• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE2908

Giles, Boronia Lucy (Bonnie)

  • Birth name Sanderson, Boronia Lucy
    Pseudonym Peg Peggoty
    Pseudonym Auntie Nell
    Pen name Mary Ferbe
(1909 – 1978)
  • Born 25 August 1909, Collie, Western Australia, Australia
  • Died 2 May 1978, Maylands, Western Australia, Australia
  • Occupation Journalist, Print journalist

Summary

Bonnie Giles studied journalism in Western Australia in the 1920s but struggled to balance study, work and family and failed to complete her diploma. This did not, however, stop her from establishing an enduring career. She wrote under a variety of pseudonyms for the Perth Daily Mail the best known of which – ‘Mary Ferber’ – became a household name. For twenty years her column, which was essentially a ‘Dorothy Dix’ column, was a ‘Monday must for her admirers’. Giles also used her column and considerable community standing to advance philanthropic causes that were close to her heart. She retired from journalism in 1969.

Events

  • 1930 - 1969

Published resources