Immersia 2024: Unveiling Australia’s Hidden Histories: Monte Punshon’s Secretive Century

Gender and Sexuality in Immersia: A trio of public book launches by CHL women authors

In collaboration with the ANU Gender Institute 

Dubbed the “world’s oldest lesbian”, Ethel May (Monte) Punshon (8 November 1882 – 4 April 1989) was a firebrand of her times. She lived in a society where appearances mattered and keeping them up often involved creating silence around ancestral origins, painful memories, and personal desires. Yet, despite growing up in a secretive century, she refused to be labelled.

In a life that spanned more than a century, Monte Punshon witnessed crucial events in Australia's history, and her story shines a light on the hidden corners and complexities of late nineteenth- and twentieth-century society. And it is only fitting that the story of this remarkable woman has been imaginatively narrated in a biography penned by another extraordinary woman: Emerita Professor Teresa Morris-Suzuki.

Join us to celebrate the launch of Tessa’s latest book, A Secretive Century: Monte Punshon's Australia, hear the historian’s vision as she shares her experience of penning this biography and a reading of an excerpt from the book. Gracing us on the occasion for a dialogue is Dr Keiko Tamura, a Japanese-born anthropologist whose research focuses on Australia-Japan relations, and Emerita Professor Margaret Jolly, who writes on gender and sexuality in Oceania.

Registration is recommended for the purposes of catering management.

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