Shirley Naomi Brown (née Probert) is an Australian author who has written extensively about the history of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

of Australia.

Early life

Brown grew up in Burwood in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. She wanted to be a dressmaker, but at aged 16 she contracted

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

, which affected her right hand, and meant that she had to find other work. She taught herself to type and got a job as a receptionist for a medical specialist in

Collins Street, Melbourne Collins Street is a major street in the Melbourne central business district, central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most ...

. She went on to work in office positions in advertising agencies and television in both Melbourne and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in office positions. After an eight-month touring holiday in South Africa, she returned to Sydney, where she met her future husband George Brown, a commercial artist, in 1959. George had visited Alice Springs in 1950, and in 1952 he set up an art centre business along with three friends selling their handcrafted items.

Life in the Northern Territory

Brown arrived in Alice Springs in 1961, here she worked as a volunteer for

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

and in the Alice Springs Hospital in many capacities. Following

Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...

, she was vice president of Red Cross, and she helped care for evacuees. She and George were married in Sydney in 1963, and returned to Alice Springs. They bought their first house in 1966 and were involved in several businesses together, including The Little Shop around 1979. In April 1987 Brown enrolled in a creative writing course at

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

in Alice Springs and so began her writing career. She wrote about Alice Springs and Central Australians and has had several books published. She was also a potter and had an interest in making pottery cats which she showed in two exhibitions of her work.

Recognition

In 1999, she won a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

NT Award for significant contribution to the understanding of the history of Alice Springs and Centralians. She was recognised for her contribution to the Northern Territory community winning a ‘Tribute to Northern Territory Women’ award in 2009. Brown was included in as part of ''Twenty Women: a Photographic Exhibition for International Day of People With Disabilities'', sponsored by Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Publications

* 1988 - Short historical pieces published in ''Colours of This Land'', a Bicentennial Anthology published by the Darwin Chapter of the Fellowship of Australian Writers. Other works followed in Scribes in the Centre, Scribes in the Centre 2 and Once Upon a Rock * 1991 - ''My Alice: a personal history of Alice Springs'' * 1993 - ''Alice Springs past and present'' with illustrations by George Scott Brown. * 1993 - ''NT Dictionary of Biography'' Vol 3. Shirley Brown wrote three articles: Hazel Golder Sr Eileen Heath and Bill Waudby. * 1998 - ''Chatting with Centralians: a recorded history of thirty Centralians'' * 2002 - ''Legends of the Red Heart'' * 2003 - ''Alec: A living history of the Alice Springs Telegraph Station'' * 2006 - ''Icons of the Territory''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Shirley 1934 births Living people Australian writers Australian women writers People from Alice Springs