100 WOMEN

edited by Gillean Shaw, Keryn Stewart and Kevin McConkey

iii

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Title: 100 women /editors, Gillean Shaw, Keryn Stewart, Kevin McConkey. ISBN: 9780980761887 (pbk.) Subjects: Women--Australia--Biography. Other Authors/Contributors: Shaw, Gillean. Stewart, Keryn. McConkey, Kevin. Dewey Number: 920.720994 Set in Akzidenz Grotesk by Australian Type Foundry, Australia Printed in Australia by Whirlwind Print

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (The Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. The University of Newcastle 2011 First published in 2011 by The University of Newcastle University Drive Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia (612) 4921 5000 www.newcastle.edu.au

100 WOMEN

edited by Gillean Shaw, Keryn Stewart and Kevin McConkey

iii

Contents

The Stories
Elham Doroodchi 2 Senta Taft-Hendry 4 Susan Lim 6 Ivy Ireland 8 Deborah Wright 10 Margaret Olley 12 Katherine Proudfoot 14 Sherelle Charge 16 Liz McMinn 18 Pimpimon Wongchaiya 20 Nicole Gerrand 22 Giverny Lewis 24 Irina Belova 26 Liz Nicol 28 Catherine and Jennifer Strutt 30 Lauren Colthorpe 32 Riona Tindal 34 Pauline Chiarelli 36 Felicity Biggins 38 Bronwyn Hall 40 Rosemary Beckett 42 Kristienne Thomas 44 Pippa Robinson 46 Catherine Britt 48 Kerry Kete 50 Roxanne Black 52 Julie Ainsworth 54 Tina Offler 56 Teela May Reid 58 Bat-sheva Stewart 60 Judy Vajak 62 Carol Martin 64 Samantha Martin-Williams 66 Vicki Clifton 68 Diana Rah 70 Cate Hayes 72 Cheong-Chua Koon Hean 74 Kathy Butler 76 Julianne Butler 78 Afaf Girgis 80 Emma Jackson 82 Katrina Kellett 84 Shayne Blackburn 86 Pamela Connell 88 Xiaoli Deng 90 Jeanette Rothapfel 92 Eugenie Lumbers 94 Sarah Hilton 96 Oonagh Chan 98 Sarah Taylor 100

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Contents
Katherine Jones Torres 102 Catherine Mahony 104 Laura Seabrook 106 Tara Mallie 108 Lois Bryson 110 Mahla Pearlman 112 Carolyn Hastie 114 Penny Biggins 116 Judith Beveridge 118 Liesl Tesch 120 Karen Hitchcock 122 Heidi Forrest 124 Sarah Maddison 126 Jackie Sales 128 Rowena, Juliana and Angela Foong 130 Alexia Sinclair 132 Renny Chivunga 134 Jennifer Duncan 136 Beibei Zhang 138 Sue Gould 140 Susie Porter 142 Patricia Forsythe 144 Jennie Thomas 146 Eileen Doyle 148 Josephine Tam 150 Margaret Harris 152 Rachel King 154 Doreen Kum 156 Marion Halligan 158 Donna Meehan 160 Margaret Watson 162 Stephanie Moras 164 Suze Podger 166 Catherine Phoenix 168 Janice Petersen 170 Ruby Andrion 172 Sue McNeil 174 Jean Talbot 176 Shelley Clark 178 Rae Richards 180 Marni Jackson 182 Maz Smith 184 Lakin Agnew 186 Veronica Pettifer 188 Kathleen Kirkby 190 Jacqueline Krynda 192 Cheng Smart 194

Contents

The Women
Lakin Agnew 186 Julie Ainsworth 54 Ruby Andrion 172 Rosemary Beckett 42 Irina Belova 26 Judith Beveridge 118 Felicity Biggins 38 Penny Biggins 116 Roxanne Black 52 Shayne Blackburn 86 Catherine Britt 48 Lois Bryson 110 Julianne Butler 78 Kathy Butler 76 Oonagh Chan 98 Sherelle Charge 16 Pauline Chiarelli 36 Renny Chivunga 134 Shelley Clark 178 Vicki Clifton 68 Lauren Colthorpe 32 Pamela Connell 88 Xiaoli Deng 90 Elham Doroodchi 2 Eileen Doyle 148 Jennifer Duncan 136 Rowena, Juliana and Angela Foong 130 Heidi Forrest 124 Patricia Forsythe 144 Nicole Gerrand 22 Afaf Girgis 80 Sue Gould 140 Bronwyn Hall 40 Marion Halligan 158 Margaret Harris 152 Carolyn Hastie 114 Cate Hayes 72 Sarah Hilton 96 Karen Hitchcock 122 Ivy Ireland 8 Emma Jackson 82 Marni Jackson 182 Katherine Jones Torres 102 Katrina Kellett 84 Kerry Kete 50 Rachel King 154 Kathleen Kirkby 190 Cheong-Chua Koon Hean 74 Jacqueline Krynda 192 Doreen Kum 156

