Dr Shelley O'Reilly: Stories, Stanzas, & Tales

Shelley O'Reilly

I am a seventh-generation Tasmanian, descended from a long line of convicts who became sawyers and orchardists.

I live on Mouhenneener country in Claremont, Tasmania/lutruwita, near the banks of timtumtulli minanya/River Derwent.

I write fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. My main interests are in Tasmanian history and the power of place and memory.

I moved to Melbourne, Victoria, in 1997, and returned home to Tasmania at the beginning of 2016.

Back in the day ...

My fifth great grandmother Sarah Griggs was a young convict from Kent, England, sentenced to transportation for stealing a "speckled apron" from her employer. She travelled to Australia on the Second Fleet in 1790, on the heinous "death ship" the Neptune. She was soon sent onwards to Norfolk Island where she had a child, also named Sarah Griggs, with my fifth great-grandfather Captain John Townson who became the lieutenant governor. He commissioned the building of the sloop the Norfolk in which Bass and Flinders circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land in 1798.

Because all Tasmanians are related, you can find out about Sarah and John's story around 30 minutes into this episode of Who Do You Think You Are on SBS On Demand with my fifth cousin once removed Essie Davis: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/who-do-you-think-you-are/season-17/who-do-you-think-you-are-s17-ep3/2498916419709

My background

My background is in literature and teaching. I completed a PhD in Pre-Raphaelite love poetry at the University of Tasmania and went on to teach English, Creative Writing and History at university, TAFE, and secondary schools in Victoria and Tasmania.

I have published in a wide range of fields and forms: poetry, fiction, reviews and criticism, academic papers, zines and chapbooks and study guides.

In Melbourne, I was a member of the Word Addicts performance poetry group and a co-founder of loveanarchist press. More recently, I have been a board member of TasWriters and I'm currently a member of the Hamilton Literary Society.

Literary Awards

Arts Tasmania Glover Country Residency, $5,000 (2025).
King Island Artist Residency, King Island Council (2022).
City of Hobart Medium Grant for "The Poetry in Motion Project", $10,000 (2021).
Arts Tasmania Education Residency, New Norfolk High School, $10,000 (2021).
Australia Council Individual Grant for Literature, $15,000 (2002).

Publications

Stories (Fiction)

Dying for Beauty

Dying for Beauty is a collection of short stories published by Montpelier Press (2001).

Stanzas (Poetry)

If I Had a Wooden Ruler and Other Poems

If I Had a Wooden Ruler and Other Poems is a collection published by The People's Library in 2018.

A recently published poem in the Forty South Poet's Corner: https://fortysouth.com.au/author/shelley-oreilly/

Tales (Creative Non-Fiction)

The Shack a memoir piece published in Forty South (2024).

https://fortysouth.com.au/the-shack/

The Shack, Abel's Bay, Tasmania.

The Crawford House, Glenroy, in 1970, site of a family annihilation, which features in my book, Disquiet: Memoir and Murders.

One of John Glover's books, QV Museum collection.

Looking out at the garden and pasture.

Patterdale, Deddington, Tasmania, May 2026.

Bloomsbury Park and Elsewhere: Blog

I write observations of daily life with pets and a huge, burgeoning garden on my Facebook site. I have cats, hens, fish and bees. I live under an enormous Golden Elm tree: the presiding deity of the garden.https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.clairmont.5

The Golden Elm or Elma, Claremont, Tasmania.

Current Projects

I am working on a novella about the life of John Glover, focusing on his years at Patterdale. My working title is: English Shrubs and Songbirds. See image of Glover, Patterdale and garden above.

Disquiet: Memoir and Murders

I am putting the finishing touches on my memoir about buying my first house in Glenroy, Victoria, only to discover that I had landed in a kind of Bermuda Triangle of murder and terrorism.

Some chapters from the memoir are available on my Substack site:

https://shelleyoreilly.substack.com/

The Patterdale Poems

I am currently selling copies of my limited edition, handmade and stitched chapbooks The Patterdale Poems written during my Arts Tasmania residency at John Glover's house in Deddington, Tasmania. They are $12.00 including postage.

Email me for details.

Contact & Enquiries

Find me on: shelleyoreilly@yahoo.com.au

Copies of The Patterdale Poems.

Inspired by Tasmania's beauty

My writing draws inspiration from the natural environment of Tasmania/lutruwita.

The island's rugged coastlines, ancient forests, and idiosyncratic communities infuse my stories with a strong sense of place.

My ancestors lived in the beautiful Huon Valley and I grew up in two little villages in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.

These are places of coincidences, serendipity and resonances.

My parents came from Cygnet and Woodbridge and I spend a lot of time in marvellous Abel's Bay where black swans, herons, oyster catchers, cormorants, and pacific gulfs congregate.

I'm a girl from the Channel and my family is interconnected with some of the descendants of the wonderful Fanny Cochrane Smith.

I grew up near Oyster Cove, and often visited the beaches there. A few years ago, I visited Wybalenna on Flinders Island.

I mourn the injustices dealt to the original inhabitants and custodians of this island. I am committed to learning about them and what happened to them; especially the dispossession and atrocities of the 1820s and 1830s.