Mark O’Connor, born in Ararat in 1945, grew up there and in Melbourne. He has taught English at several universities, has published sixteen books of verse, and editedTwo Centuries of Australian Poetry He is a frequent voice on a range of ABC radio programs. The Olive Tree: Collected Poems of Mark O’Connor, is published by Hale & Iremonger. (OUP, 2nd ed. 1996). He was the Australian National University’s H.C. Coombs Fellow in 1999, and thereafter a Visiting Scholar in its Department of Archaeology and Natural History. He has also published prose books on environment, population, and literary criticism; and his poetry shows a special interest in environment.