June Duncan Owen is an Australian author. Her non-fiction book, ''Mixed Matches : Interracial Marriages in Australia'', published in 2002 by UNSW Press, is the first full-length study of Australian mixed marriages and identifies a significant demographic trend. By 2030 it is estimated that 75% of Australian families will have an interracial marriage in their own family or in their extended family. The book shows the impact of interracial marriage in Australian society, how society has changed, with the majority of Australians accepting mixed marriages when once they were not only rare but provoked hostility and even hate.
Owen, of Anglo-Scot background, has been married for over 45 years to a Malaysian man of Sinhalese and Indian parentage. At the time they were married such marriages in Australia "were considered unusual and even shameful".
Addressing
The Sydney Institute
The Sydney Institute is a privately funded Australian policy forum founded on the 23 of August, 1989. The institute took over the resources of the New South Wales division of the Institute of Public Affairs.
Columnist and writer Gerard Henderso ...
on Tuesday 27 August 2002, Owen reflected on tolerance and intolerance around Australian interracial marriages and towards the end of her speech noted that "many" of the mixed marriage interviewees in her 2002 book "expressed dismay at what they see as the fractionalisation of Australia". Owen stated that "increasing diversity must be factored in for any proposed plan for Australia’s future”.
Owen graduated from the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
with an MA in history and also has a diploma in social science from the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
. She has worked as a social worker in Adelaide and Singapore; as a teacher in South Australia and Victoria and has farmed in Tasmania.
Owen has been writing professionally for more than 20 years and has had five books published.
The cover illustration for Owen's ''Mixed Matches: Interracial Marriage in Australia'' is "Generations" by
Barbara Hanrahan
Barbara Janice Hanrahan (6 September 1939 – 1 December 1991) was an Australian artist, printmaker and writer whose work featured relationships, women, women's issues and Feminist movements and ideologies, feminist ideology. Hanrahan was also ...
1991.
Publications
Owen, June (1987)
''The Heart of the City: The first 125 Years of the Sydney City Mission'' Kangaroo Press: Kenthurst, NSW,
June Duncan Owen (1992)
''How to Write and Sell Articles'' Penguin: Ringwood, Victoria,
June Duncan Owen (2002)
''Mixed Matches: Interracial Marriage in Australia'' UNSW Press: Sydney,
June Duncan Owen (2004)
''The Missing Wife'' Indra Publishing: Briar Hill, Vic,
June Duncan Owen (2005)
''Worm in the Bud'' Indra Publishing: Briar Hill, Vic,
Awards
* 2005 Winner Biennial Book Awards - Fiction: ''The Missing Wife'' 2004 novel.
[June Owen, AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au), St Lucia: The University of Queensland, 2002-, etrieved 09/01/2018/ref>
* 2007 Winner Biennial Book Awards - Fiction: ''Worm in the Bud'' 2005 novel.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, June Duncan
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Australian women novelists
University of Adelaide alumni
University of Sydney alumni