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Nicholson, Joyce Thorpe (1919 - 2011)

AM

Born
1 June 1919
Northcote, Victoria, Australia
Died
2011
Occupation
Feminist, Author and Publisher
Alternative Names
  • Ace High (pseudonym)
  • Solo (pseudonym)
  • Thorpe, Joyce (maiden name)

Summary

Joyce Nicholson was born in Melbourne, the daughter of publisher D.W. Thorpe. She was educated at Methodist Ladies College before completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne, where she was vice-president of the Student Representative Council. She has been active in the women's movement, involved in early years with the Women's Electoral Lobby (W.E.L.) and Sisters Publishing Ltd. She was Managing Director, and later sole owner, of D.W. Thorpe Pty Ltd from 1968 until 1987, when the firm was sold. She is the author of over 25 books, many of them written for children, others dealing with women's issues.

Details

Events

1935 - 1946
Junior typist, secretary and sub-editor at D W Thorpe Pty Ltd (Melbourne)
1940
Vice-president of the Student Representative Council at the University of Melbourne
1943
Married George Harvey Nicholson (dec.1980), they had 4 children
1947 - 1968
Writer and part-time work at D W Thorpe Pty Ltd (Melbourne)
1957
Organizer of the first Children's Book Week in Victoria
1968 - 1980
Managing director and proprietor of D W Thorpe Pty Ltd (Melbourne), and editor, Australian Bookseller and Australian Books in Print
1971 - 1974
Editor of Newsletter for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria
1972 - 1983
Secretary and executive member of the Australian Library Promotion Council
1974
Founding member of the National Book Council
1979 - 1980
Co-founder and director of Sisters Publishing Ltd
1987 - 1992
Chief Executive Officer of Jayen Press
1993
Chief Executive Officer of Courtyard Press
1998
Recipient of the Lloyd O'Neil Award for services to the Book Industry

Sources used to compile this entry: De Micheli, Catherine and Herd, Margaret (eds), Who's who in Australia 2003, 39 edn, Crown Content, North Melbourne, 2003, 2201 pp; Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp.

Related entries

Membership

Archival resources

National Library of Australia

  • Pauses [motion picture].; National Library of Australia. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • D. W. Thorpe Pty Ltd, 1919 - 1971, 72/59; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • D. W. Thorpe Pty Ltd, 1919 - 1971, 73/62; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • D. W. Thorpe Pty Ltd, 1920s - 1981s, 103/23; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • D. W. Thorpe Pty Ltd, 1930 - 1970, 77/89; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 99/71; Nicholson, Joyce Thorpe (1919 - 2011); The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1973 - 1987, 99/35; Nicholson, Joyce Thorpe (1919 - 2011); The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Sisters Publishing Ltd, 1978 - 1987, 99/16; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • University of Melbourne Students Representative Council, 1939, 97/41; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, How to play auction bridge, G.W. Green & Sons, [Melbourne], [193-], 23 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, How to play solo : complete guide to solo (solo whist), auction solo, three-handed solo, hints on bidding and play, scoring, illustrated hands, with special chapter for beginners who have never played cards of any kind, Gordon and Gotch (Wholesale distributors), Melbourne, [1945?], 64 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, You can run a library, Australian Red Cross Society, [Melbourne?], 1948, 56 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, Our first overlander, Shakespeare Head Press, Sydney, 1956, 128 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, Kerri and Honey, Lansdowne, Melbourne, 1962, 32 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, A mortar-board for Priscilla, Children's Library Guild of Australia, Melbourne, 1963, 121 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, Why women lose at bridge, V. Gollancz in association with P. Crawley, London, 1985, 95 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919-, Man against mutiny : the story of Vice-Admiral Bligh, Lutterworth Press, London, c1961, 95 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- (compiled by ), Successful parties and social evenings, Gordon and Gotch [Distributor], Melbourne, [195-?], 64 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- and De Lisle, Gordon (photography by), Ringtail the possum, Lansdowne, [Melbourne], 1965, 32 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- and Leunig, Mary, 1950- (illustrated by), What society does to girls, Pitman (Australia),, Carlton, Vic., 1975, 70 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- and Max B. Miller (illustrations by), The little green tractor, Little Books Publishing House, Hawthorn,Vic, [1950]. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- and McArdle, Brian (photography by), Sir Charles and the lyrebird, Lansdowne, Melbourne, 1966. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- and Smith, L. H. (Leonard Hart), 1910- (photography by ), Woop the wombat, Lansdowne, [Melbourne], [1968], 32 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- and Smith, L. H. (Leonard Hart), 1910-, illus., Yap the penguin, Lansdowne, [Melbourne], 1967, 32 pp. Details
  • Nicholson, Joyce, 1919- and Thorpe, Daniel (Daniel Wrixon), 1889-1976., A life of books : the story of D.W. Thorpe Pty Ltd., 1921-1987, Courtyard Press, Middle Park, Vic., 2000, 326 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Gorman, Lyn, 'A life in books', Australian Library Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, 2000, pp. 374-376. Details

Theses

  • Nicholson, Joyce, ''The Women's Electoral Lobby and Women's Employment: Strategies and Outcomes', MA, Women's Studies, History, The University of Melbourne', MA thesis, The University of Melbourne, 1991, 118 pp. Details

Online Resources

See also

  • De Micheli, Catherine and Herd, Margaret (eds), Who's who in Australia 2003, 39 edn, Crown Content, North Melbourne, 2003, 2201 pp. Details
  • Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp. Details
  • Walker, Nick, 'A life of books : the story of D.W. Thorpe Pty Ltd., 1921-1987', Victorian Historical Journal, vol. 71, no. 2, 2000, pp. 129-131. Details

Anne Heywood

Created: 20 January 2004, Last modified: 23 November 2011

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