Palmer, Helen Gwynneth (1917 - 1979)

The second daughter of Vance and Nettie (née Higgins) Palmer, Helen Palmer spent a year in London after being educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College (Melbourne) where she was dux in 1934. Returning to Melbourne she won a scholarship to the University of Melbourne and graduated with a BA and DipEd in 1939. She later obtained a B.Ed (1952). From 1940 until 1942 she was a teacher in Victorian State schools.

Helen Palmer enlisted in the Women's Australian Auxiliary Air Force on 18 February 1942 and during her service worked in the education division. After the war she worked with the Commonwealth Office of Education (Sydney). In 1948 she returned to Melbourne teaching in private schools.

She made several trips to China and in 1953 published her observations in An Australian Teacher in China. Through the bi-monthly publication Outlook (1957-1970), Helen Palmer provided a forum for vigorous discussion of all issues which were part of a radical critique of Australian politics and society.

The author (with Jessie MacLeod) of First Hundred Years (1954) and After the First Hundred Years (1961), she also authored books on Australian literature, popular culture and history. Helen Palmer was also a prominent poet and balladist and is remembered for 'The Ballard of 1891,' that describes the shearers' strike.

Helen Palmer died on 6 May 1979.

Related Corporate Bodies

• Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) (1941 - 1947)

  [1942 - 1946]

Books

• Palmer, Helen G. (Helen Gwynneth), 1917-1979, Beneath the Southern Cross, Cheshire, Melbourne, [1954]. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. (Helen Gwynneth), 1917-1979, Fencing Australia, Longmans, [Melbourne], [1961], 63 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. (Helen Gwynneth), 1917-1979, Banjo' Paterson, Longmans, [Croydon, Melbourne], [1966], 29 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. (Helen Gwynneth), 1917-1979, Our sugar, Longmans Green, London, 1949, 64 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. (Helen Gwynneth), 1917-1979, Helen Palmer's outlook, Helen Palmer Memorial Committee, Sydney, 1982, 220 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. and MacLeod, Jessie, After the first hundred years, Longmans, [Melbourne], [1961]. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. and MacLeod, Jessie, W.G. Spence and the rise of the trade unions, Longmans, [Melbourne], [1964], 56 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. and MacLeod, Jessie, The first hundred years, Longman, Croydon, Vic., 1954, 175 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. and MacLeod, Jessie, Makers of the first hundred years, Longmans Green, Melbourne, 1956, 151 pp. [ Details... ]
• Palmer, Helen G. and MacLeod, Jessie, The first two hundred years, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1981, 326 pp. [ Details... ]

Book Sections

• Gollan, Robin, 'Palmer, Helen Gwynneth (1917-1979)', in Richie, John (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 15, Melbourne University Press, Carlton South (Vic.), pp. 562-563. [ Details... ]
• Keene, Judith, 'Helen Palmer', in Radi, Heather (ed.), 200 Australian Women, Women's Redress Press Inc, Broadway (NSW), 1989, pp. 232-233. [ Details... ]

sound recordings

• Berg, Hazel de (interviewer), [Conversation with Helen Palmer], 17 December 1974. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

• Department of Veterans' Affairs, 'PALMER, HELEN GWYNNETH', in World War 2 Nominal Roll, 2002, http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&VeteranID=1070100. [ Details... ]

See also

• Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, 150 years, 150 stories : brief biographies of one hundred and fifty remarkable people associated with the University of Melbourne, Department of History, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2003, 168 pp. [ Details... ]
• Lake, Marilyn and Kelly, Farley (eds), Double Time: Women in Victoria - 150 Years, Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood (Vic.), 1985, 476 pp. [ Details... ]