Katharine Susannah Prichard was ambivalent about feminism because she didn’t think gender inequality could or should be addressed without tackling class inequality. Yet she was a shining example of a woman who broke free of the constraints placed on her by the patriarchy in the early twentieth century to achieve a stellar literary career. She also spoke at several International Women’s Day events between the wars. It’s fitting, then, that in a ceremony at Government House on 7 March, she was one of the inductees to the WA Women’s Hall of Fame posthumous ‘Roll of Honour’.

The WA Women’s Hall of Fame was first established in 2011 in recognition of the Centenary of International Women’s Day held annually on 8th March. Its purpose is to recognise and celebrate the achievements of Western Australian women past, present and future. The Roll of Honour recognises women from the past. The citation for Katharine recognised her as ‘one of the most significant Australian novelists of the inter-war period and beyond’. She was inducted alongside her friend from Darlington, the writer Mollie Skinner. You can learn more about these two women at a talk at the City of Perth Library at 1pm on 12 April. Historical researcher Diane Pope will be speaking about Mollie Skinner and I will be speaking about Katharine Prichard. Free tickets can be booked at https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1196686?.