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THE WOMEN

Elham Doroodchi
one afternoon in 2006, recovering from the social whirl of another busy Christmas, elham Doroodchi and her husband sat down with a piece of paper to do what they do best: solve a problem.
A few weeks before, a company had presented the two chemical engineers with a conundrum: the company wanted to recover energy from geothermal resources more efficiently, but there was nothing in the marketplace that enabled them to do so. That afternoon, we found ourselves with some rare spare time, Elham says. We got out a piece of paper and started brainstorming the problem, doing calculations and thinking about applications. The results were startling. We not only found out that it was possible to generate the electricity but we also found out how to harness the extra heat produced by industry and turn that into energy too. From that piece of paper, GRANEX was born, an invention that has won Elham and her husband both a judges choice and peoples choice award on ABC-TVs New Inventors program. Elham was born in Iran, migrating to Australia as a teenager. My parents have always been encouraging but they were never pushy about education. What they tried to do was bring up children who were independent, she says. My siblings and I all studied or worked in different countries and we all still love to travel. Even with all the encouragement and support in the world, moving to Australia wasnt easy. Ill never forget the day I arrived, she says. I was standing in the airport, waiting for my luggage, and I couldnt understand a thing anyone was saying. I couldnt understand the announcements or read the signs and I realised then what a challenge it was going to be. I decided first and foremost to concentrate on learning English. For six months, Elham worked on her language skills, going to different social groups and classes and having conversations with people, until she was confident enough to apply for university. I applied for engineering, and specifically chemical engineering, because you start with the raw material and see the process all the way through to the end product, she says. Youre involved in everything from defining the problem to developing the problem. Thats what I find satisfying. Elham graduated from the University of Newcastle with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering, first class honours and a University Medal. She then went on to complete a PhD and she is a research fellow at the Priority Research Centre for Advanced Particle Processing. I think its because I am insatiably curious, she says when asked about her achievements. I want to know how the world works. If theres a problem I want to analyse the problem and come up with a solution. Engineering is the key to effective problem solving, she says, and Im inspired by the prospect of coming up with the answers. It is clear Elhams life is in Australia now. Iran has a place in my heart but I get homesick when I leave Newcastle. Everything has changed in Iran. Even the scenery is changing. Im not connected to the location any more; its the people I go back to see. Did the New Inventors program and the interest it generated in her invention change her life? Elham is characteristically down to earth: Its more about having confidence in yourself rather than expecting others to have confidence in you. Elhams research goal is to develop technology platforms that are energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Nothing in life is impossible, she says, pausing to add with a peal of laughter, as long as its not against the first and second laws of thermodynamics!

Senta Taft-Hendry
When senta taft-Hendry was a small girl, she used to look for animals in the patterns of curtains.
This fascination with the animal within us is still the driving force in a life spent in pursuit of Pacific and Oceanic art. Taking her from Hanover to the highlands of New Guinea, via Melbourne and Africa, Sentas passion has sparked a life crammed with adventure. As the founder and owner of Galleries Primitif, the oldest gallery of Oceanic art in Australia, Senta has spent more than 50 years travelling to remote areas of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia in search of art and artefacts. The seeds of her career were sown early, nurtured by twin family passions for travel and art. My mother collected art and weve always travelled, bringing pieces of each old country with us to the new. Our house was full of sculptures. I love sculptures. You can caress sculpture but you cant caress a painting. Born in Germany, Senta came to Australia with her family as a child, and studied art education in Melbourne before joining Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) as an air hostess. It was during this time that her interest in the art of New Guinea was first realised. TAA were putting together an exhibition of tribal art from New Guinea, and they asked me to go. It was wonderful I got to fly back and forth to New Guinea for free, collecting art. A two-year stint in what was then Rhodesia followed, until Senta found herself back in Australia in 1956. She opened her first gallery not long after. Senta estimates that shes walked for hundreds of miles around different villages looking for skulls, bark paintings, masks and jewellery. Along the way, she learned how to cook human fleshbest flavoured with coconutand gained her pilots licence, a rare achievement for a woman at that time. Travelling to remote villages as a lone woman was not without its dangers, and Senta admits to some close shaves on buying trips. In one village I took a Polaroid photograph. People were usually amazed to see the picture develop before their eyes like magic but this time, when the photograph developed, a line appeared down the middle of the chief. He thought it meant I was going to kill him and immediately people surrounded me with bows and arrows. The guide had to say Id made him twice as strong and the chief finally conceded. Quick thinking helped to turn the situation to her advantage, and Senta completed her negotiations. On another trip, she collected two skulls in Borneo and was sailing away from the island when the tribe called her back demanding their return. I gave the skulls back, of course. You have to be very careful, as tribal art is often very sacred and spiritual. She pauses, a glint appearing in her eye like a naughty schoolgirls. Ive had some fun times too. Once I bought a whoopee cushion in a little shop in Sydney and took it with me on a buying trip. When I sat on it, the tribe thought I had a spirit in my bum! Senta is passionate about education and its ability to equip young people for life; with her husband, Dr Peter Hendry, she has made significant donations to the University of Newcastle and intends to establish a scholarship. I believe the way to open doors is through education. I think the most important part of living today is gaining education so you can face life without an inferiority complex. Its such an important time being young; you can impregnate your brain with new ideas. Sentas life-long dream has been to establish Australias first Museum of Tribal Art; a dream that is now one step closer with the donation of her personal collection to the University of Newcastle and the opening of The Senta Taft-Hendry Museum. If I give something, I give it with a warm hand. This is the way I want to be remembered. Ive had the opportunity to do so much in my life, and I want the same for others.

