VARUNA PEOPLE: THE DARK FAMILY, OUR STAFF, BOARD & ASSOCIATES
Varuna, the Writers' House depends upon the generosity and hard work of many people:
Eleanor Dark was one of Australia's finest writers of the 20th Century, and Varuna owes its existence today to Eleanor, her husband Dr Eric Dark and their family.
Eleanor was born in 1901 in Sydney, Australia. She was the second of three children born to the poet, writer and parliamentarian, Dowell Philip O’Reilly and his wife, Eleanor McCulloch O'Reilly. On finishing school and unable to enter university, having failed mathematics, Eleanor learnt typing and took a secretarial job.
In 1922 she married Dr Eric Payten Dark, and in January, 1923 the couple moved to Katoomba, where Eleanor wrote eight of her 10 novels, as well as short stories and articles.
Her best known novel was the bestselling The Timeless Land (1941), the first part of a trilogy, with Storm of Time (1948) and No Barrier (1953).
"There is no doubt that Eleanor Dark (1901-1985) is an important figure in Australian literary history. She published 10 novels, of which one, 'The Timeless Land' became a best seller in Australia and the USA and was later made into a popular television series. Her work was translated into European and Scandinavian languages; she won literary prizes, including the Alice Award from the Society of Women Writers; and in 1977 she was awarded the Order of Australia. Eleanor's novels were popular, sometimes controversial and experimental, and they reflected Australian history and culture in a way which was unusual for the time at which they were published (1932-1959). In articles and broadcasts, she also voiced strong opinions on social justice, education and women's issues" - Ann Skea
For Barbara Brooks' excellent introductory essay on Eleanor Dark, click here.
For a short article on Eleanor and Eric Dark and their life in Katoomba, click here.
For the Wikipedia entry on Eleanor, click here.
Barbara Brooks and Judith Clark's biography, Eleanor Dark, A Writer's Life, is published by Pan Macmillan and copies are available for $30 (including postage) – contact Varuna.
Dr Eric Payten Dark (1889-1987), Eleanor’s husband, was a general practitioner who wrote books, articles and pamphlets on politics and medicine.
Eric Dark was born in Mittagong, New South Wales and qualified as a medical practitioner at Sydney University in 1914, qualifying a year early because of the war. He was among the first hundred Australian doctors who sailed to England to join the Royal Army Medical Corps. Dr Dark, who was recommended for the Military Cross after the battle of the Somme, was eventually awarded the Military Cross for his service at Passchendaele.
Dr Dark later became an active member of the Labor left in NSW, was involved in contemporary political debate and was a committed socialist, although, contrary to local rumour, was never a member of the Communist Party. His books include The World Against Russia and Who are the Reds.
More information about Dr Eric Dark's military memoirs can be found here.
Michael Dark is the son of Eleanor and Dr Eric Dark, and it was he who decided that Varuna, their family home, should become a gift to Australian literature in memory of his parents. Mick spent his childhood and youth living at Varuna. After the death of his parents, for environmental and personal reasons he did not want to sell Varuna but had no clear ideas for its future. In November 1987 he eagerly responded to a suggestion that it could become a writers' centre.
In 1989 the Eleanor Dark Foundation was formed and Mick gave the property to the Foundation. Like his parents before him, Mick is a committed environmentalist.
In the 60s and 70s he was a member of the Colong Committee (now Colong Foundation for Wilderness). He is past President of the Lower and of the Upper Blue Mountains Conservation Societies, now combined as Blue Mountains Conservation Society, of which he is an Honorary Life member. He is also a member of Greenpeace and the Australian Conservation Foundation.
He is the Life President of the Varuna Board, taking an active role in the continuing life of Varuna, the Writers' House.
Peter Bishop, Creative Director
Peter Bishop was born in Edinburgh, Scotland (coincidentally, Hawthorndene, a castle in Scotland, provided the model for Varuna).
In 1959, Peter's family immigrated to Australia after his father was offered the post of the foundation professor of the classics in Armidale, NSW. Peter worked as a piano player and feature writer for the ABC. Peter and his wife Libby and children moved to the Blue Mountains in 1982.
