Hilary McPhee AO, the Australian editor, writer, and publisher who co-founded McPhee Gribble Publishers, has died at the age of 85. The news was published on October 1, 2026 in an obituary on The Conversation by Alice Grundy of the Australian National University. This article covers her career, her family, and what has not yet been reported.
Latest Update: October 1, 2026
As of October 1, 2026, her death is confirmed by The Conversation’s obituary, which says she “has died, aged 85” and is survived by three children. A Melbourne library catalogue record also lists her dates as 1941 to 2026. I could not open the full Conversation article, because the site blocks automated access, so I relied on the text shown in search results. I did not find the exact date or place of death, the cause of death, or any funeral or memorial details.
Who Was Hilary McPhee?
Hilary Jane McPhee was one of the most influential figures in Australian publishing. With her friend Diana Gribble, she founded McPhee Gribble in 1975. The company became the first home for several of Australia’s best-known writers, including Helen Garner, Kathy Lette, Gabrielle Carey, and Tim Winton. Winton’s novel Cloudstreet was voted the nation’s best novel by the Australian Society of Authors in 2003.
Background / Early Life
McPhee was born in 1941 in Melbourne, Victoria, according to the Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Her exact birth date has not been published in the sources I found. She graduated from the University of Melbourne. Her brother is historian Peter McPhee, who funded the Hilary McPhee Award for an essay in Meanjin in 2016.
Career Path
Early Work
She began her career as an editorial assistant at the literary magazine Meanjin under its founder, Clem Christesen. She later started a small magazine called Theatre, and in 1969 she joined Penguin Australia, where she was the company’s first editor of a small list of Australian Penguins. She also co-wrote Media She with Patricia Edgar, a picture-led study of how women were shown in the media, and became active in the Women’s Electoral Lobby.
McPhee Gribble
McPhee and Gribble formed their partnership in 1975, starting by packaging books and producing a children’s series for Penguin. Over the next 15 years the company published several hundred titles. It was sold to Penguin at the end of the 1980s and continued as an imprint. Gribble died in 2011, and McPhee wrote a tribute to her friend for ABC.
Picador, the Australia Council, and Later Work
McPhee went on to direct the Picador imprint at Macmillan until 1994. She was then headhunted by Prime Minister Paul Keating to chair the Australia Council for the Arts from 1994 to 1997. She was also a founding director of the online newsletter New Matilda. She lived and worked in the Middle East and Italy from about 2006 to 2010, and was later named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
Books
Her memoir Other People’s Words (2001) tells the story of her publishing life, and Melbourne University Publishing issued a new edition on February 10, 2026. She also edited the anthology Wordlines (2010) and annotated Tim Burstall’s early diaries in Memoirs of a Young Bastard (2012).
Hilary McPhee Age
The Conversation reports that she was 85 when she died. She was born in 1941, and her exact birth date is not published in the sources I found, so I cannot calculate her age to the day.
Family and Children
The National Portrait Gallery says she first married the painter Peter Freeman and lived in the Middle East and London. Wikipedia states that she married publisher John Michie in 1976, and that they had a son, James. The Conversation says she is survived by three children. The sources do not name all three, and I am not naming private family members beyond what is published.
Education, Religion, Height, and Net Worth
She graduated from the University of Melbourne and held an honorary doctorate from Monash University. She was also the University of Melbourne’s inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow. Her religion, height, and net worth have not been publicly verified.
Quick Table
| Full Name | Hilary Jane McPhee AO |
|---|---|
| Born | 1941, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 2026 (exact date not reported); announced October 1, 2026 |
| Age at Death | 85 |
| Occupation | Publisher, editor, writer |
| Known For | Co-founding McPhee Gribble; chairing the Australia Council |
| Education | University of Melbourne; honorary doctorate, Monash University |
| Honour | Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) |
| Children | Three (per The Conversation) |
| Cause of Death | Not reported |
| Services | Not found |
Reader Questions
Who was Hilary McPhee?
Hilary McPhee was an Australian editor, writer, and publisher who co-founded McPhee Gribble in 1975 and chaired the Australia Council for the Arts from 1994 to 1997.
Did Hilary McPhee die?
Yes. The Conversation published an obituary on October 1, 2026 saying she had died at age 85.
How old was Hilary McPhee?
She was 85. She was born in 1941, but her exact birth date has not been published in the sources I found.
What was Hilary McPhee’s cause of death?
No cause of death has been reported.
Which authors did Hilary McPhee publish?
McPhee Gribble was the first publisher of Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Kathy Lette, Gabrielle Carey, and others, and it published Winton’s Cloudstreet.
Who survives Hilary McPhee?
The Conversation says she is survived by three children.
Wrap-Up
McPhee spent her career finding writers whom bigger publishers had overlooked, and she did it while running a small independent company with workplace childcare, according to the National Portrait Gallery. Many readers know her authors’ books without knowing her name, which is how she described her own work in the title of her memoir.
As of October 1, 2026, Hilary McPhee is reported to have died at 85, and the date, cause, and service details are not yet public. The family or her publishers are the best sources for those details when they are released.
Disclaimer
This article is based on publicly available reports checked on October 1, 2026. Details not published, including the date and cause of death and memorial plans, are noted as such. Please respect the family’s privacy.
