Our Society is officially 100 years strong.
In 1925, a group of women writers and journalists met to form The Society of Women Writers NSW. Over the ensuing decades, the Society’s goals of encouraging its members to write, network and achieve professional status have remained constant.
On Wednesday 10 September 2025, we celebrated this enormous milestone with an amazing lunch at Parliament of NSW, attended by over 120 members and friends.
NSW Premier Chris Minns and The Hon. Jodie Harrison MP spoke in glowing terms of our history, contribution to writing as well as our past and present members.
There was so much more – an amazing chocolate mudcake Centenary Cake in the shape of books on a shelf created by Meli-Ann Designs, our own Vanessa Proctor’s Lavanda Players playing tunes from the 1920s, and Camilla Wright with accompanist Ruth McColl singing the National Anthem and our Centenary Song, as well as great food and lots of talking and laughter.
Lavanda Players – Vanessa Proctor on violin, Lynne Sell on pianist and Amanda Gillard on flute, played:
Por una Cabeza by Gardel
Five Pieces by Shostakovitch
Summertime by Gershwin
Oblivion by Piazzolla
20s medley 1 – If You Knew Susie, Baby Face, Side by Side
Divertissement Grec by Gaubert
20s medley 2 – Sweet Georgia Brown, Bye, Bye Blackbird, Blue Skies
Gymnopedie by Satie
Ein Tag wie Gold/Mack the Knife
Le Jardin de Dolly/Berceuse by Faure
20s medley 3 – When the Red, Red Robin, Makin’ Whoopee, Singing in the Rain
Celos by Piazzola Hamori
Libby Hathorn, our Guest Speaker and second oldest member in terms of longevity, spoke about the history of the Society and some of our achievements:
1925 to 2025, a century of literary advocacy, creativity, and community
I am happy to recount here the very beginnings of the SWW in 1925, and give you at least some fleeting glimpses of our achievements and milestones over the past 100 years. And this with more than a mention of the poet Dorothea McKellar, one of the writers this Society chose to honour and continue her poetic legacy.
I thought it more interesting to partially present this through the eyes of this longtime member – over six decades of our society – and evidence of the Society’s profound influence on me and my work.
Let’s skip back 100 years to a group of journos and playwrights who wanted to join forces to advocate for women writers in a male-dominated profession, if not male-dominated world, in particular the work of women in journalism and social commentary, and that of writing in all its forms. Here, the name Florence Baverstock comes to mind, the inaugural president of our society.
Founded in Sydney by pioneering women journalists, authors and playwrights, the Society of Women Writers was determined to break into new literary spaces. The founding committee with Baverstock as President included literary luminaries such as Dame Mary Gilmore, whose poetry we still enjoy today.
‘Let’s have regular meetings, let’s establish a support network here in the city of Sydney,’ Florence encouraged. ‘Let’s reach out for wider membership to foster friendship and advocacy for women.’ And they did – they do! Then the SWW offered meetings, friendships, workshops, keynote events, and even a Friendly Fund during the Depression to assist our struggling members.
From the thirties and through a grinding Depression and a devastating World War right through to the seventies when I joined as a young writer (encouraged by a friend from the NSW Dept of Ed.), the Society flourished. It expanded, encouraging many a writer or emerging writer in a host of ways, to write and to share and to write some more …
In fact, some writer friends to name one here today in Susanne Gervay, attest to the fact that without the support, the book awards and the encouragement of SWW, she would never have continued in her long successful writing career – a voice among many.
Members have included highly influential figures like the late Dr Hilarie Lindsay MBE OAM, who championed women’s voices in literature and industry, as well as other revered journalists and novelists.
I remember being thrilled in the late seventies to be seated at one of the long lunches we enjoyed near Margaret Whitlam, a staunch supporter of Oz literature and, for me all the more because an aunt of mine attended Bondi Wellington Street Public School and had Margaret Dovey as a special school friend.
And more recently seated nearby the still rather formidable Hilarie Lindsay who never missed a meeting, I can still hear her championing writers and writing. Other treasured members I personally remember enjoying conversing with include the late Professor Emerita Elizabeth Webby AM FAHA, former Patron and Abbie Clancy Judge, very much a poetry advocate, and the society’s much-loved photographer, the late Joy Williams who appeared with her trusty camera every function to faithfully record highlights of our history.
One such event celebrating our Australian literary tradition was the work of the Society to have Dorothea Mackellar’s grave actually celebrate her!