In 1993 Peter succeeded Rhonda Flottman as executive director of Varuna, and has been working intensively with writers since then. Peter works full time but is often away from the office, travelling interstate for the LongLines and other programs. CONTACT:
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Tessa Hockly, Executive Director
Tessa has a PhD in Literature, and 10 years' experience managing community-based services. For the last two years she has worked as a consultant for Varuna, developing Varuna's business plan, working as News Editor for the Alumni website, and collaborating with Madeleine Dignam, her predecessor, to deliver the Varuna-Sydney Writer's Festival. "It is a privilege for me to engage my skills in the service of writers at Varuna, and a joy to enable the Varuna-SWF festival, bringing new writing to appreciative readers," she says. Tessa is in the Varuna office Monday to Wednesday.
CONTACT:
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Vera Costello, Office & Residency Co-ordinator
Vera is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Varuna office, looking after residencies, phone and email inquiries, processing applications for Varuna programs, and meeting and greeting writers as they arrive. A former language teacher, Vera has lived in Katoomba for 19 years and started at Varuna as housekeeper before being offered a role in the office. She is at the Varuna office Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
CONTACT:
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Sheila Atkinson
Sheila's many professional lives have included being a makeup artist for television, an organiser of arts festivals and a restaurateur. While running her restaurant in Katoomba many years ago, she was asked to cater for meals for Varuna guests. For two years she did both jobs, eventually selling her restaurant because she loved the Varuna job more. She quickly became Varuna’s chef extraordinaire and has become legendary in Australia’s writing community for her wonderful meals for Varuna guests.
Rod Dark
Rod Dark, grandson of Eleanor and Eric Dark, looks after the grounds of Varuna.
Kathy Dobson
Kathy does Varuna’s bookkeeping, as well as being a swimming coach and running a business with her husband. She is in the office on Fridays only.
Joan Okey
Joan cleans and prepares the house on Mondays.
Gillian Appleton - Chair
Gil has worked in various capacities for most major agencies in film, broadcasting and cultural policy, including the ABC, the Australia Council and the Australian Film, Radio and TV School. She was chair of the NSW State Arts Advisory Council (1999-2003) and is currently on the boards of Penrith Performing and Visual Arts as well as Varuna, the Writers' House. She has published one non-fiction book, Diamond Cuts, a memoir of her late husband Jim McClelland. She was chair of judges for the 2009 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.
Mick Dark - Life President
Mick Dark is the son of Eleanor and Eric Dark. He spent his childhood and youth living at Varuna. After the death of his parents (Eleanor in 1985, and Eric in 1987), for environmental and personal reasons he did not want to sell Varuna but had no clear ideas for its future. In November 1987 he eagerly responded to a suggestion that it could become a writers' centre. In 1989 the Eleanor Dark Foundation was formed and Mick gave the property to the Foundation.
Mick is a committed environmentalist as were his parents. In the 60s and 70s he was a member of the Colong Committee (now Colong Foundation for Wilderness). He is past President of the Lower and of the Upper Blue Mountains Conservation Societies, now combined as Blue Mountains Conservation Society, of which he is an Honorary Life member. He is also a member of Greenpeace and the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Tracey Meredith-Marx
Tracey has worked for the past 20 years in private practice and in business as a solicitor specialising in broadcasting and intellectual law. Prior to undertaking a graduate law program, she worked in media and advertising. While acting for media clients, she developed a particular interest in copyright and the development of Australian law relating to copyright.
Carolyn Swindell
Carolyn is the Varuna Alumni representative on the Board. She works as Reputation Manager for Vodafone Australia and sits on the Board of the Vodafone Australia Foundation. Prior to this, she worked with corporate/community partnerships on both sides of the fence since 2000. She is completing her first work of popular long fiction. NZ-born, Queensland-raised and now resident in Sydney, she is a passionate fan of all ball sports except soccer.
Gregg Borschmann
Gregg is a writer, radio producer & oral historian.He is the producer of ABC Radio National Breakfast, producer/presenter of the ABC Songlines Conversations and director of Talking Country - Australian Stories of People & Place.
Katharine Brisbane, AM
Katharine was co-founder in 1971 of Currency Press, the performing arts publishers, and founder in 2001 of Currency House Inc. a non-profit association to assert the value of the performing arts in public life. She was a theatre critic for 21 years, notably national critic of the Australian 1967-74 during a time of radical change; and has written widely on the history of Australian theatre.
