David Harold Rowbotham (27 August 1924 – 6 October 2010) was an Australian poet and journalist.
Rowbotham was born in the Darling Downs of Queensland, in the city of Toowoomba.[1] He attended Toowoomba Grammar School and studied at the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney.[2] He served in the Second World War on the Pacific front.
Rowbotham worked as a journalist for the Toowoomba Chronicle and Brisbane Courier-Mail (1955–64).[3] He lectured in English at the University of Queensland (1965–1969) and became the literary critic of the Brisbane Courier-Mail (1969–1980), and its literary editor (1980–1987).
Though lyrical in form, Rowbotham's poems are often concerned with history. After the publication of his Selected Poems by Penguin in 1994, covering a period of fifty years, Rowbotham entered a startling late period of productivity which culminated in the publication of the much-lauded Poems for America in 2002. In 2005 the Wagtail series from Picaro Press published a chapbook of Rowbotham's called The Brown Island.
A friend and mentor to many other Australian writers, Rowbotham also maintained extensive international connections, travelling frequently to the United States.
He died on 6 October 2010.
Rowbotham was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1991 in recognition of his service to literature.[4]
In 2007 Rowbotham received the Patrick White Award; the presentation was made 9 November 2007, in Brisbane.