Aronson, Zara Baar (1864 - 1944)

Zara Aronson, née Baar, distinguished herself through her journalism, feminism and charitable work in Sydney and Perth, after having spent her early life in Europe. She returned to Sydney in 1879 to complete her education. After her marriage to Frederick Aronson, a merchant, in October 1882, she launched into her charitable work and served on the committees of the Sydney Industrial Blind Institution and the Thirlmere and the Queen Victoria homes for consumptives. As an active feminist from the 1890s, she was an original member of the Women's Literary Society and a founding member of the National Council of Women in 1896. She contributed to a range of journals and newspapers throughout her life, which included Australian Town and Country Journal, The Sydney Mail, and The Sydney Morning Herald, and wrote a cookery book, the proceeds of which she donated to the Junior Red Cross in New South Wales. She was an original member of the executive committee of the New South Wales Division of the British Red Cross Society in 1914 and organised and ran the depot which distributed more than a million books and magazines during World War I. She maintained her feminist interests when she became foundation secretary of the Women Writers of New South Wales in 1925, assuming the presidency in 1930. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 23 June 1936 for her services to the Red Cross Society.

• Baar, Zara (maiden name)

Founding member of

• National Council of Women of New South Wales (1896 - )

Books

• Aronson, Zara Baar, The Mary Elizabeth cook book : over 900 recipes ( many new ) for all homes, George Philip & Son, Sydney, 1927?, 212 pp. [ Details... ]

Book Sections

• Rutledge, Martha, 'Aronson, Zara (1864-1944), journalist and charity worker', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, 1979, pp. 101-02. [ Details... ]