Susan Lim
A wax model of surgeon susan Lims hands sits in the Madame tussauds exhibition in singapore. nails cropped close by professional necessity and long fingers painted to a lifelike lustre, the model captures thirty years of motion in the stillness of wax.
These hands have moved with precision and delicacy within the most intimate spaces of patients bodies; gently probing, invisibly mending, even performing the seemingly impossible feat of turning back the clock. Ever since she was a young girl, Susan Lim knew she wanted to be a surgeon. I was interested in the more physical aspects of medicine and using my hands, she says. Susan grew up in a large extended family of doctors though her father was a mechanical engineer and her mother a wonderful full-time parent and she was a diligent and focused student at school. Susan went on to successfully perform the first cadaveric liver transplant for Asia in 1990, and the patient in the pink of health twenty years posttransplant - is the longest survivor of the procedure in Asia to date. This is important and meaningful for me because there is a life that has resulted from this breakthrough procedure, and in fact another life after that, since my liver transplant patient subsequently delivered a healthy baby boy, now in his teens. When the second wave of suicide bombers struck Bali in 2005, twenty-two people, including four Australians, lost their lives. Many more were injured and the Australian community went into shock. In the days that followed, critically injured Australians were flown to Singapore, where they were placed in Susan Lims capable hands. She treated the victims of the bombing, some of whom had suffered horrific injuries, from within the hospitals intensive care unit, restoring them to health after surgery. Susans work following the Bali bombings was so respected and appreciated by the Australian community that she was both awarded an honorary doctorate and received a personal mention in the Australian Parliament recognising her contribution. This has reinforced Susans connection to Australia and she has since encouraged young students from Asia to pursue their undergraduate studies in Australia. I won a scholarship to study at Monash University, she says, and it set me on the path Im on today. Im only too happy to give something back. With this in mind, she has established the Dr Susan Lim Medical Scholarship for deserving students at her previous college. A sense of national pride prompted Susan to volunteer her skills as a surgeon in the Singapore Armed Forces, where she served as a volunteer captain. Unsurprisingly, combining her full-time clinical work, stem cell research and entrepreneurial activities with five children and a husband means that time is the most precious commodity Susan has. It is always a fine balancing act, she says. I have tried to involve my family in my career and my children spent their early days in the waiting rooms of the operating theatre, or at conferences overseas. I remember Sundays were Special Days when they would accompany me on ward rounds and then for scones and pastries at the Deli. Susan stays motivated by dedicating her time and effort to researching cures for her patients diseases. I meet patients whose lives are turned upside down with the discovery of some dreaded cancer; I see them personally battle to live, and this motivates me to pursue academic research to try to work towards new discoveries and cures that can benefit patients in our lifetime, she explains, as her team researches adult stem cells and breast cancer stem cells. Medicine moves with astonishing pace; Susan is confident that advances in molecular science, stem cells, gene therapy, mobile health and futuristically robotic surgery will enable us not only to enjoy longevity, but also a vastly improved quality of life. For this committed, talented surgeon, the gift of time is the most precious of all.

Ivy Ireland
For poet and harpist Ivy Ireland, it feels as if she was born performing.
I was always in ballet concerts, eisteddfods and school plays, she says. If I am terribly honest, though, Ive always had a lack of self-belief. Its such a debilitating, light-destroying thing. This destruction of light has been on Ivys mind recently, as she has overcome serious illness following a burst ectopic pregnancy and car accident. Ive had some huge health issues in the past year, and I must confess I was really shaken up by them, she says. While I have been very lucky, and terrifically blessed in my recovery, the art of stillness has been a horrible lesson for me. For better or worse, I have now experienced what it is like to be in a position where I simply cant do that thing or be that person like I used to be able to. Being in hospital, being ill to a near-lifeless point was a shock; the waves and echoes that crash through into my life now are still hard to ride. Ivy might put her heart into poetry on the page, but fragility and honesty are also the things that make her performances so appealing. She invites you into her innermost secrets with her harp music, or dances across the stage on broken glass as part of her performances with partner Jason Dangerboy Hodgson. There is a humbleness to her words that contrasts the vibrancy of her life, perhaps a reflection of the lessons learned on a three-year exchange trip to Ireland. I think all that cold-grey-wet was good for my poetry, she says. It gave me balance. Perhaps it was also seeing things anew, experiencing a different landscape and attitude. Ivy can draw strength from her continued success on the local and national stage. In 2007 she won the Australian Young Poets Fellowship and published her first collection, incidental complications. She is now studying for her PhD in creative writing while performing in sideshow acts and cabaret shows. My PhD is motivating because I am constantly encouraged to enter things and publish my work, she explains. I get so busy; I would forget to send things off to any competition if I didnt have someone reminding me. Ivys parents have also been supportive, encouraging her dance and music activities from an early age and now building props for her performances. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a very small coastal town in New South Wales. Both of my parents grew up in that area too, so we were very well-rooted in community, she says. I remember being outside most of the time when I was growing up mostly up trees, on the mountain, in the lake or in the ocean. Ivys affinity with the outdoors has amplified and now she has a penchant for cosmology and mysticism. I wish I could combine all the things I love, she says, but Im the kind of person who always divides things up, fragments self, puts on a different hat each day depending on which job Im going to. It would be terribly convenient if I were a performance-poet, wouldnt it? But Im just not. I do write musical epic poems for the harp, though, and I find that all the different art forms Im involved in all have a certain dialogue with each other. Ivy will continue to recover, perform, write, publish and love. Although these things were almost taken away from her, the threads, as she writes in a poem, are sung back into our bodies.

