Home Australian Women
Biographical entry

Home | Browse | Search | Previous | Next
Be a Australian Women Supporter

Cato, Nancy (1917 - 2000)

AM
Image of Cato, Nancy
Archival/Heritage ResourcesPublished Resources
Author, Journalist, Poet and Environmentalist
Born: 11 March 1917  Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.  Died: 3 July 2000  Noosa, Queensland, Australia.

Nancy Cato was an acclaimed author. She published several historical novels and biographies and two volumes of poetry. Cato was also a strong campaigner for environmental conservation.


Career Highlights
Schooled at the Presbyterian Ladies College, Nancy Cato began her professional writing career as a cadet journalist on the Adelaide News at age 18. Later an art critic for the same newspaper, she also became a freelance writer. In 1950 she edited the Jindyworobak Anthology.

Actively involved in the Fellowship of Australian Writers and the Australian Society of Authors during the 1950s and 1960s, Cato's books include Green grows the vine, Brown sugar and All the rivers run, which was made into a TV mini-series. She published other prose works in addition to two volumes of poetry, and contributed to Australian literary magazines. A major work was Mister Maloga, the story of Daniel Mathews and his Maloga Mission to Aboriginal people on the Murray River in Victoria.

Cato married Eldred Norman, and travelled extensively overseas with him; the pair had one daughter and two sons.

Nancy Cato strove for ultimate skill as a writer, and for protection of the Australian environment, particulary in the face of developers on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. She was awarded the Alice Award by the Society of Women Writers in 1988; the Advance Australia award for environmental campaigning; an Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Queensland; and was a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

 
Sources used to compile this entry: http://www.nla.gov.au/servlet/raam/retrieve?pn=12&el=F&db=current&rp=2&mr=1&ac=current&cid=575.
 
Published Resources

Newspaper Articles

  • 'Murray novel brought fame, fortune', Canberra Times, 7 July 2000, p. 13. [ Details... ]
  • 'Author shared pioneer spirit ......', Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 2000, p. 5. [ Details... ]
  • 'Author brought authentic voice to literature', Australian, 6 July 2000, p. 13. [ Details... ]
  • 'Lifelong affair with the river', Advertiser, 5 July 2000, p. 24. [ Details... ]
  • 'All the tributes flow for Noosa's literary icon', Courier mail, 5 July 2000, p. 12. [ Details... ]
  • 'Prize-winning author dies', Canberra Times, 5 July 2000, p. 8. [ Details... ]

Google
Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Clare Land
Created: 22 June 2001
Modified: 6 February 2008

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 6 May 2008
http://womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0104b.htm

[ Top of page | Australian Women Home | Browse | Search ]