Will you be commemorating Anzac Day on 25 April this year? I have written elsewhere about why I do choose to acknowledge Anzac Day, as well as the recognition that the occasion is problematic for some. In part, I said: ‘There has not always been room for those whose experience or understanding has deviated from the legend. Yet, […]
If you wandered through Kings Park on Monday 21 November, you may have noticed a large group gathered around the Flame of Remembrance. Perhaps you even wondered what the occasion was, since Remembrance Day has come and gone. It’s likely you didn’t know that most of those present were war widows, although the Governor of Western […]
You’ve most likely heard the names Kate Cebrano, Frankie J. Holden and Amanda Keller, who were among those recently recognised in the 2016 Queen’s birthday honours list. But you probably haven’t heard of Edna Richardson, who was on that same list. Now in her eighties, Edna Richardson has spent the past twenty years visiting war […]
As Australia commemorated the ‘centenary of Anzac’ in 2015, I listened with interest to the range of responses expressed both privately and publicly. I heard outspoken opposition to the Anzac commemorations and equally angry reactions directed at those who dared to question the Anzac legend at all. Between the two ends of the spectrum were families […]
What have you dared to say yes to? And what was the outcome? When I tell people that my first book is about to be published, the response is usually, Really? Is it a novel? I explain that while I do write fiction, I’ve spent the last eight years researching and writing about war widows. The […]
With the Second World War and its aftermath at the core of Many Hearts, One Voice: the story of the War Widows’ Guild in Western Australia, the events of that time period have been on my mind for quite some time. I was therefore a little surprised (but probably shouldn’t have been) that the 70th anniversary […]