Fire Destroys Rodney Hall's Coastal Home The New South Wales south coast home of poet and novelist Rodney Hall was destroyed by fire on 6 August 2005. The Canberra Times (10 August 2005) reported Marion Halligan saying that Hall's 'entire life's work had been in the house and he had planned to sort it out to give to the National Library of Australia, but kept postponing the task because of the mass of paper.' Halligan, who described the loss as 'absolutely heartbreaking', said Hall was a 'paper man' known to prefer writing by hand. Hall told his publisher Fran Bryson of the Bryson Agency Australia that while the loss was tragic, at least no-one was hurt. A two-time winner of the Miles Franklin Award, Hall was awarded a Centenary Medal for service to Australian arts in 2001 and in 2003 received an honorary Doctor of Literature from The University of Queensland in recognition of his distinguished career and his contribution to Australian literature. Hall's most recent novel is The Last Love Story : A Fairytale of the Day After Tomorrow.