Les Murray

Les Murray
The Australian Catholic I have
chosen is Les Murray as he
displays courage, inspiration,
bravery and passionate for
what he does.

Les Murray
Les Murray was born at
Bunyah, NSW in 1938.
He grew up on a farm and
felt very lonely and isolated
from everyone.
When Les Murray was only
13, his mother died which
affected his father
dramatically.

School Life
Les soon discovered
some crueller aspects of
human behavior when
he reached secondary
school. This made him
aware of the pressure of
opinion.
Poetry
Les Murray discovered his love for poetry at 18
and began studying at Sydney University
Les soon published poems widely and being
acknowledged by some of Australias greatest
poets.
Religion
Les married Valerie Morelli who he had
met at University and became a Catholic
himself.
Oh, I can see yes, that feels right. I
belong to that
Religion
The dedication in most of Les Murrays
books reads To the glory of God. When he
was asked why, he responded that he
thought it was the polite thing to do from
one creator to another. Les is quite sure
that God called him into the Catholic
Church. It was highly unlikely that I would
ever have entered the Church; my parents
detested it.

Religion
Les was drawn to Catholicism for three main
reasons:The fact that they could forgive,
that they could laugh at some of the
sacred things in the Church, which was
unknown in Calvinism, and the theology of
the Eucharist had me fascinated; the idea
of a physical bond between heaven and
earth. Protestantism was entirely abstract.
Religion
I held off getting baptised for almost five
years and the story went round that I only
joined it because my wife was Catholic, but
its rather the reverse; I was heading that
way for a good four years before I met her
and Ive stayed with it ever since.
Achievements
Les Murray was awarded with the
Christopher Brennan Award
Les Murray
Les Murray is an inspiring and
motivating person who
encourages others to follow
their passion.
He writes poems about his life
and religion to share his
experiences with others. One
of Les poems expresses his
feelings about his religion and
why he is Catholic. He also
says how being Catholic has
changed or improved his life.
Les Murrays mothers death was a huge
obstacle in his life as it left his father and
himself heartbroken and lonely.

I think other peoples
thoughts of him would
be full of love and
pride for this man who
put his life on the line
for his passion

Hes best
characteristics were his
bravery, humour and
compassion

I would like to be like
him in the light of that I
could be as brave as
he was.