Deborah Wright
Deborah Wright likes people and they like her.
As chief executive officer of NBN Television in Newcastle, and the first woman in several senior Australian media roles, her firm handshake and friendly smile testify to a career spent building relationships. They dont completely hide the fighter within, though; its there in the directness of her gaze, and a certain way of tilting her head when shes considering the answer to a question. Deborahs life is one of opportunities seized with both hands. She tells the story of how as a young woman, after four days working for The Star newspaper in a junior advertising sales role, she was called into the general managers office. He offered her the role of features manager, a huge leap for someone with minimal media experience. And I said Thats unbelievable, thats brilliant, thank you very much! Ill take it. Then I got to the door and turned around: Just one question, Brian. What, precisely, does the features manager do? From that initial leap of faith, her career in media is testament to her personal drive and commitment. In 2005, Deborah was appointed NBN station manager and two years later became CEO, only the second woman in Australian television to hold this role. A life in the cut-throat world of media wasnt what Deborah Wright had planned. When she finished school in Newcastle, Deborah intended to become a physical education teacher, but circumstances intervened and she ended up teaching social science in Sydneys western suburbs. After teaching in a few different schools, Deborah came to an abrupt realisation: although she loved contact with her students, teaching, or more specifically the culture of the Department of Education, was not for her. I felt that my wings were clipped within the Department, she says. There was this negativity. I really didnt want to end up like a lot of the teachers that I saw there, who just struggled, who just got by, who just existed. I saw that the kids deserved much more than that. During this period of her life, the death of a beloved older brother brought home the fragility of existence and the importance of making every second count. We lost my brother from chickenpox when he was thirty-one. To me it reinforced this drive that I have in all things that I do. But more than that, it was a sense that life is a bit like a pilot lamp: it can be snuffed out at any time. Sitting by the water on a holiday break from school, reading a local newspaper, she spotted an advertisement for an advertising role with The Star. It marked the beginning of a new career, one ideally suited to her energetic, competitive nature. Deborahs strength comes from many places. She credits her parents for refusing to limit her sense of her own possibilities: I wasnt pigeonholed into the whole youre a girl, youve got to do these things mentality, she remembers. A keen athlete, she was encouraged to play football and cricket with the boys; she has a clear memory of her father holding her up to a pool table as a toddler so she could take a shot, the little girl chanting I can. I can myself! Even today, sorting through the hundreds of job applications that arrive for any job in media, she looks for candidates with sporting backgrounds: I cant help myself. Its the leadership qualities in sport. Much like a champion sports team, Deborah plans to keep NBN in its dominant position by continuing to embrace new broadcasting technologies and seize opportunities as they arise.

10

Margaret Olley
Margaret olleys Paddington house is full of the sound of opera. the radio proclaims that Dame Joan sutherland has died, the announcement followed by piercing, unearthly arias.
Almost claustrophobic beauty is everywhere in this room; sculptures and flowers compete for space with scattered canvases, and paintings cluster in wild profusion on the sienna walls. At the centre of this sits the diminutive frame of Olley herself, at eighty-seven recognised as a giant of the Australian art world and a National Living Treasure. A painter whose artistic vision centres on the genre of still life or domestic interiors, Margaret Olley has always pursued her creative vision without regard to changes in style and convention. As a young artist, Margaret traveled to Europe to draw from the great art collections, becoming part of the critical post-war cultural scene. She met Chagall, worked with Sir Francis Rose, and shared afternoon teas with Alice B. Toklas in a room wallpapered with the paintings of Picasso and Braque: I was so innocent. I didnt know she made those famous cookies! For Australian artists, raised on bookplate images of Western Art masterpieces, encountering the same paintings in the flesh can be intimidating. It was like your wall collapsing and having to build it up again, admits Margaret, musing that she might have gone over too early, because I was just beginning to make my own handwriting. Returning to Australia after the death of her father, she battled depression and alcoholism, emerging from these dark times with an unusual degree of artistic clarity. She is firm on this point: I dont want to paint dark. People who paint their dark places are passing on their dark. Who wants to know? There are two paintings that come to mind when one thinks of Margaret Olley. One is the Archibald portrait by Sir William Dobell, showing Margaret as a glorious young woman in a floating white dress. Like any good picture, it has a story behind it. An artist friend had asked her to come to the opening of his exhibition dressed as a duchess. With wartime restricting material to coupons, he made me a dress to wear from a lot of aeroplane silk and the top of his grandmothers wedding dress. Just the bodice part, because the rest had been eaten away by moths. The exhibition ended and Margaret found herself on the same rattling tram as Dobell, an interminable journey that ended with him asking if he could paint her portrait. She later sat for him and he painted the duchess dress from memory. Another is an early self-portrait of Margaret looking in the mirror of her Sydney flat. Despite the decorative aesthetic (flowers, shells, fruit and postcards crowd the foreground) she encounters herself without sentimentality; the painting is a depiction of the self that is honest, strong and direct. The painting also reflects a vital truth; any person, and especially a woman, who has given their life to art is necessarily tough. Resisting social expectations to marry and have children, Margaret chose her own destiny with determination, crediting her strength to a country upbringing, common sense and parents who encouraged autonomy. Art always came first. I saw examples of artists marrying and the male dominating - and the female was the better painter! And then having children. And I thought oh no, I dont like that at all. When waves of feminism swept through Australian society in the 1960s and 1970s, Margaret remembers being nonplussed. I didnt know what it was all about, because Id always done what I wanted to anyway. A generous benefactor and patron of the arts, Margaret Olley has continued to paint well into her eighties. When asked what drives her to keep painting, her response is immediate: To push the barriers. Everything you do should be the right moment; you must put everything youve goteverything into that moment. Margaret Olley died on 26 July 2011. She was 88 years old.

