Christine Townend

Townend was born in Melbourne on 20 July 1944.{{cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A33892|title=Christine Townend|publisher=AustLit}}[https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/special-collections/guide-papers-christine-townend-mss-304 "Guide to the Papers of Christine Townend"]. austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 24 January 2023. She grew up in Sydney's lower North Shore. Townend had her first novel published by Macmillan in 1974. It was described as a precursor to Australian feminist literature and has recently been republished on-line by Macmillan Memento.{{cite web|url=http://www.kosmosjournal.org/contributor/christine-townend/|title=Christine Townend | Kosmos Journal}} She then received a 6-month fellowship from the Australian Council for the Arts.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46079716 |title=Author: unknown, but showing promise |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=42 |issue=25 |location=Australia |date=20 November 1974 |accessdate=1 June 2017 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1975 Townend journeyed to India, returning with a commitment to animal rights. She founded Animal Liberation in 1976, having been influenced by Peter Singer's eponymous book; she and Singer co-founded Animals Australia (as the Australian Federation of Animal Societies) in 1980. She joined the Australian Democrats, running for election under their banner four times before joining Milo Dunphy on an "Environment Group" ticket in 1988.{{cite web|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE2027b.htm|title=Townend, Christine Elizabeth|work=Australian Women's Register|last=Alafaci|first=Annette|date=6 February 2006|language=en-gb|access-date=2017-06-01}} At the time she was Secretary of the Australian and New Zealand Federation of Animal Societies, a member of the NSW Animal Welfare Advisory Council and the CSIRO Advisory Committee on the Ethics of Animals in Research. In 1990 she moved to India to run an animal shelter, Help in Suffering in Jaipur, which she managed until 2007.{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/profile-christine-townend-20101019-16ryn.html|title=Profile: Christine Townend|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=20 October 2010|last=Schmidt|first=Lucinda}} Whilst living at the shelter in Jaipur, she founded two other animal shelters in Kalimpong and Darjeeling.

Townend is also an artist. She has held five solo art exhibitions. She has used her art as a means of drawing attention to the needs and interests of animals.{{cite web|url=http://www.animalstories.com.au/|title=Animal Stories|access-date=2014-09-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218144556/http://animalstories.com.au/|archive-date=2014-12-18|url-status=dead}}

She founded Working for Animals Inc, an Australian NGO with the purpose of raising funds for animal shelters in India.{{cite web|url=http://www.workingforanimals.org.au/|title=Working for Animals}}

In 2017 Townend was appointed Director and Chair of the Animals Australia Board.Animals Australia Annual Information Statement 2017 and 2018 Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission In January 2019 Townend was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for 'service to animal welfare'.Australia Day 2019 Honours List https://www.gg.gov.au/australia-day-2019-honours-list {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125183347/https://www.gg.gov.au/australia-day-2019-honours-list |date=2019-01-25 }} Medal of the Order of Australia General Division

She has authored books on animal rights, including In Defence of Living Things (1979), A Voice for the Animals (1981) and Pulling the Wool: A New Look at the Australian Wool Industry (1986), and fiction, from her first book, The Beginning of Everything and the End of Everything Else (1974), to more recent explorations of Indian spirituality such as The Hidden Master (2002) and The Teaching of Vimala Thakar (2010).{{cite web|url=http://www.animalsaustralia.org/media/press_releases.php?release=2|title=Animals also a part of the "Peoplescape" honours|date=23 November 2001|publisher=Animals Australia}} In 2007 her biography Christine’s Ark, written by journalist John Little was published by Macmillan.{{cite web|url=http://janeelix.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/christine-townend/|title=Christine Townend | Jane Elix's blog|date=2011-06-21}} Moti, An Indian Elephant was published in India in 2014. Townend holds a Doctorate in poetry from the University of Sydney. Her poetry collection, Walking with Elephants was published by Island Press in July 2015. Her memoir, A Life for Animals, was published by Sydney University Press in 2017, with a foreword by Peter Singer.{{Cite book|title=A Life for Animals|last=Christine|first=Townend|isbn=9781743325339|location=The University Of Sydney, N.S.W.|oclc=984737163|date = 2017-06-02}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Australian Women and Leadership|WLE0076b|Townend, Christine}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20181004103903/http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/sydneypublishing/2017/06/q_and_a_with_christine_townend.html Interview with Christine Townend] on the Sydney Publishing blog

{{Animal rights|state=uncollapsed|advocates}}

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Category:1944 births

Category:Living people

Category:Australian animal rights activists

Category:Australian writers

Category:Keepers of animal sanctuaries

Category:University of Sydney alumni