Charles Herbert Shaw (10 August 1900 - 1 August 1955) was an Australian journalist and novelist.
Shaw was born in South Melbourne, Victoria. During the Depression years he held a variety of jobs in the countryside and his interest in writing led him to work at a newspaper in Forbes, New South Wales. Shaw had several stories published by
The Bulletin and eventually was employed by the magazine as a rural editor. Shaw, Charles Herbert (1900 - 1955) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography OnlineHe had two collections of Outback short stories
Outback Occupations (1943) and
A Sheaf of Shorts (1944) and one volume of verse
The Warrumbungle Mare (1943) published as well as two detective stories
The Green Token (1943) and
Treasure of the Hills (1944).
Shaw decided after several rejections that no one outside Australia had an interest in stories about the Outback. He wrote a novel
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, published in 1952. about a U.S. Marine and a nun on a Japanese-held Pacific island. It was adapted for the screen as a 1957 film by John Huston and John Lee Mahin. The film won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium in 1957.
Shaw wrote a series of four detective novels about Dennis Delaney under the nom de plume of "Bant Singer", named after his favourite car, a Singer Bantam.
- You're Wrong, Delaney (1953)
- Don't Skip, Deleney (1954)
- Have Patience, Delaney (1954)
- Your Move, Delaney (1956)
He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Sydney on 1 August 1955.