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Katherine Proudfoot
An extra hour or two of sleep doesnt mean much to most university students, except maybe to those sleeping off the excesses of the night before.
For Paralympian Katherine Proudfoot, the decision to drag herself out of bed on one particular day changed the course of her life. I often wonder what would have happened if I hadnt decided to get up and go to the gym that morning, she muses, glancing down at her muscular forearms and smiling at the memory of her life before elite sport. Im not sure that I really believe in fate, but its one of those moments of being in the right place and the right time. Its quite uncanny how much of an impact that can have on your future direction. On that Saturday Katherine, a PhD student in speech pathology, walked into the campus sports centre at the same time that the Australian Paralympic Committee was running a talent search. It was a bright, sunny morning and Katherine was thinking about her work-out, a breakfast to follow and the possibility of a day at the beach with friends. Out of curiosity, she stopped at the registration desk and was offered the opportunity to try out for the Australian Paralympic team. Katherine has cerebral palsy. She spent the rest of the day at the gym, swimming timed laps, running, jumping, throwing and having all aspects of her cardiovascular fitness measured and tested. When she finished each exercise, the organisers would make notes on their clipboards, and lead her to the next testing station. Its really hard when youre doing these tests, because you dont know what kind of standard theyre looking for; youre not sure if youve done well or not, she remembers. It was a really pleasant surprise to open the letter in the mail a few weeks later and find out that Id been selected. I felt that Id been given an opportunity and it was up to me to see if I could take it to the next level: thats something I really embraced! The testing indicated that Katherine was a natural athlete, ideally suited to events that require throwing actions like shot put, discus and javelin. She was assigned a throws coach, and plunged into a rigorous training schedule that completely re-organised her life. Although Katherine loved the challenges of her new role, pushing her body to the limit took its toll. Ive broken my right elbow twice and hurt my shoulder a few times, she says, grimacing in remembered pain. Her perseverance paid off, though, and by the following year she was competing at the Commonwealth Games and then at the World Championships in the Netherlands. The pace of her progression astonished even Katherine. It was a really fast transition from just doing things recreationally to getting involved in elite sport, she says. For Katherine, the highlight of her sporting career so far has been winning a silver medal at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. Its not always an easy thing to throw a personal best at an international competition with 80,000 people looking on, she laughs. Katherine is effusive about the potential of sport to build self-confidence, friendships and tenacity in all people, regardless of physical limitations. Everything Paralympic sport stands for is positive: youre looking at a group of people who are overcoming significant disabilities in order to compete and achieve their goals, she says.

