Ann Howard (author)

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Ann Howard
Born1942 (age 81–82)
London, England
NationalityAustralian
Subject
  • Australian wartime history
  • Dangar Island history
Notable works
  • You'll Be Sorry!
  • A Carefree War
  • C'mon Over
  • Rainbow River

Ann Howard (born 1942)[1] is an Australian author and historian.[2] She has written books on the history of the Australian Women's Army Service, including You'll Be Sorry! How World War II Changed Women's Lives.[3][4] Her more recent books include A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees, which she wrote after interviewing more than 100 Australians about their experiences.[5] A resident of Dangar Island on the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales,[6][7] for nearly 50 years, Howard has also authored four books on the island's history.[8]

Early life in England[edit]

Howard was born in London in 1942.[1][9] During World War II, she was evacuated with her mother to Eastbourne on the coast of Sussex, where her family remained after the war.[10] She received a scholarship to Goldsmiths, University of London, intending to become a painter.[1]

Life in Australia[edit]

Howard moved to Brisbane, Australia, with her husband and their two young children in the 1970s.[1] After he died unexpectedly, she bought a run-down property on Dangar Island, just north of Sydney.[1] Called The Pavilion, it was the last remaining part of the homestead of politician Henry Cary Dangar,[8] built in 1889.[11] Howard completed two masters degrees while working as a teacher, raising her three sons, and gradually restoring the heritage home.[8]

Regarding her work as a historian, Howard has stated, "I like grassroots history; I don’t like history that is politicised. I like to hear people's voices and try to provide a platform for people's voices. So I'm always listening for stories."[1]

Major works and critical reception[edit]

You'll Be Sorry![edit]

Howard's You'll Be Sorry: How World War II Changed Women's Lives (2016) is based largely on extracts from interviews, letters, and other recollections of 150 Australian women who served in the wartime auxiliary services, focusing on their experiences in assisting the military and their return to often "duller or frustrating lives" afterwards.[3][12] The women worked as clerks, cryptographers, transport drivers, despatch riders, and at coastal artillery installations.[4]

The 2016 edition published by BigSky Publishing is an augmented version of two volumes Howard originally published in 1990,[4] including You'll Be Sorry! and Where Do We Go From Here?[12] In 2017, You'll Be Sorry was shortlisted for the Society of Women Writers' non-fiction history prize.[13]

C'mon Over[edit]

Her book, C'mon Over: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney (2002), examined the lives of children who were sent from England to Australia under a child welfare scheme started by Dr Thomas Barnardo.[2]

In 2003, a review in The Journal of Australian Studies commended the way that Howard "skilfully outlines the precarious act faced by policy makers" in C'mon Over: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney.[2] Noting that Howard, like Barnardo, "[eschews] statistics in favour of personal vignettes and concrete details" about the child migrants' experiences, the review stated that the "main complaint is simply that too little of each story is told", while acknowledging "the need to compress what is surely a staggering amount of research".[2]

A Carefree War[edit]

For A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees (2018), Howard interviewed more than 100 Australians about their wartime experiences as children who were sent inland for their protection.[10] A 2018 review in Agora said that A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees "succeeds in painting a picture of this darkest and most perilous year", 1942, when it appeared a Japanese invasion of Australia was imminent.[5] A review in The Australian called it a "scrupulously researched and usefully indexed book".[10]

Dangar Tales[edit]

In addition, Howard has written four books on the history of Dangar Island,[8] including details about its social history.[14] The Bush Telegraph Weekly said that Rainbow on the River and Other Dangar Tales "sheds light on previously unknown history of Dangar Island with many marvellous river tales."[15] Environmental historian Paul Boon noted that "[Howard's] books collate an amusing collection of anecdotes and snippets of local history."[14]

Selected bibliography[edit]

Non-fiction historical[edit]

  • A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees[5]
  • You'll Be Sorry! How World War II Changed Women's Lives[3][16][17]
  • Where Do We Go From Here? Compelling Postwar Experiences of Australian Ex-Servicewomen, 1945–1948[16][8]
  • C'mon Over: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney, 1921 to 1965[2]
  • After Barnardo: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney, 1921 to 1965, with Eric Leonard[18][19]
  • Women in Australia[20]

Books on Dangar Island[edit]