Irene Stevens
Irene has worked as an arts administrator since 1974 when she was employed by the Australia Council in the Community Arts Section. She transferred to the Literature Board in 1976, where she worked for 20 years, ultimately becoming acting director and manager. In recent years, Irene has been employed part-time by the NSW Ministry of the Arts to assist with its literature and history program, as well as the NSW Premier's Literary and History Awards. Irene was awarded the Public Service Medal in 1997 for her contribution to Australian literature.
Dr Jeff Bateson
Jeff has held a variety of senior executive positions in government, banking and general management including: Finance Director for Innogy plc in London, a FTSE-100 integrated energy utility; General Manager with China Light & Power Group in Hong Kong; director in investment banking with Natwest markets in Sydney, and Chief Economist of the NSW Treasury. He has an Honours BSc in Physics, an ME in Nuclear Engineering and a PhD in Finance and Economics. Jeff is on the board of several start-up companies and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Catherine Cole
Catherine Cole is a professor of creative writing at RMIT University in Melbourne. She supervises post graduate writing students at RMIT and the University of Technology in Sydney and manages a range of research projects with a focus on Australian and international writers and writing. Catherine has delivered international and Australian conference papers on writing and literary studies. She has published three novels Dry Dock, Skin Deep and The Grave at Thu Le, and the non-fiction books, The Poet who Forgot about Becoming a Writer, after being mentored by the Australian poet A D Hope, and Private Dicks and Feisty Chicks: An Interrogation of Crime Fiction. She is currently co-editing the book Fashion in Fiction for Berg Press, UK with fellow academics Professor Peter McNeil and Dr Vicki Karaminas and editing an anthology of writing about Vietnam for UWA Press. She is also completing the novel The Sleepwalkers.
Jill Kitson
Radio National program-maker Jill Kitson joined the ABC in 1982 after a career in publishing and tertiary teaching in Australia, England and New Zealand. She retired in 2006. For five years, she produced a daily current affairs program; over the next two decades, she presented and produced various book programs and, from 1998, the language program, Lingua Franca. For seven years, she was one of the judges of the Miles Franklin Award, for three years, a judge of the Vogel-Australian Award; she also chaired the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for three years.
ASSOCIATES OF VARUNA, THE WRITERS' HOUSE
Helen Barnes-Bulley
Novelist, teacher and award-winning radio playwright, Helen is the convenor of the Varuna Blue Mountains Community Program Writers' and Readers' Day. Helen is a graduate of Sydney University and of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where she studied Writing for Performance. For many years she wrote radio drama for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and was the recipient of an Australian Writers' Guild Award, and of the Bicentennial Literary Award for Radio Drama. She has had many pieces of short fiction published in literary journals and magazines, and has been working for some time on the manuscript of a novel. She has conducted writing classes at schools, universities and at Varuna, and currently teaches adult students in a university entrance course at TAFE. She has also worked for some years as a literary assessor and editor.
Carol Major
Holds a Doctorate of Arts Degree in creative writing from the University of Technology in Sydney and is the recipient of an Australian Post Graduate Award. She has taught creative writing at undergraduate and post graduate university levels and to the wider community through the Sydney Community College. Her creative works have appeared in Australian and Canadian literary journals and anthologies.
Deb Westbury
Deb has been a familiar and respected voice in Australian poetry since her work was first published in 1975. She has been developing a dual career as a writer and teacher, with an undergraduate degree in teaching and a Master of Creative Arts degree in writing. She teaches courses in creative writing at university and for various community groups and high schools throughout the state. Deb has also run many workshops at Varuna over the years. Since her first collection of poetry, Mouth to Mouth, was published in 1990 Deb has written Our Houses are Full of Smoke (Angus and Robertson, 1994), Surface Tension (Five Islands Press, 1998) and, most recently, Flying Blind (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2002), for which she was awarded a two-year grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council to complete.
Charlotte Wood
Charlotte has been associated with Varuna since 1996 when she first came for a weekend as a paying guest. After that she had the luck of two mentorships and then a fellowship for her second book. She has also been a mentor at Varuna and consulted on some manuscripts - and made some of her closest friendships through the Varuna network. She is the editor and manager of the Varuna Alumni Website. Her novels are The Children (2007), The Submerged Cathedral (2004) and Pieces of a Girl (1999).