Chadwick, Doris Annie
(1899 – 1979)Author, Editor, Teacher
Doris Chadwick was born in 1899 to parents Sheldon Western Chadwick and his wife Annie. Her father was a former editor of the Daily Examiner and the Newcastle Morning Herald.
Doris held a Bachelor of Arts degree and originally trained to be a secondary teacher, however she relinquished those duties to undertake journalistic work for the New South Wales Education Department. Doris was the assistant editor of the Department’s School Magazine from July 1924 to 1948 and editor from 1949 to 1962.
Harrower, Elizabeth
(1928 – 2020)Author, Novelist
Elizabeth Harrower grew up in Newcastle, New South Wales, and lived in London from 1951 to 1959. After returning to Sydney, she worked for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Morning Herald and for a publishing firm. Throughout her life, Elizabeth has written a number of novels and short stories.
Keesing, Nancy Florence
(1923 – 1993)Author, Editor, Literary critic, Poet, Writer
Nancy Keesing’s first collection of poems, Imminent Summer, was published in 1951. Since this time she published numerous books, in addition to editing and writing reviews for various journals and major Australian newspapers. She was employed by the Sydney magazine the Bulletin from 1951 until the birth of her first child in 1956.
Nancy was involved in the Sydney branch of the English Association and served on the committee for a number of years. She was also actively involved in the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) from 1964, and in 1969 she was elected to the management committee. Nancy edited an anthology of members’ work, titled Transition, in 1970, and from 1971 to 1974 she edited the Society’s journal Australian Author.
In 1973 Nancy was one of eleven writers and academics appointed to the new literature board of the Australian Council for the Arts, which she chaired from 1974 to 1977. In 1979 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to Australian literature.
Pakies Club
(1929 – 1966)Social organisation
The Pakies Club was founded in 1929 by Mrs Augusta (‘Pakie’) MacDougall, wife of theatre director Duncan MacDougall. The club operated on two floors at 219 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, and was a meeting place for artists and writers.
The café, a Little bit of Paris, boasted colourful modernist décor and was known for monthly ‘international’ nights featuring aspects of the culture and cuisine of a particular country.
A journal entitled Urgewas produced by Club members between 1933 and 1935.
Macdougall, Augusta (Pakie)
(1875 Р1945)Business owner, Café owner, Secretary
Augusta (Pakie) Macdougall was born in 1875 to parents Clara Ann and quarryman Benjamin Quiddington Poole. After attending Leichhardt Superior Public School, Augusta trained as a nurse at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, from 1902 to 1903.
Augusta was the first student at Duncan McDougall’s elocution school and the pair married in London on November 3, 1904. Whilst in London, Augusta joined the Women’s Social and Political Union and also obtained a diploma from the London College of Music. Together Duncan and Augusta edited two anthologies, The Quaint Comedy of Love, Wooing & Mating (1907) and The Bond of Music (1907). In 1913 the family moved to the United States of America, before returning to Sydney in 1920. There Augusta was the secretary of the Playbox Society, which Duncan had established in 1923.
After the pair separated in 1928, Augusta opened the Pakies Club in order to support herself. Sadly Augusta passed away on 8 May, 1945, after being hit by a military truck on Elizabeth Street. Her son, Robin, managed the Pakies Club until 1966.
McHugh, Siobhan
(1957 – )Author, Historian, Journalist
Siobhan McHugh graduated from the University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Science and after working as an editor, writer and broadcaster, she migrated to Australia in 1985. Siobhan completed a Doctor of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong in 2011.
Siobhan is an award-winning writer, podcaster, documentary-maker and oral historian and in 2013 she founded the first scholarly journal of radio documentary & podcast critical studies, RadioDoc Review. Siobhan is currently an Associate Professor in journalism at the University of Wollongong.
Flannery, Nancy Elizabeth
(1929 – 2011)Author, Broadcaster, Consultant, Editor, Journalist
For a short time Nancy Elizabeth Flannery worked as a journalist and broadcaster, before establishing a small publishing company called Nadjuri, where she was the executive editor. In 1971 she published her first book, Change on change: a history of the northern highlands of South Australia.
Nancy also worked as a radio journalist, a tutor in communication skills, as a consultant for the National Film and Sound Archive and as a valuer for the Tax Incentives for the Arts scheme. Nancy developed a particular interest in Antarctica after she was invited to value the Mawson Collection at the University of Adelaide. She became a member of the Friends of Mawson at their inaugural meeting in 2000 and later became their official consultant. Nancy was granted a life membership of in 2006.
Bird, Carmel
(1940 – )Author, Teacher
Carmel Bird’s first collection of short stories was published in 1976. Since this time she has produced novels, essays, anthologies, children’s books and also guides for writers. In the 1980s and 1990s she worked as a literary editor for Fine Lines, Australasian Post and other literary journals.
Carmel graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tasmania and, after obtaining her teaching diploma, worked for a time as a teacher.