This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1980.

Events

• The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Inaugural award to Archie Weller, The Day Of The Dog; the award was initially given to Paul Radley, who, in 1996, admitted that his manuscript was actually written by his uncle.^[1]
• Jessica Anderson won the 1980 Miles Franklin Award for The Impersonators

Major publications

Books

• Jessica Anderson — The Impersonators
• Murray Bail — Homesickness
• Jon Cleary — A Very Private War
• Shirley Hazzard — The Transit of Venus
• Elizabeth Jolley — Palomino^[2]
• Thomas Keneally — The Cut-Rate Kingdom
• Randolph Stow — The Girl Green as Elderflower^[3]

Short story collections

• Helen Garner – Honour & Other People's Children

Science fiction

• Damien Broderick — The Dreaming Dragons^[4]

Crime and mystery

• Peter Corris — The Dying Trade
• Gabrielle Lord — Fortress^[5]

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Mavis Thorpe Clark – A Stranger Came to the Mine^[6]
• Robert Ingpen — The Voyage of the Poppykettle
• Ruth Park — Playing Beatie Bow

Poetry

• Judith Rodriguez — Mudcrab at Gambaro's^[7]
• Philip Salom — The Silent Piano^[8]
• Chris Wallace-Crabbe — The Golden Apples of the Sun: Twentieth Century Australian Poetry (anthology) editor, ^[9]

Non-fiction

• Robyn Davidson – Tracks^[10]
• Clive James – Unreliable Memoirs

Awards and honours

• Kylie Tennant – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
• Max Fatchen – Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
• Marjorie Barnard – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)
• Patsy Adam-Smith – Officer of the British Empire (OBE)

Lifetime achievement

Literary

Fiction

Children and Young Adult

Poetry

Non-fiction

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1980 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

• 7 July – Brooke Davis, novelist^[21]

Unknown date

• Elizabeth Campbell, poet^[22]
• Ceridwen Dovey, novelist^[23]

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1980 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 2 September – Frederick Macartney, poet and critic (born 1887)^[24]
• 3 February – Marnie Bassett, historian and biographer (born 1889)^[25]
• 18 October – Martin Haley, poet and translator (born 1905)^[26]