Biography

Born in Eastwood, New South Wales

Eastwood, New South Wales

Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eastwood is located 17 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde and the City of Parramatta...

, McDonald went to Hornsby Girls' High School

Hornsby Girls' High School

Hornsby Girls' High School is an academically selective, public high school for girls, located in Hornsby, a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Founded in 1930, the school's first principal was Sarah Agnes Angus Brewster....

 (1934-38), and studied at the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 (B.A., 1943). She worked as an editor for Angus and Robertson, where she specialized in Australian literature, with colleagues such as Alec Bolton, Beatrice Davis and Douglas Stewart. In 1953 she edited the annual Anthology of Australian Poetry. McDonald died of cancer on 7 January 1974.

Works

• Pacific Sea, Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1947
• The Lonely Fire, Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1954
• The Lighthouse and Other Poems, Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1959
• Selected Poems: Nan McDonald, Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1969
• Burn to Billabong: Macdonald Clansfolk in Australia 1788-1988, Sydney, Portofino Design Group, 1988.
• For Prisoners: An Unpublished Poem, Canberra, Brindabella Press, 1995