Jack Hibberd’s prodigious output includes sixty plays, three novels, and four collections of poetry, including Sweet River (Wakefield, 2021), his most recent collection. This body of work does not represent his sole contribution to Australian letters and culture. He was a long-serving member of the Literature and Theatre Boards of the Australia Council, and the founding chairman of the Australian Performing Group at the Pram Factory Theatre in Melbourne.

Hibberd’s published work was augmented over the past sixty years by numerous articles in the daily press, literary magazines, and journals of opinion. An eager oenophile, his assessments of Australian wine won him an appointment as wine reviewer for The National Times.

Graduating in medicine in 1964, he worked as a general practitioner before specialising in the treatment of allergies at the Mount Waverley practice of Dr Colin Little. He distilled this experience into an inspiring guide to patient care, The Great Allergy Detective Book. Hibberd retired from practice in 2019.