Justina Williams

AM
BornMarjorie Georgina Joan Allen
(1916-01-26)26 January 1916
Coolgardie, Western Australia
Died21 June 2008(2008-06-21) (aged 92)
Western Australia
Pen nameJoan Williams
Occupation
  • Poet
  • journalist

Justina Williams AM (26 January 1916 – 21 June 2008) was an Australian poet, journalist, feminist and peace activist.

Life

Marjorie Georgina Joan Allen was born in Coolgardie, Western Australia on 26 January 1916.[1]

Williams was employed as a journalist by The West Australian and the Daily News in Perth and became involved with peace activism, left-wing politics and feminism.[2] She joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1939.[1]

In the 1950s, Williams campaigned for nuclear disarmament, while in the 1970s she was an early member of the Women's Electoral Lobby.[2]

Williams was appointed Member of the Order of Australia in the 1996 Australia Day Honours for "service to the community as a writer, particularly in the areas of peace, social equality and protection of the environment".[3]

Williams died in Western Australia on 21 June 2008.[1]

Selected works

Poetry

  • By All the Clocks, Saturday Centre, 1975[4]
  • Poems of Protest, Lone Hand Press, 1982[5]
  • People and Peace, Lone Hand Press, 1986[6]
  • My Country, the World, Lone Hand Press, 2003[7]

Fiction

  • White River and Other Stories, Fremantle Press, 1979
  • The Bird Girl, illustrated by Trevor Weekes, Kangaroo Press, 1984 (for children)
  • The Edge of the Swamp, Lone Hand Press, 2003

Nonfiction

  • The First Furrow, Lone Hand Press, 1976
  • Trade unionism : "them bees is organised", Lothian Books, 1978
  • Anger and Love: A life of struggle and commitment, Fremantle Press, 1993

As editor

  • On Strenuous Wings: A half-century of selected writings from the works of Katharine Susannah Prichard, Seven Seas, 1965
  • Tom Collins and His House, Tom Collins Press for Fellowship of Australian Writers, WA, 1973

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Justina Williams". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  2. 1 2 Tallis, Denise (23 March 2004). "Williams, Joan". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  3. ↑ "Ms Marjorie Georgina Joan Williams". Australian Honours Search Facility. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  4. ↑ Williams, Justina (1975), By all the clocks, Saturday Centre, ISBN 978-0-909293-05-5
  5. ↑ Williams, Justina (1982), Poems of protest, Lone Hand Press, retrieved 15 September 2023
  6. ↑ Williams, Justina; Williams, Justina. [Poems. Selections] (1986), People and peace : selected poems, Lone Hand Press, ISBN 978-0-9598402-3-0
  7. ↑ Williams, Justina (2003), My country, the world, Lone Hand Press, ISBN 978-0-9598402-5-4
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