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Sherelle Charge
sherelle Charge inhabits the space around her like a fluidly moving sculpture; like many ballerinas, sherelle seems born to be in motion.
Her physical grace is so profound that you become aware of both the positive and negative spaces of her body: the way she moves an arm and displaces air, an elegant twist as she turns to answer a question. Even the straight lines of a chair look crude against the flow of her long neck and spine. As a little girl, Sherelle pestered her parents for ballet lessons. But they, having read an article by a famous dancer that said children should not start dancing until age seven, urged against formal instruction. Sherelle, stroking a sleek wing of hair away from her face, remembers the turning point for their change of heart. I was about six at the time and my father invited his boss over for dinner. I told my fathers boss how my mean parents didnt let me go to ballet lessons! Capitalising on that strategic move, Sherelle started lessons the next day. The desire for perfection in movement became unquenchable. I left school when I was fifteen because I had to study dancing full time, she says. It was six oclock in the morning to nine oclock at night, five days a week, and then on Saturday nine until five. I didnt have a personal life for about two years. During this time, a judge at a Sydney eisteddfod commented on her lyrical, theatrical style, observing that she was a European dancer. It was a judgment that would prove to be prescient. At age seventeen, Sherelle left her close-knit family in Newcastle and traveled to Europe, determined to win a place with one of the major dance companies. I spent six weeks travelling around Europe, sleeping on trains and auditioning the next day, she remembers. Then I would sleep on a train to get to the next city. With many of the worlds best young dancers making the same pilgrimage, the competition for places was fierce. It is cut-throat, Sherelle admits, but if your approach is honest, you cant be treated unfairly by others. Sherelle was offered a place with Bayerisches Staatsballett, the highly regarded Bavarian State Ballet, based in Munich. Over the next sixteen years she would rise through the corps de ballet to become principal dancer. She lived in an intensely emotional world, fraught with the ever-present risk of physical injury. After a performance the adrenaline is pumping until three oclock in the morning, she says. This is the danger with dancers: they develop such a pain barrier that they work past injuries. I worked on a broken toe; you push your body beyond the limit. In 2005, Sherelle danced the leading role of the Marschallin in Graeme Murphys The Silver Rose, a character especially choreographed for her. Two years later, she retired from ballet. I knew that I was at the peak of my game and I didnt want to fall down the other side, she says. I didnt want to have people saying can she get off the stage now, please!. Sherelle returned to Newcastle with her partner Joerg to a house bought unseen, and a job in human resources at the University of Newcastle. She is currently studying towards a management qualification and plans to continue with postgraduate study next year. Sherelles passion for dance remains undiminished; as well as mentoring principal ballerinas of the Australian Ballet in interpretation of the Marschallin, she adjudicates ballet competitions including, in a twist of fate, the Sydney Eisteddfod, the competition that first inspired her European journey.

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Liz McMinn
Liz McMinns story is one about power, and how it can be denied, abused or enabled. When Liz was a child, an extended family member abused her. For years she suffered the effects of somebody elses crime, putting up a wall between herself and the world.
Growing up in a country town, she married her boyfriend, and they moved to a remote mining town in Western Australia far from family and friends. It was here that her husband became violent. They returned to New South Wales, where a conversation with her doctor, a man she trusted, changed her life. He said, if you stay, youre going to get killed. Hes going to be in gaol, and whos going to raise your children? Liz packed her bags and left with her two small daughters. I spent about six years as a single parent, she says. My self-esteem was very low. I had to basically re-build my life, so I waitressed and cleaned motel rooms, just to get back on my feet financially. At that time not many women were divorced so it was hard to climb out of that. Climb out of it she did, though, gradually moving into better paid employment and slowly re-assembling the pieces of her fragmented sense of self. She was fortunate enough to meet a kind, loving man, whom she married. Despite a happy family life and a supportive partner, Liz still felt that some part of her remained frozen, as if she was living behind a wall of glass. I remember being on a train and hearing people talk about the beautiful countryside, and I couldnt see what they were talking about, she says. It frustrated me: it was just trees and cows. In her forties, during a plane flight to the Northern Territory, Liz felt something shift inside her. I looked out of the window and I could just see a sunburnt country, she remembers. And I found my colour - its the only way I can describe it. I have always thought of it in terms of having my colour stolen. Life was almost black and white, and quite detached. The change was profound, its effects rippling through every aspect of her personal and professional life. In her words, Liz realised that I made life happen, rather than have it happen to me. Liz now works to make sure that people from low socio-economic status communities have the same access to education as everyone else. A few years ago, she took her young daughter Meg to see an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts at the University of Sydney. Their conversation with Meg that day was the genesis of a great idea. While we were there, she turned to me and said you know, I can see myself here, Liz remembers. Her comment was like a light going on for me. Liz realised that taking Meg to visit a university had effectively turned an intimidating unknown into a positive, concrete reality. Liz took the idea back to her colleagues, leading to the establishment of the MEGS (Making Educational Goals Sustainable) program. MEGS takes year 6 and 7 high school students to university, vocational education and workplace settings, three years in a row, with a family member. This project is about engaging low socio-economic status families and giving those students, at an early enough stage, the motivation to attain the level of education they need to move into university or vocational education, Liz explains. Or whatever theyd like to achieve! At its heart, MEGS is about empowerment: encouraging people to believe in themselves, value their lives and embrace new challenges and possibilities. As Liz so eloquently describes it, its about living in colour, not black and white.

