Blanche d'Alpuget
Encyclopedia
Josephine Blanche d'Alpuget (born 3 January 1944) is an Australian writer, and second wife of the longest-serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister, Bob Hawke
.
d'Alpuget attended SCEGGS (Darlinghurst) and briefly Sydney University, before running away from home following a fight with her father.
She worked at The Sun's rival newspaper, The Daily Mirror, then moved to Indonesia
at the age of 22 with her first husband, Tony Pratt, whom she had married in 1965. She and Pratt have a son, Louis, an artist and award-winning sculptor, co-founder of the Sydney artists' colony, Mungo. While in Indonesia
d'Alpuget worked in the Australian embassy's news and information bureau; later she was a volunteer worker in the Jakarta Central Museum, leading a team that re-catalogued the oriental ceramic collection of Chinese export ware. She was the world's youngest member of the famous, English-founded Oriental Ceramic Society. After spending four years in Indonesia
d'Alpuget lived for a year in Malaysia. She travelled widely, and to remote areas, in both countries.
In 1973 she returned to Australia and became active in the women's movement. She began writing in 1974, inspired by her experiences in South East Asia. She has won a number of literary awards for both fiction and non-fiction, including, in 1987, the prestigious inaugural Australasian Prize for Commonwealth Literature.
She first met Bob Hawke
in Jakarta
, in 1970. They met again in 1976 when d'Alpuget interviewed him for a biography she was writing on Sir Richard Kirby
. This meeting led to a long, sporadic love affair that culminated in their marriage in 1995. d'Alpuget and Pratt had divorced in 1986.
In 1995 she joined the board of Robert J Hawke & Associates, a business consultancy primarily focussed on China. For fifteen years d'Alpuget abandoned her career as a writer and traveled the world with her new husband, visiting not only capital cities but remote areas of China
, Inner Mongolia
, Moldova
, Easter Island
, Palau
, Kazakhstan
, the North West Frontier of Pakistan
and the Antarctic peninsular. She returned to writing in 2008.
Her works include:
Her essays, Lust, that dealt with paedophilia, and On Longing, caused controversy.
Turtle Beach
was made into a feature film in 1989 featuring Greta Scacchi and Jack Thompson.
All d'Alpuget's novels have been translated into other languages.
Asher Keddie played her in the 2010 multi-award winning telemovie, Hawke.
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
.
Biography
d'Alpuget is the only child of Josephine Curgenven and Louis Albert Poincare d'Alpuget (1915 - 2006), journalist, author, blue water yachtsman and champion boxer. Her great-aunt, Blanche d'Alpuget, after whom she was named, was a pioneer woman journalist in Sydney and a patron of artists. Her father was a sports and feature writer and also news editor of the Sydney newspaper, The Sun. He was well known for his ferocious temper. The left-wing journalist and activist, John Pilger, recorded in a memoir that as a young reporter d'Alpuget, dissatisfied with a story Pilger had written, shouted at him with such vehemence Pilger fell to the floor in a faint.d'Alpuget attended SCEGGS (Darlinghurst) and briefly Sydney University, before running away from home following a fight with her father.
She worked at The Sun's rival newspaper, The Daily Mirror, then moved to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
at the age of 22 with her first husband, Tony Pratt, whom she had married in 1965. She and Pratt have a son, Louis, an artist and award-winning sculptor, co-founder of the Sydney artists' colony, Mungo. While in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
d'Alpuget worked in the Australian embassy's news and information bureau; later she was a volunteer worker in the Jakarta Central Museum, leading a team that re-catalogued the oriental ceramic collection of Chinese export ware. She was the world's youngest member of the famous, English-founded Oriental Ceramic Society. After spending four years in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
d'Alpuget lived for a year in Malaysia. She travelled widely, and to remote areas, in both countries.
In 1973 she returned to Australia and became active in the women's movement. She began writing in 1974, inspired by her experiences in South East Asia. She has won a number of literary awards for both fiction and non-fiction, including, in 1987, the prestigious inaugural Australasian Prize for Commonwealth Literature.
She first met Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, in 1970. They met again in 1976 when d'Alpuget interviewed him for a biography she was writing on Sir Richard Kirby
Richard Kirby (arbitrator)
Sir Richard Clarence Kirby AC was a long serving president of the Australian Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission...
. This meeting led to a long, sporadic love affair that culminated in their marriage in 1995. d'Alpuget and Pratt had divorced in 1986.
In 1995 she joined the board of Robert J Hawke & Associates, a business consultancy primarily focussed on China. For fifteen years d'Alpuget abandoned her career as a writer and traveled the world with her new husband, visiting not only capital cities but remote areas of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
, Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, the North West Frontier of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and the Antarctic peninsular. She returned to writing in 2008.
Her works include:
- Mediator: A Biography of Sir Richard Kirby (1977)
- Monkeys in the Dark (1980)
- Turtle BeachTurtle Beach (film)Turtle Beach is a 1992 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace and starring Greta Scacchi and Joan Chen. The screenplay was written by Ann Turner, based on the novel of the same name by Blanche d'Alpuget...
(1981) - Robert J Hawke: a biography (1982)
- Winter in Jerusalem (1986)
- Lust (an essay, 1992)
- White Eye (1993)
- On Longing (essay, 2008)
- Hawke: The Prime Minister (2010)
Her essays, Lust, that dealt with paedophilia, and On Longing, caused controversy.
Turtle Beach
Turtle Beach (film)
Turtle Beach is a 1992 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace and starring Greta Scacchi and Joan Chen. The screenplay was written by Ann Turner, based on the novel of the same name by Blanche d'Alpuget...
was made into a feature film in 1989 featuring Greta Scacchi and Jack Thompson.
All d'Alpuget's novels have been translated into other languages.
Asher Keddie played her in the 2010 multi-award winning telemovie, Hawke.
Memberships (current and former)
- Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- International PEN (Sydney Centre)
- Australian Labor PartyAustralian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
- Oral History Association of Australia (president of Australian Capital Territory branch, 1980-1981
- Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Australian Society of Authors, 1990-1991
- Women’s Electoral Lobby
- Commissioner of the Australian Film Commission, 1986-1991
- Chair of Australian Society of Authors, 1991
- Board member of the Arts Advocacy Centre
- Co-patron Australia – China Friendship Society (NSW Branch), since 2003
- Goodwill Ambassador of Austcare, 1989-1995
- Patron of Inala, since 2000 (a Rudolph Steiner institution caring for people with severe intellectual disabilities)
Achievements and Awards
d'Alpuget's achievements include:- 1980 – Sydney PEN Golden Jubilee award for Fiction
- 1981 – NSW Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction
- 1982 and 1983 – Braille Book of the Year Award
- 1982 – ‘Age’ Novel of the Year Award for Turtle Beach
- 1982 – South Australian Government’s Award for Fiction
- 1987 – Inaugural Commonwealth Award for Literature - Australasian Division