Anne Deveson

Deveson was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. During World War II, her family was evacuated to Western Australia as refugees before returning to England.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-13/australian-writer-anne-deveson-dies-from-alzheimer's-disease/8114540|title=Australian broadcaster Anne Deveson dies aged 86|website=ABC News|last1=Kozaki|first1=Danuta|date=12 December 2016|accessdate=13 December 2016}} Her first job was on a small London newspaper called The Kensington News.

She later worked in the London offices of the BBC and The New York Times.{{Cite web|url=http://penguin.co.nz/authors/30-anne-deveson|title=Anne Deveson {{!}} Penguin Books New Zealand|website=penguin.co.nz|access-date=14 December 2016}} In 1956, Deveson moved back to Australia and began working for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in Sydney.

In the 1950s, Deveson was a presenter for radio station 2GB and was one of the first people in Australia to use talkback radio.{{Cite web|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0217b.htm|title=Deveson, Anne Barbara profile|last=Melbourne|first=The University of|website=womenaustralia.info|access-date=14 December 2016}}

Deveson was known to many Australians as "the Omo lady" after appearing in television commercials for that brand of soap powder.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/talkingheads/txt/s2547461.htm|title=Talking Heads with Peter Thompson (transcript)|website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=27 April 2009|accessdate=13 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512224904/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/talkingheads/txt/s2547461.htm|archive-date=12 May 2016|url-status=dead}} Later in her career, she held a number of leadership positions in the industry: she chaired the South Australian Film Corporation from 1984 to 1987 and from 1985 to 1988, she was executive director of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

Deveson was also an active lobbyist for the rights of women, children and disabled people. Following the diagnosis of her son Jonathan with schizophrenia and his death from a drug overdose, she helped to start the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW in 1985. In 1986 she worked with Dr Margaret Leggatt to launch the national body Schizophrenia Australia Foundation, now named SANE Australia.{{cite web|url=https://www.sane.org/media-centre/the-sane-blog/1932-rip-anne-deveson|title=RIP Anne Deveson AO 1930–2016|last=Heath|first=Jack|accessdate=13 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221004430/https://www.sane.org/media-centre/the-sane-blog/1932-rip-anne-deveson|archive-date=21 December 2016|url-status=dead}} She was also a member of the Royal Commission into Human Relationships (1974–77),{{cite web|last1=Deveson|first1=Anne|last2=Evatt|first2=Elizabeth|last3=Arnott|first3=Felix|title=Royal Commission on Human Relationships|url=http://apo.org.au/resource/royal-commission-human-relationships|website=Australian Policy Online|accessdate=20 December 2016|date=21 November 1977}} NSW Medical Tribunal (1999–2010), Expert Advisory Group on Drugs and Alcohol (1999–2007) and the NSW Mental Health Tribunal (2002–07).

Deveson wrote about her experiences with her son's illness and death in Tell Me I'm Here, which won the 1991 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for non-fiction writing,{{cite web|url=https://hrawards.humanrights.gov.au/1991-human-rights-medal-and-awards-winners|title=1991 Human Rights Medal and Awards Winners|date=31 January 2013|website=hrawards.humanrights.gov.au|accessdate=13 December 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.humanrights.gov.au/hr_awards/1991.html |title=1991 Human Rights Medal and Awards |publisher=Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission |accessdate=11 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927020613/http://www.humanrights.gov.au/hr_awards/1991.html |archivedate=27 September 2007 }} and then translated her work into the documentary film Spinning Out.{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20167770|title=Spinning out: a documentary special on schizophrenia|publisher=National Library of Australia|accessdate=13 December 2016}} Simon Champ, SANE Australia Ambassador featured in this documentary. His pioneering work with Anne Deveson to bring the experience of Schizophrenia to the mainstream arena of mental health services dates from this collaboration and his meeting with Anne Deveson at a public event in which he stood up out of the audience to give voice to the experience of Schizophrenia. This work has had the effect of reducing stigma in Australia regarding this mental health issue.

Her book Resilience was written after the sudden death of her partner, the English economist Robert Theobald, in 1999 and draws on her emotions and feelings.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmaust.com.au/programs/teachers_notes/8886ausbio_deveson.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050715144442/http://www.filmaust.com.au//programs/teachers_notes/8886ausbio_deveson.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 July 2005 |title=Australian Biography – Anne Deveson, Writer, Broadcaster and Filmmaker |publisher=A Film Australia National Interest Programme |accessdate=14 July 2007 }}

Deveson was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1983 for services to the media and an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1993 for her work in community health and for increasing the public awareness of schizophrenia.{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/872356|title=It's an Honour|publisher=Australian Government|accessdate=15 July 2007}}

In 1994, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of South Australia.{{cite web|url=http://www.unisa.edu.au/About-UniSA/Honorary-Doctorates/Past-award-winners|title=The University of South Australia – Past award winners|website=www.unisa.edu.au|accessdate=13 December 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://w3.unisa.edu.au/unicouncil/honorary_awards/citations/hon_doc/deveson_citation.pdf|title=Conferment of the Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University to Anne Deveson OA AM – Citation|website=University of South Australia|last1=Ramsay|first1=Eleanor|accessdate=13 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516121313/http://w3.unisa.edu.au/unicouncil/honorary_awards/citations/hon_doc/Deveson_citation.pdf|archive-date=16 May 2013|url-status=dead}}