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Pimpimon Wongchaiya
In her lifetime, Pimpimon Wongchaiya has seen three devastating waves break across her home country of thailand, only one of which the 2004 tsunamithe world outside could see.
During the 1980s, Pimpimon worked as a nurse at the height of the HIV/AIDS era, which hit Thailand hard; later, as a specialist in mental health, she watched the global epidemic of mental illness impact her countrys ill-prepared health system. As a postgraduate student of universities in England and Australia, she knew that health systems across the world were struggling to cope with the same issues. Projects and ideas related to mental health are not well supported, Pimpimon explains. This happens in most countries, but the situation is worse for developing countries, and even worse if the project targets people with chronic mental illness. The youngest daughter of a loving family, Pimpimon was born in Thailands Phayao province. She smiles as she remembers how pleased her family were when she secured a lecturing position at a nursing college just five minutes drive from home and how her father cried when she told him that shed won a government scholarship to study abroad. He was so proud of me, she says. Sadly, he died before my graduation. A loved child has little fear of the open road: Pimpimons father encouraged her to pursue higher education and gave her the confidence to study abroad. Like Pimpimons understanding of mental health, it was a relationship culturally at odds with the mainstream. In my culture, daughters used to receive less education than sons, Pimpimon explains. My mother grew up in a privileged family but only received a basic education. Then she was sent to the town to learn hairdressing. Meanwhile, her brothers were sent to teaching college in another city and became teachers in public schools. My mother married and became a housewife, and her life depended on her husband. After completing her Masters in Advanced Nursing in the United Kingdom and a doctorate in Mental Health Nursing in Australia, Pimpimon returned to Thailand with a fresh perspective on local health issues. She was determined to initiate changes to the way mental health was being handled in her community. To her horror, she discovered that during her absence teaching hours for the mental health segment of the nursing course had been cut. The students used to spend six or seven weeks on this segment, she says. Now, only four weeks are allocated for a mental health placement. This is in sad contrast to the mental illness epidemic happening in this country. Despite her energy and commitment, Pimpimon sometimes experiences intense frustration in her professional sphere. It is sometimes exhausting to explain to people the reasons why it is necessary to provide help for those who are at risk of mental health problems. We urgently need more resources to prevent and combat mental health disorders. She smiles, looking rather tired. There arent any major obstacles in my personal life, but there are considerable ones in my work. Pimpimon works to overcome these obstacles through collaboration and communication. Knowing that the problem of mental health is too big for just one country to handle, and determined to provide leadership in her own, Pimpimon responded by creating an international unit, forming links with nursing institutions in Japan, Taiwan and Australia. As the only lecturer with an overseas doctorate, she established an international volunteer project, aiming to improve the language skills of staff and students and build a broader perspective on mental health treatment. Progress is slow, but steady. Mental health issues may threaten her country, but Pimpimon Wongchaiya is one woman working to try to stem the tide.

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The Writers
Katharine Gillett
Katharine Gillett has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Newcastle, and a background in community publishing and cultural development. She is currently the coordinator of the Newcastle Poetry Prize and in 2011 will take up the post of Director of the Hunter Writers Centre. She lives in Newcastle with her husband and two children.

Helen Hopcroft
Helen Hopcroft is an artist and writer who grew up on in Tasmania and now lives in Newcastle. After completing a Fine Arts degree at the Centre for the Arts, Hobart, she travelled to London to complete a Masters degree in Painting at the Royal College of Art, where she shared a studio with artist Damien Hirst. A successful exhibiting artist who has won numerous awards, Helen has written for Ceramic Art & Perception magazine, the Australian newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, NAVA Quarterly, unsweetened, ArtsHub.com and various other online or print media publications. Helen is currently working on a crime novel set in Newcastle.

Keryn stewart
Keryn Stewart is a writer and editor from Newcastle, Australia. She holds a first class Honours degree in English literature from the University of Newcastle, with a focus on Australian literature, and has published work in a number of scholarly publications. She has several years experience in editing for online and print publications, and an interest in creative non-fiction.

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The Photographers
Photographers participated in this project as part of a Work Integrated Learning initiative at the University of Newcastle. Third year Photomedia students were invited to collaborate with professional writers to produce portraits of the women profiled. The project provided students with the opportunity to integrate theory and practice in a real-life setting as part of their study. Additional photographs were taken by University staff and former students. In line with the aims of the project, the contributing photographers are all women.

Patricia Aguado elaine Bull Lanelle Lee Chin sally-Ann Constable Fiona Crane Bree Cunningham Fiona Galbraith Justine Gaudry eryca Judy Green Michelle Groth Kylie Harris emily Hitchcock

Helen Hopcroft Miranda Lawry Fiona Lee Renee Malby Dominique Mathisen Anna Morewood sarah Morewood Keren-suzanne nicholson Gillean shaw Alison smith samantha Arnull thondavada

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Writing & Photography Credits

p2-3, Elham DorooDchi p34-35, riona tinDal p68-69, vicKi clifton

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Kylie Harris.

pg4-5, SEnta taft-hEnDry

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p36-37, paulinE chiarElli

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Michelle Groth.

p70-71, Diana rah

Story by Katharine Gillett/Helen Hopcroft/ Keryn Stewart. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p6-7, SuSan lim

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

p38-39, fElicity bigginS

Story by Keryn Stewart. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p72-73, catE hayES

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo supplied by Susan Lim.

p8-9, ivy irElanD

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Bree Cunningham.

p40-41, bronWyn hall

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Jessica Gaudry.

p74-75, chEong-chua Koon hEan

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Eryca Judy Green.

p10-11, DEborah Wright

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo supplied by Bronwyn Hall.

p42-43, roSEmary bEcKEtt

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Samantha Arnull Thondavada.

