1971 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1971.

Books

 * Jon Cleary – Mask of the Andes
 * Kenneth Cook – Piper in the Market-Place
 * Dymphna Cusack – A Bough in Hell
 * Frank Hardy – The Outcasts of Foolgarah
 * Donald Horne – But What If There Are No Pelicans?
 * David Ireland – The Unknown Industrial Prisoner
 * George Johnston – A Cartload of Clay
 * Thomas Keneally – A Dutiful Daughter
 * Hal Porter – The Right Thing
 * Judah Waten – So Far No Further
 * Morris West – Summer of the Red Wolf

Short stories

 * Elizabeth Jolley – "Bill Sprockett's Land"
 * Hal Porter
 * "Brett"
 * Selected Stories

Children's and Young Adult fiction

 * Hesba Brinsmead – Longtime Passing
 * David Martin – Hughie
 * Christobel Mattingley – Windmill at Magpie Creek
 * Elyne Mitchell – Light Horse to Damascus
 * Ivan Southall – Josh
 * P. L. Travers – Friend Monkey

Science fiction and fantasy

 * John Baxter – The Second Pacific Book of Science Fiction
 * A. Bertram Chandler
 * Alternate Orbits
 * To Prime the Pump
 * Lindsay Gutteridge – Cold War in a Country Garden
 * Lee Harding – "Fallen Spaceman"
 * Jack Wodhams – The Authentic Touch

Poetry

 * Robert Adamson – The Rumour
 * Bruce Dawe – Condolences of the Season : Selected Poems
 * Gwen Harwood – "Oyster Cove"
 * A. D. Hope – "Inscription for a War"
 * James McAuley – Collected Poems 1936-1970
 * Dorothea Mackellar – The Poems of Dorothea Mackellar
 * Geoff Page – "Smalltown Memorials"
 * David Rowbotham – The Pen of Feathers : Poems
 * T. G. H. Strehlow – Songs of Central Australia (edited)
 * Chris Wallace-Crabbe
 * "Other People"
 * Where the Wind Came : poems
 * Judith Wright – Collected Poems, 1942-1970

Drama

 * Alex Buzo – Macquarie : A Play
 * Dorothy Hewett - The Chapel Perilous
 * Ray Lawler – The Man Who Shot the Albatross
 * David Williamson
 * Don's Party
 * The Removalists

Births
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1971 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
 * 18 November – Leigh Redhead, novelist

Unknown date
 * Libby Hart, poet
 * James Ley, literary critic and founder of the Sydney Review of Books
 * John Mateer, poet and author (in South Africa)

Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1971 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

Unknown date
 * 3 February – Richard Harry Graves, poet and novelist (born 1897)
 * 11 March — Frank Clune, novelist and travel writer (born 1893)
 * 10 June — Maysie Coucher Greig, writer of romantic novels and thrillers (born 1901)
 * 30 June – Kenneth Slessor, poet (born 1901)
 * 11 September – Hilda Bridges, novelist and short story writer (born 1881)
 * 7 November – Minnie Agnes Filson, poet (born 1898)
 * G. C. Bleeck – novelist (born 1907)