Megan Machin
Mrs Megan Machin (1906 – 20 May 1994), born Eleanor Margaret Sharpe, was an Australian journalist, playwright and author.
She was a student of Sydney Girls' High School, passing her Intermediate Certificate in 1923.[1]
She became a journalist.
She was later a freelance writer, living in Castlecrag, Sydney.[2]
She was possibly married to Alfred Herman Machin (c. 1906 – 18 November 1999), lived at Bayview, New South Wales and died on 20 May 1994.[3]
In the 1940s at Marree, South Australia, while on a trip with "flying sister" Myra Blanch, she met 90-year-old cameleer Dervish Bejah. Bejah had assisted Larry Wells[a] on the Calvert expedition, while his son Jack was associated with Cecil Madigan's 1939 exploration of the Simpson Desert.[4] Her play Bejah Plants a Date Seed, based on conversations she had with the cameleer, was joint winner (with Vance Palmer)[5] of the Commonwealth Jubilee play-writing contest sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1951.[6] The script was collected by the ABC managing director, Charles Moses, and is held by the National Archives.[7]
The Australian Women's Weekly published several long articles by Machin.[8][9][10]
She died in 1994, leaving a collection of engravings by Fred Coventry[b] in her will to the Art Gallery of New South Wales (321.1998–331.1998).[12] [13]
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Misspelled "Weels" in many reviews of this radio play
- ↑ Frederick Halford Coventry (1905–1995) was a New Zealand artist who studied at the Julian Ashton school 1926–1929 before leaving for London. He was a friend of William Dobell; they briefly shared a flat in Bayswater, London. He is not to be confused with the Adelaide artist Fred Coventry (1913–1995).[11]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Intermediate". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 26, 848. New South Wales, Australia. 23 January 1924. p. 11. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Two Share Prize For Serial". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 548. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1951. p. 3. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Notice of intended distribution of estate". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 115. New South Wales, Australia. 9 September 1994. p. 5731. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Outback figures in radio serial". Weekly Times. No. 4315. Victoria, Australia. 5 March 1952. p. 37. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Awards for radio plays". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. XVI, no. 213. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1951. p. 10. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Afghan Camel Driver Hero of AR Serial". The Age. No. 30189. Victoria, Australia. 31 January 1952. p. 1 (Radio supplement). Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Item details for: SP1310/1, Machin Bejah Plants". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ "Versatile skipper paints in islands". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 18, no. 13. Australia, Australia. 2 September 1950. p. 36. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Boredom is foe of happiness". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 18, no. 14. Australia, Australia. 9 September 1950. p. 79. Retrieved 25 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Flynn of the Inland remembered". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 23. Australia, Australia. 26 October 1955. p. 19. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ Dr Gail Ross (2011). "Fred Coventry". DAAO. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
- ↑ Fred Coventry. "The barbaric property wall (circa 1929)" – via AGNSW.
- ↑ Fred Coventry. "and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore (circa 1929)" – via AGNSW.