p76-77, Kathy butlEr

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p12-13, margarEt ollEy

Story by Helen Hopcroft and Katharine Gillett. Photo by Patricia Aguado.

p44-45, KriStiEnnE thomaS

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Sally-Ann Constable.

p78-79, JuliannE butlEr

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p14-15, KathErinE prouDfoot

Story and photo by Helen Hopcroft.

p46-47, pippa robinSon

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Sally-Ann Constable.

p80-81, afaf girgiS

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p16-17, ShErEllE chargE

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Miranda Lawry.

p48-49, cathErinE britt

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p82-83, Emma JacKSon

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Lanelle Lee Chin.

p18-19, liz mcminn

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Sally-Ann Constable.

p50-51, KErry KEtE

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Keren-Suzanne Nicholson.

p84-85, Katrina KEllEtt

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Anna Morewood.

p20-21, pimpimon Wongchaiya

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p52-53, roxannE blacK

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p86-87, ShaynE blacKburn

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo supplied by Pimpimon Wongchaiya.

p22-23, nicolE gErranD

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Kylie Harris.

p54-55, JuliE ainSWorth

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

p88-89, pamEla connEll

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

p24-25, givErny lEWiS

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Miranda Lawry.

p56-57, tina offlEr

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Miranda Lawry.

p90-91, xiaoli DEng

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Keren-Suzanne Nicholson.

p26-27, irina bElova

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p58-59, tEEla may rEiD

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo supplied by Xiaoli Deng.

p92-93, JEanEttE rothapfEl

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Sally-Ann Constable.

p28-29, liz nicol

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Emily HItchcock.

p60-61, bat-ShEva StEWart

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Kylie Harris.

p94-95, EugEniE lumbErS

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Lanelle Lee Chin.

p30-31, cathErinE anD JEnnifEr Strutt

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p62-63, JuDy vaJaK

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Miranda Lawry.

p96-97, Sarah hilton

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

p64-65, carol martin

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Anna and Sarah Morewood.

p32-33, laurEn colthorpE

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Fiona Crane.

p98-99, oonagh chan

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Renee Malby.

p66-67, Samantha martin-WilliamS

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo supplied by Lauren Colthorpe.

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo supplied by Oonagh Chan.

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Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Renee Malby.

p100-101, Sarah taylor

p132-133, alExia Sinclair

p164-165, StEphaniE moraS

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo supplied by Sarah Taylor.

p102-103, KathErinE JonES torrES

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo supplied by Alexia Sinclair.

p134-135, rEnny chivunga

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Kylie Harris.

p166-167, SuzE poDgEr

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Renee Malby.

p104-105, cathErinE mahony

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo Fiona Galbraith.

p136-137, JEnnifEr Duncan

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p168-169, cathErinE phoEnix

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p106-107, laura SEabrooK

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Bree Cunningham.

p138-139, bEibEi zhang

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Kylie Harris.

p170-171, JanicE pEtErSEn

Story by Keryn Stewart. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p108-109, tara malliE

Story by Keryn Stewart. Photo supplied by Beibei Zhang.

p140-141, SuE goulD

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Samantha Arnull Thondavada.

p172-173, ruby anDrion

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p110-111, loiS brySon

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Alison Smith.

p142-143, SuSiE portEr

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo supplied by Ruby Andrion.

p174-175, SuE mcnEil

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Dominique Mathisen.

p112-113, mahla pEarlman

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo supplied by Susie Porters agent.

p144-145, patricia forSythE

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo supplied by Sue McNeil.

p176-177, JEan talbot

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Lanelle Lee Chin.

p114-115, carolyn haStiE

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p146-147, JEnniE thomaS

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Michelle Groth.

p178-179, ShEllEy clarK

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Justine Gaudry.

p116-117, pEnny bigginS

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p148-149, EilEEn DoylE

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p180-181, raE richarDS

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p118-119, JuDith bEvEriDgE

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Bree Cunningham.

p150-151, JoSEphinE tam

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p182-183, marni JacKSon

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Elaine Bull.

p120-121, liESl tESch

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

p152-153, margarEt harriS

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Fiona Lee.

p184-185, maz Smith

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Anna and Sarah Morewood.

p122-123, KarEn hitchcocK

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Justine Gaudry.

p154-155, rachEl King

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Renee Malby.

p186-187, laKin agnEW

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Elaine Bull.

p124-125, hEiDi forrESt

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Sarah Morewood.

p156-157, DorEEn Kum

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p188-189, vEronica pEttifEr

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Renee Malby.

p126-127, Sarah maDDiSon

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Samantha Arnull Thondavada.

p158-159, marion halligan

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p190-191, Kath KirKby

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

p128-129, JacKiE SalES

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p160-161, Donna mEEhan

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

p192-193, JacquElinE KrynDa

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Sarah Morewood.

p130-131, roWEna, Juliana & angEla foong

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Emily HItchcock.

p162-163, margarEt WatSon

Story by Helen Hopcroft. Photo by Sarah Morewood.

p194-195, chEng Smart

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Gillean Shaw.

Story by Katharine Gillett. Photo by Emily Hitchcock.

199