Victor O'Leary Dies

Victor O'Leary studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood at Highden and Greenmeadows from 1945 to 1947. He worked for the New Zealand Broadcasting Service, and then as a sole charge teacher in the Marlborough Sounds.

During 1950 to 1951 he was a student at Wellington Teachers Training College and he changed over to postprimary teaching in 1955, a career he kept at for the rest of his working life.

He started writing poetry at the seminary and it was while he was at training college that he was instrumental in the formation of the Glenco group which included writers such as James K Baxter and Anton Vogt.

O'Leary first published his poetry as a member of the group in such books as Moa on Lambton Quay and he had poems in the New Zealand Poetry Yearbook and various literary periodicals. The Sensual Anchor was first published in 1958 by Louis Johnson's Capricorn Press. It was part of a book entitled Three Poets which also included Peter Bland and John Boyd and was designed to show the important development of young urban writing in the post-war years.

With the pressures of fulltime work plus a growing family, O'Leary stopped publishing around 1960. He did keep writing, however, and had been getting a manuscript together over the past few years.

He is survived by his wife, Marianne, and his children. O'Leary died half an hour before his old comrade in words, Hone Tuwhare, also in Dunedin.

– Michael O'Leary