Imagine my surprise whilst making short videos on Oz poets for the State Library of NSW, on visiting Dorothea’s grave at Waverley Cemetery to find large headstones memorialising her important father and her brother (who sadly died in the war) but then a tiny stone for her – almost … and here also …
I took the information back to the Society where, with the enthusiasm of president Gwen Bitti, we managed fundraising over many months and in 2017, officiated by the Mayor of Waverley and with many guests, we presented Dorothea’s life details (1885 to 1967) and lines of the famous poem, this time etched in marble to the world!
Evidence of her poetic abilities and love of country abide. You only have to visit the marvellous Aboretum in Canberra to see a line of that marvellous poem My Country, rather than etched in stone, displayed across a hillside where trees abound, in sturdy steel. I love a sunburnt country. But if this society is about honouring women writers of the past, it’s also very much about finding, nurturing and encouraging women writers of all ages to find a voice and ways of sharing that voice – sometimes exciting new ways, given the explosion of technology.
Much like the one our patron Emerita Professor Di Yerbury who generously donated an ongoing gift, a yearly literary residency in the UK for three months. The residency provides a place and time for the development of a full-length work-in-progress, often with a historical or literary focus tied to the region, thus supporting our members and international creative exchange.
Like the waratah bloom
We unfold our power
Triumphant red petals
For this is our hour!
100 years strong
With an unending song
We plan to go on.
We chose the tough and lovely waratah flower this year as our icon, and encapsulated our place and our work in a four minute video, 100 YEARS STRONG, accompanied by our centenary song. Happily, one composer is here today. Thank you, Ass. Professor Anne Power.
But the driving force for this centenary year is the hardworking and efficient Maria McDougall and the Centenary Committee, who have shepherded us through a wonderful centenary year along with co-presidents Pippa Kay’s and Liz Newton’s unstinting support. Activities that range from tours, publications, launches and luncheons, to anthologies, competitions, and collaborations with libraries and cultural institutions have been organised and enjoyed.
In 2025, the society marks its centenary with the anthology Ink 4, One Hundred Years, One Hundred Women-Writers, One Hundred Stories, launched here today at NSW Parliament House. And earlier, a bumper edition of Women’s Ink! that invited all members, many here today, to offer submission of their writing – a varied and beautifully produced magazine. Thank you Jan Conway, another past President.
To quote from our SWW website:
‘To all presidents, committee members, workshop coordinators and presenters, supportive members, e-newsletters and magazine editors, member and guest speakers, competition judges, publishers and sponsors, who have brought richness and excellence to our meetings over the last 100 years, your vision and devotion are outstanding.’
We’re here for women!
Readers and writers
We’re here for women
Thinkers and fighters!
100 years on
With unending song
We plan to go on!
As editor and compiler, Susan Steggall launched our Centenary Edition Ink 4, an anthology of four years of prize-winning fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. Around 60 stories, essays and poems in this anthology range from tales of resilience and hardship, personal and public concerns, conventional memoir and unconventional historical and contemporary journeys. There are reflections on aging and illness and tributes to many fearless women who raised their voices to take their places in contemporary life. These stories and poems represent a snapshot of Australian women writers’ hopes, fears and ambitions.
Susan was unable to attend in person but recorded a short video, included at the top of this article.
Below are photos of the contributors to Ink 4.
A new and exciting writing challenge for all of us, the Hilarie Lindsay Prize, was launched by Hilarie’s son, Andrew Lindsay, and Jan Conway – stay tuned for more details.
Andrew entertained us with stories of his mother, our friend, and read one of Hilarie’s poems:
Memory’s Garden
Jean Stone’s buttercups, from a slip I took,
ramble beneath my letter-box
and I recall her face
with halo of white, wearing pink,
I held her hand the day before she died,
returned to clasp that fragule hand once more.
The Enid plant waves from my kitchen window -
reminds me of the day I begged the cutting,
in grief to know that soon she would be gone.
Our last farewells were on the telephone.
Struggling with death she said,
‘I want to get this over as quickly as I can.’
In her front garden, Lorna McIntyre,
a gentle presence, grew wild violets
that flower beneath my lemon tree
beside a robust creeper that once grew
in Paddington – Patricia’s secret garden.
Cremated privately – we gathered for a wake.
‘Sentimental nonsense.’ One man scoffed.
‘How Pat would laugh.’
as I walked round her courtyard snipping cuttings.
I smiled, didn’t bother to reply,
knowing how little some men know of women,
or understand how women cherish women.
Our Patron, Emerita Professor Di Yerbury, assisted by Co-president Liz Newton, expertly cut the birthday cake while everyone sang Happy Birthday, then enjoyed time to chat with friends.
Photos and video of photos: Rita Shaw