Pippa Kay has been doing a little research and got distracted by Trove and Google:
In an article from the magazine The Commonwealth Home which was formerly the Australian Home, dated September 11 1925 on page 10, I found the following under Women’s Clubs and Coteries by Ino. I have transcribed the faded print here:
SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS
The Society of Women Writers came into being on Monday at the Mary Elizabeth as a result of a meeting convened by Mrs Fred Aronson (who was in the chair), Mrs Liddell, Mrs Fotheringhame, and Miss Isabel Gullett. The idea that writers think, and not talk, was soon dispelled.
John Foster Fraser was once asked to a meeting of the Women Writers’ Club in Melbourne. In her delight at securing the attendance of such a celebrity, the secretary forgot to tell him where the club was situated, but just as she was explaining his absence to the disappointed members, in walked the great man.
“However did you find the place?” he was asked.
“I stood at the bottom of the stairs, and listened,” said Fraser.
The aims and objectives of the Sydney Society of Writers are at present rather nebulous. It is already divided into two camps—those who want it to be highbrow, and those who do not. But it is already going strong—with some 50 members.
The Society is the outcome of the visit of the Empire Press delegates, and Lady Burnham is to be its patron. Lady Burnham is President of the London Women Writers’ Club, and it is probable that this Society will follow on the same lines.
Mrs. Aronson and Mrs. Baverstock, who have visited the London Club, described its workings. It is mainly a social centre, where women writers may meet and find relaxation. It has great influence, but of the indirect and undefined sort.
It serves as a stimulus to women’s literary work, and encourages young writers.
Mrs. William Moore suggested that the members of the Sydney Writers’ Society should join the literary circle of the Lyceum Club, and Mrs. Liddell made an offer on behalf of the Feminist Club that the members should run the Feminists’ literary circle. Miss Grace Scobie voiced the ideas of the majority of the members by saying that it would be better for the Society to have an independent existence. The formation of a committee, subscription fees, and other details are to be settled at another meeting at the Mary Elizabeth on September 14.
Among the writers present—Mrs. Herbert Curlewis [Ethel Turner], Mrs. Mary Salmon, Mrs. Mary Gilmore, Mrs. Baverstock, Mrs. Percy Hunter, Mrs. Moore (Dora Wilcox), Miss Grace Scobie, Miss Nora Kelly, Miss Isabel Gullett, Miss C. Stephens, Mrs. Liddell, Mrs. J. Fotheringhame, Miss Mary Roche, Miss Graham, Miss Evans, Miss Bennett, Miss Bloxam, Mrs. Armitall, Mrs. Singleton, Mrs. Potts, Miss Marjorie Quinn and others. Apologies were sent by Miss Ruby Storey, Miss Josephine Fotheringhame, Mrs. Geo. Taylor, and others, who were unable to be present, but approved of the movement.
Notes:
According to another search I found in the Dictionary of Sydney, The Mary Elizabeth Tea Rooms, on the corner of King and York Street operated between about 1917 and the 1930s. Established and run by journalist and charity worker Zara Aronson, the cafe was a popular meeting spot and function room between the wars. Mrs Fred Aronson (chair of the first SWW Meeting) was the author of The Mary Elizabeth Cookbook in 1927. https://dictionaryofsydney.org/organisation/mary_elizabeth_tea_rooms
John Foster Fraser was a well-known travel writer who also held views in favour of The White Australia Policy, according to The Institute of Australian Culture – https://www.australianculture.org/the-problem-of-immigration-john-foster-fraser/
