of work. He is still influential and widely read. His Collected Poems recently went into a fifth reprinting. A biography and anthology of his prose writings will be published in 2027. Educated at De La Salle Catholic…