The Blackburns: Private lives, public ambitions

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When socialist barrister and aspiring member of parliament Maurice Blackburn met Doris Hordern, ardent feminist and campaign secretary to Vida Goldstein, neither had marriage in their imagined futures. But they fell in love-with each other as much as with their individual aspirations to change the world for the better. Theirs would be an exacting partnership as they held one another to the highest ideals. They worked as elected members of parliaments and community activists, influencing conscription laws, benefits for working men and women, atomic bomb tests, civil rights and Indigenous recognition. Together, they shook Australia.

Author Bio

Carolyn Rasmussen completed post-graduate studies in labour history and the peace movement at the University of Melbourne, where she is currently an Honorary Senior Fellow. Her work as a public historian since 1985 has ranged over the history of Victorian public institutions, the history of science and technology, education history, the involvement of women in all of the above, and biography. Her publications include Poor Man's University- Seventy Five Years of Technical Education in Footscray; The Lesser Evil Opposition to War and Fascism in Australia 1920-1941; A Place Apart, The University of Melbourne- Decades of Challenge (with John Poynter), Increasing Momentum- Engineering at the University of Melbourne 1861-2004; 'A Whole New World' 100 years of Education at University High School; Double Helix and Double Joy- David Danks the Father of Clinical Genetics in Australia. She is currently completing ta joint biography of the progressive politicians Maurice and Doris Blackburn with the aid of an Australia Council Literatire Board grant.