The internationally renowned Australian poet Les Murray has died aged 80 after a short illness. Murray was famous for a writing style that captured 20th century Australian life and language, especially in rural communities.

One of his early collections, The Vernacular Republic, drew heavily on characters and towns near Taree on the mid-north coast of NSW where he lived much of his adult life. His works ranged from evocations of the country in a collection, The Idyll Wheel : Cycle of a year at Bunyah, New South Wales to a famous work on engineering in Sydney, Fuel Stoppage on Gladesville Road Bridge in the Year 1980.