The life of Dorothea Mackellar with Deborah FitzGerald

Updated location: Mona Vale Memorial Hall

Discover the extraordinary literary life of Dorothea Mackellar, author of the celebrated poem ‘My Country’. 

Deborah FitzGerald has extensively researched and written the first definitive biography of Australian poet and writer Dorothea Mackellar, Her Sunburnt Country.

Though many Australians know lines from Dorothea Mackellar’s classic poem ‘My Country’ by heart, very little has been written about the poet’s extraordinary life. From her childhood and youth in Sydney’s Point Piper, to discovering her love for the Australian landscape on her brother’s farm in Gunnedah, Dorothea engaged with the intellectual elite of Sydney and abroad.

Dorothea's connection to the Northern Beaches is closely linked by her Summer house in Lovett Bay and subsequently our federal electorate named in her honour. 

Deborah will be in conversation with our Local Studies Officer.

Books will be available for purchase and signing on the night provided by Berkelouw Mona Vale.

$5.00 + booking fee

Non-alcoholic refreshments and nibbles on arrival.

Bookings required.

Enquiries: 8495 5028 or libraryprograms@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

Deborah FitzGerald graduated in 2022 with a Doctor of Arts from the University of Sydney after completing her thesis,In Search of Dorothea: A biography of Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar. During the course of the doctorate, she won the 2021 Dame Leonie Kramer Prize in Australian Poetry and the 2019 Thomas Henry Coulson Scholarship. FitzGerald is also a senior journalist, editor and writer who has worked across major
media organisations including the ABC, Channel Nine and News Corp. Her first book, Sophie’s Boys, was published in 2018.