Philip Reynolds Rush was born in Melbourne on 9th November, 1939.  He is the second of three boys born to John and Doreen Rush.

Educated at Wesley College, Melbourne; and Toorak Teachers' College, he graduated with a Trained Primary Teacher's Certificate 1959 and completed a Bachelor of Education Degree (by correspondence) at Deakin University, Victoria in 1985.

He married Yvonne in 1966 and they have four daughters - Megan, Penelope, Alana, and Naomi;  and seven grandchildren (to date!), Arden, Benjamin, Kai, Jade, Annwen, Callum and Liam.

Employed by the State Education Department of Victoria from 1958 -1993, many of those years being in the country as Head-teacher and Principal of a number of rural schools.   From 1981-1984 was the Science Consultant for the East Gippsland Region of the Education Department, and also the Social Studies Consultant from 1982-1984, along with being the Rural Consultant 1983-1984.

After leaving the Education Department in 1993 they moved to the Huon Valley in Tasmania, where Philip has been the ABC's "Country Hour" poet since December 1993, and also a regular storyteller and poet on the ABC's "Sunday" Programme, 1994 - 2000.

He also had a weekly spot on 2TM Tamworth as storyteller and poet, 1998-99.

In 1996, was invited to be the minister of the Huonville Community Church, and in 1997 to also be minister of the Glen Huon and Judbury Uniting Churches.  He retired from formal ministry at the beginning of 2005.

Phil has a great interest in sport, bushwalking, and natural history, playing cricket competitively from 1949 - 1996, Australian Rules Football 1959-1970, Soccer 1954-1958, and many seasons of Badminton, and Volleyball, along with the odd season of Table Tennis, Basketball, and Indoor Soccer.

Phil did not have a great interest in poetry during his schooldays - too much of the English poets, and too much analysing of structure, meaning, and so on.  He became far more enthusiastic when introduced to Banjo Paterson's, Henry Lawson's, and other Australian poets' writings at Teachers' College.

He started writing a few verses in the early 1960's, but no serious writing until the mid-1980's.  His first poem published was "A Penny A Pan" in a Teachers' Union Journal in the late 1980's. Also around that time had some poems published in "The Australian" and "Financial Review."
He wrote a semi-historical, yet fantasy, novel in 1993 "Bess, The Black Orpington Swaggie" which was published and released by the ABC in the same year, in both book and cassette form. Self-published "Australian Poems That Would Stun A Sheep" in October 1995 - now in its fifteenth printing.

He wrote a thirty-episode radio serial "Yendara" that was broadcast in most Australian States by the ABC in 1995. The ABC published "More Than Nine Lives" (a collection of forty-nine poems written about cats), in 1996, also in book and cassette form.

Philip has now self-published 19 books - total copies of all books now in excess of 150,000.   For further details, please refer to "books" link above.

Performances

Phil has been performing poetry and telling stories for many years, and has performed in five states of Australia from Longreach to Tamworth, Sydney to Hobart, Birdsville to Burnie, Mildura to Innamincka.

He has been an after-dinner speaker often, using both stories and poetry, ranging in duration from 20 minutes to 2 hours. These talks and performances have often been adapted to fit the particular group that is being addressed. Farmers, drovers, cattlemen, Rotarians, writers, business people, teachers, librarians, garden clubs, etc. etc. have all received special attention, and he can confidently say that he can bring an appropriate performance to most groups of people.

He has performed at many country shows, and for service clubs, farmers' organisations, writers' groups, etc. etc. These performances have ranged in time from 10 to 15 minutes or up to five hours!

If you are interested in having Phil as a guest speaker or performer, please e-mail him at auspoems@primus.com.au or telephone 03 6266 6331.

 

Workshops

Phil has run many workshops on poetry, prose writing, and self-publishing, both for aspiring writers, experienced writers, and school students from beginners to year 12. These workshops can be held over a full day, or a series of sessions on a daily or weekly basis, or just a short introductory workshop of an hour or two. He can also provide workshops to meet your particular need, and his rates are most competitive.