Deveson was married to broadcaster [http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-294496474/findingaid Ellis Blain] for twenty years. The couple had three children: a daughter, the writer Georgia Blain (1964–2016), and two sons.{{cite web|title=Anne Deveson, writer and broadcaster, dies days after daughter, novelist Georgia Blain|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/13/anne-deveson-writer-and-broadcaster-dies-aged-86|website=The Guardian|accessdate=13 December 2016|date=12 December 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Nelson|first1=Camilla|title=Goodbye Georgia Blain: a brave and true chronicler of life|url=https://theconversation.com/goodbye-georgia-blain-a-brave-and-true-chronicler-of-life-70329|website=The Conversation|date=13 December 2016 |accessdate=13 December 2016}} Following Ellis Blain's death in 1979, she had a long-term relationship with economist Robert Theobald.[http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s1056085.htm Compass: Anne Deveson and Resilience - ABC TV], ABC News Online, 29 February 2004, accessed 14 December 2016.

Deveson was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2014. She died on 12 December 2016, three days after the death of her daughter Georgia Blain.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/13/anne-deveson-writer-and-broadcaster-dies-aged-86|title=Anne Deveson, writer and broadcaster, dies days after daughter, novelist Georgia Blain|author=Guardian Staff|newspaper=The Guardian|issn=0261-3077|access-date=14 December 2016}}

• Australians at Risk (Cassell, 1978){{Cite book|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1083244?lookfor=author:%22Deveson,%20Anne,%201930-2016%22&offset=1&max=17|title=Australians at risk|last=Deveson|first=Anne|date=1 January 1978|publisher=Cassell Australia|isbn=0726922110|location=Stanmore, N.S.W}}
• Tell Me I'm Here (Penguin, 1991) {{ISBN|0-14-017339-0}}{{Cite web|url=http://penguin.co.nz/books/tell-me-im-here-9780140272574|title=Tell Me I'm Here|website=penguin.co.nz|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220202417/http://penguin.co.nz/books/tell-me-im-here-9780140272574|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=dead}}
• Coming of Age: Twenty-one Interviews About Growing Older (Scribe Publications, 1994){{Cite book|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1968594|title=Coming of age: twenty-one interviews about growing older|last=Deveson|first=Anne|date=1 January 1994|publisher=Scribe Publications|isbn=0908011288|location=Newham, Vic}}
• Lines in the Sand (Penguin, 2000)
• Resilience (Allen & Unwin, 2003) {{ISBN|1-86448-634-1}}
• Waging Peace (Allen & Unwin, 2013) {{ISBN|978-1-74331-003-8}}

• Who Killed Jenny Langby? (South Australian Film Corporation, 1974, acted as herself), a docudrama written by Greg Barker and Donald Crombie (producer).{{cite web|title=Anne Deveson|publisher=IMDb Database|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1061452|accessdate=15 July 2007}}
• Do I Have to Kill My Child? (C.I.D. Productions, 1976, co-writer with Donald Crombie, producer)
• Achieving (Pilgrim International Films, 1979, writer) TV show produced by Betty Wood
• A Matter of Chance (1982 documentary series)
• Faces of Change (1982 documentary series)
• Spinning Out (Australian Film Commission, 1991, writer, director and producer){{cite web|title=Spinning Out |publisher=Australian Film Commission |url=http://www.afc.gov.au/filmsandawards/filmdbsearch.aspx?view=title&title=SPINNO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007062059/http://www.afc.gov.au/filmsandawards/filmdbsearch.aspx?view=title&title=SPINNO |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 October 2007 |accessdate=15 July 2007 }}
• [http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/compass/RN1611H033S00 Paper Trails episode], Compass (October 2017, Mental As Week, feature){{Cite news|url=http://junkee.com/paper-trails-anne-deveson-feminist/130700|title=This New ABC Doco Shows Just How Much We Forget About Our Local Feminist Icons|date=2017-10-13|work=Junkee|access-date=2017-10-16|language=en-US}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|title=Australian Biography – Anne Deveson, Writer, Broadcaster and Filmmaker|publisher=A Film Australia National Interest Programme|url=http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/deveson|accessdate=4 May 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519165814/http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/deveson|archivedate=19 May 2009|url-status=live}} – includes full transcript of an interview by Robin Hughes for the TV program in 2004
• {{cite news|title= Writers in Residence – Anne Deveson|publisher=The Age|url= http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/21/1061434988889.html?from=storyrhs|accessdate=14 July 2007|location=Melbourne|date=23 August 2003}}
• {{cite web|title=Beautifully Crafted: Resilience by Anne Deveson |publisher=Dotlit – The Online Journal of Creative Writing |url=http://www.dotlit.qut.edu.au/reviews/resilience.html |accessdate=14 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908102627/http://www.dotlit.qut.edu.au/reviews/resilience.html |archivedate=8 September 2007 }}
• {{IMDb name|id=1061452}}

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Category:1930 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:Australian expatriates in England

Category:Australian non-fiction writers

Category:Australian women writers

Category:Members of the Order of Australia

Category:Officers of the Order of Australia

Category:Western Sydney University alumni

Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Australia

Category:Writers from Western Australia

Category:Deaths from dementia in Australia

Category:Neurological disease deaths in New South Wales