  • Rainbow on the River & Other Dangar Tales[21][15]
  • Derrymacash to Dangar[15]
  • Ten Dry Pies & Other Dangar Tales[22]
  • A Ghost, a Murder & Other Dangar Tales[22]

Books for children[edit]

  • The Cattle Drovers (The Making of Australia)[23]
  • Coaches, Riverboats, and Railways (The Making of Australia)[23]

Short works[edit]

  • "The Old Country" in Haunted Encounters: Ghost Stories from Around the World[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Ann Howard". Pittwater Online News. No. 230. 6–12 September 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Lowe, Iris (2003). "[Book Review] C'mon Over: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney, 1921 to 1965". Journal of Australian Studies. 27 (79): 202–204. doi:10.1080/14443050309387903. S2CID 216134649 – via Taylor & Francis Online. This work by established author and historian Ann Howard...
  3. ^ a b c Murray, Robert (December 2016). "[Review] You'll Be Sorry by Ann Howard". Quadrant. Vol. 60, no. 12. pp. 72–73. Retrieved 26 November 2022 – via EBSCOHost.
  4. ^ a b c "You'll be Sorry! How World War II changed women's lives by Ann Howard – Book Review". Military History & Heritage Victoria. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b c "[Review] A Carefree War: The Hidden History of Australian WWII Child Evacuees, Ann Howard". Agora. 1 June 2018. pp. 73–74. Retrieved 26 November 2022 – via EBSCOHost.
  6. ^ "Author reveals hidden history of evacuees". Hornsby and Upper North Shore Advocate. Manley, New South Wales. 30 July 2015. p. 5. ProQuest 1699535658. Retrieved 26 November 2022 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^ Mercer, Phil (19 April 2012). "A wild river valley outside of Sydney". BBC Travel. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d e Jarratt, Suzy (Spring 2022). "Meet Ann Howard of Dangar Island". COAST magazine. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  9. ^ a b Bivona, Ginnie Siena; Whitington, Mitchel; McConachie, Dorothy, eds. (2004). Haunted Encounters: Ghost stories from Around the World. Dallas, Texas: Atriad Press. p. 243. ISBN 9780974039411.
  10. ^ a b c Fitzgerald, Ross (14 November 2015). "The kids compelled to go bush for safety's sake". The Australian. Retrieved 26 November 2022 – via Gale OneFile.
  11. ^ Howard, Ann (18–24 November 2012). "MV Reliance". Pittwater Online News. No. 85. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  12. ^ a b Howard, Ann (2016). You'll be Sorry! How World War II Changed Women's Lives. Simon and Schuster. p. 9. ISBN 9781925275841.
  13. ^ Bennett, Amanda Julie (2017). Peace Works! Moving Beyond 1915 Remembrance (PDF). Peace Works! - ACT Region. ISBN 9780646969855. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  14. ^ a b Boon, Paul (2017). The Hawkesbury River: A Social and Natural History. CSIRO Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 9780643107601.
  15. ^ a b c "[Review] Rainbow on the River...and Other Dangar Tales". The Bush Telegraph Weekly. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  16. ^ a b Bomford, Janette M. (2001). Soldiers of the Queen: Women in the Australian Army. South Melbourne and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN 9780195514070.
  17. ^ "Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS)". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  18. ^ Harper, Marjory; Constantine, Stephan (2011). Migration and Empire. Oxford Academic. pp. 247–276. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199250936.003.0009.
  19. ^ Carty, Lisa (19 February 2000). "Family centre 'milestone'; New chapter added to Barnardos story". Illawarra Mercury. ProQuest 364410336. Retrieved 26 November 2022 – via ProQuest.
  20. ^ Pfisterer, Susan (1998). Playing with Ideas: Australian Women Playwrights from the Suffragettes to the Sixties. Sydney: Currency Press. p. 126. ISBN 0868195650.
  21. ^ Facer, Beth (March 2013). "Rainbow on the River" (PDF). Ku-ring-gai Historical Society Newsletter. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  22. ^ a b "Ann Howard: Rainbow on the River". Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  23. ^ a b Landsbergs, Michele, ed. (1994). Australian National Bibliography: Annual Cumulation, 1993. International Publication Service. pp. 342, 715. ISBN 9780800238438.
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