(Edwin) Colin Simpson, author. After leaving school, Colin Simpson worked in advertising before becoming a journalist. He was also a proficient writer of verse. His long poem ‘Infidelities’ was included in Trio(1931) with poems from Kenneth Slessor and Harley Matthews. But he is, perhaps, better-known in the history of Australian poetry as the Sydney Sun journalist who broke the story of the Ern Malley Hoax.Simpson joined the ABC in 1947 to write travel documentaries, an occupation that prepared him for his successful career as a freelance writer of popular travel books. In addition to these publications, Simpson also published the novel Come Away, Pearler (1952). He was for some time the Vice-president of the Australian Society of Authors and he was instrumental in securing the Public Lending Right legislation for Australian authors. For his services to Australian literature, he was made OBE in 1981.
Books in order of publication:
| Adam in Ochre: Inside Aboriginal Australia | 1951 |
| Adam with Arrows | 1953 |
| Islands of Men – Inside Melanesia | 1955 |
| The Country Upstairs: Japan Today | 1956 |
| Wake Up in Europe | 1959 |
| Plumes and Arrows: Inside New Guinea | 1962 |
| This is Russia, and Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union | 1965 |
| Greece: The Unclouded Eye | 1969 |
| The New Australia | 1972 |
| Bali And Beyond | 1972 |
| Off To Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau | 1973 |
| This Is Japan | 1975 |
| Wake Up To New Zealand | 1976 |
| Pleasure Islands of the South Pacific | 1979 |
| Blue Africa: travel in South Africa etc. | 1981 |
