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Inglis, Amirah (1926-)

Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-487340

Biographies

Australian Women's Register

Amirah Inglis was a devoted and active member of the Communist Party in Australia during the politically turbulent Menzies era. Her autobiographical works describe the difficulties and confusion of growing up a migrant in Australia, born of Polish-Jewish parents. She has also written essays, reviews and books on Papua New Guinea, and on the Spanish Civil War. The hammer & sickle and the washing up: memories of an Australian woman Communist includes descriptions of Amirah’s life in Canberra in the 1960s, and her marriage to academic Ken Inglis.

Amirah's father, Itzhak Gutstadt (later changed to Gust), migrated to Melbourne in 1928. Amirah and her mother joined him there in 1929.

Two of her books tell the story of her life. #xA; Amirah, an Un-Australian Childhood, published by William Heinemann Australia in 1983 and reprinted 1984, 1985 and in paperback 1989, a 'loving and sensuous account…paints a perfect sociological portrait' (Weekend Australian) of Melbourne in the 1930s and 1940s. It portrays her loving, Polish Jewish Communist parents and the joys and difficulties of living as migrants.#xA; The Hammer and Sickle and the Washing Up, Hyland House, Melbourne, 1995, tells of her involvement with the Communist Party of Australia during the 1950's and 60's, including the Menzies government's attempts to outlaw the Communist Party and the Petrov Affair. It is Amirah's story: her struggle to balance political activism and family responsibilities.

Amirah Inglis' other books reflect a desire to understand the complexities of her world within the framework of the humanitarian, internationalist, European-based communist ideology of her migrant parents and the completely new world of Papua New Guinea where she lived and worked between 1967-1974.

In 1998 in an interview with Sarah Dowse (4 digital audio tapes, held at the National Library of Australia) Inglis speaks of her current project, editing her Polish-born father's memoirs; her family and her own childhood in Melbourne; her political activism as a member of the Communist Party of Australia; her marriage to Ian Turner and events surrounding their move to Canberra in the 1960s; her involvement with the Australian National University and her teaching position at Lyneham High School; her second marriage to Ken Inglis and how their move to New Guinea in the 1970s was the inspiration for her first book which launched her writing career.[1]

[1] Summary from National Library of Australia

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

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Resources for Amirah Inglis

Selected resources (7)

Australian Women's Register

  1. The hammer & sickle and the washing up : memories of an Australian woman communist
    Inglis, Amirah
    [1995]
    Published: Hyland House, South Melbourne
  2. Memoirs of a dutiful (Red) daughter
    Inglis, Amirah
    [1987]
  3. Coming of Age in Australia
    Shrubb, Lee
    [1984]
  4. Amirah, an un-Australian childhood
    Inglis, Amirah
    [1983]
    Published: William Heinemann Australia, Richmond, Victoria
  5. Not a White Woman Safe: Sexual Anxiety and Politics in Port Moresby 1920-1934
    Inglis, Amirah
    [1974]
    Published: ANU Press, Canberra
  6. Amirah Inglis - Records
    [1937 - 1987]
    Working files, notes by Ralph Gibson, medals of Mary Lowson, tapes of interviews, photographs and printed material gathered for her Australians and the Spanish Civil War.
    0.6 m
    Noel Butlin Archives Centre
    Q47
  7. Fitzpatrick, Kathleen Elizabeth
    [1914 - 1982]
    Letter from Kathleen to the "Hughendens", from Leroet Convent, Portland, 20 July (in pencil, 1914); to Kathleen from "Isobel", 24 December 1982; to Kathleen from K. and A. Inglis, 19 July 1982; "On an Ode to Lorna" by Kathleen; greeting card from M. and A. Colquhoun Christmas 1972. Notebook: "Notes on Henry James - taken in the Reading Room of the British Museum, 1954". Photograph of Kathleen with family aged c. 1914, near waterfall; caricature "Kathleen, 1926", Barry - Eiffel Tower 8.8.26;; her burnt-out house, Lorne, (from newspaper), n.d.
    0.03 m
    The University of Melbourne Archives
    95/85

Resources By Amirah Inglis (18)

  1. Amirah, an un-Australian childhood Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Book, Audio book : 1983-1989]
  2. The hammer & sickle and the washing up : memories of an Australian woman communist / Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Book : 1995]
  3. Australians in the Spanish Civil War / Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Book : 1987]
  4. Papers of Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Unpublished : 1950-2005]
  5. Not a white woman safe : sexual anxiety and politics in Port Moresby, 1920-1934 / Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Book : 1974]
  6. Letters from Spain / Lloyd Edmonds ; edited by Amirah Inglis
    Edmonds, Lloyd
    [Book : 1985]
  7. The White Women's Protection Ordinance : sexual anxiety and politics in Papua / by Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Book : 1974-1975]
  8. Amirah Inglis interviewed by Peter Biskup
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Sound : 1990]
  9. Amirah Inglis interviewed by Sarah Dowse
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Sound : 1998]
  10. The White Women's Protection Ordinance : a study in the history of Papua 1926-1934 / Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Thesis : 1972]

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Australian Newspapers (1803-1954)

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  1. Website: Australian Women's Archives Project
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    View 27 matching archived pages
  2. Website: Australian Women in War
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    View 27 matching archived pages
  3. Website: Putting skirts on the sacred benches : women candidates for the New South Wales Parliament
    www.womenaustralia.info
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  1. Amirah, an un-Australian childhood Amirah Inglis
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Book, Audio book : 1983-1989]
  2. Amirah Inglis interviewed by Peter Biskup
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Sound : 1990]
  3. Amirah Inglis interviewed by Sarah Dowse
    Inglis, Amirah, 1926-
    [Sound : 1998]