Dorothy Drain

{{For|the victim who shared the name of "Dorothy Drain"|Joe Arridy}} {{Short description|Australian journalist (1909–1996)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use Australian English|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Dorothy Drain | birth_name = Dorothy Simpson Drain | image = Dorothy-drain-australian-journalist.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1909|08|16}} | birth_place = Mount Morgan, Queensland, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|1996|05|31|1909|08|16|df=yes}} | nationality = Australian | occupation = Journalist, editor, poet | notableworks = | caption = War correspondent in Vietnam, 1965 }}

'''Dorothy Drain''' (16 August 1909 – 31 May 1996) was an Australian journalist, columnist, war correspondent, editor and poet. She worked as a journalist with ''The Australian Women's Weekly'' for 38 years, with the final five years being as its editor.<ref name="d-d-retires">[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/43458830 "Dorothy Drain Retires"], ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 2 April 1975, p. 15. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref><ref name="lawson">Valerie Lawson, "Women's Weekly editor hid a streak of toughness. Obituary: Dorothy Drain (1909–1996)", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 5 June 1996, p. 10.</ref> She was "one of Australia's best-known journalists".<ref name="lawson" />

==Early life and education== Drain was born Dorothy Simpson (Dot) Drain in Mount Morgan, Queensland on 16 August 1909. Her father, D. S. A. (David) Drain, was a headmaster of Scottish descent and her mother, Janet (sometimes referred to as Jean),<ref name="social-round">[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184345889 "The Social Round"], ''The Telegraph'' (Brisbane), 12 December 1938, p. 16. Retrieved 2 October 2020.</ref> was of Irish descent. Her father had been a contributor for ''The Bulletin'' during the First World War.<ref name="d-d-retires" />

From the age of 2 until 12 she lived in Gracemere, near Rockhampton. In 1916 she enrolled in the Children's Corner in Rockhampton's ''Morning Bulletin''.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/53417932 "Uncle Sam's Letter Bulletin"], ''The Morning Bulletin'', 3 June 1916, p. 13. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> In 1919 she won a prize from the Central Queensland Native Birds' Protection Association for the best essay on birdlife<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/53876227 "Native Birds' Protection Association"], ''The Morning Bulletin'', 20 December 1919, p. 8. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> and in the same period won other essay contests organised by the Rockhampton Agricultural Society and the Children's Corner of ''The Morning Bulletin'' and ''The Capricornian''. In 1922 when she was just thirteen she was one of the winners of scholarships from the Department of Public Instruction with an "exceedingly creditable pass".<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/54006955 "Personal News"], ''The Morning Bulletin'', 19 July 1922, p. 7. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref>

From 1924 to 1926 she attended the Presbyterian Girls College, a private boarding school in Toowoomba, Queensland. She won the 1926 Brunton Stephens essay, commenting at the time: "printer's ink, inherited from [my] father, has an irresistible attraction" and that she intended to "follow up the call of journalism".<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70647963 "Miss Dorothy Drain"], ''The Capricornian'', 13 January 1927, p. 8. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref>

==Brisbane, then Sydney== Drain passed a Public Service examination and in 1927 accepted a position at the State Insurance Office in Brisbane.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184345889 "Personal"], ''The Dalby Herald'', 28 January 1927, p. 2. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> During her leisure time she continued writing letters to newspapers, including one published in the ''Sydney Mail'' addressed to Cinderella which included references to Masefield, Shakespeare and Dickens.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169144432 "Honour Letter"], ''Sydney Mail'', 8 June 1027, p. 52. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> She also had some of her short stories published.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97667936 "Compensation"], ''The Sunday Mail'' (Brisbane), 13 April 1930, p. 32. Retrieved 4 October 2020.</ref>

Drain obtained her first jobs as a journalist, with ''The Telegraph'' and then with ''The Courier-Mail'' in Brisbane. She moved to Sydney in 1936 and joined the Sydney ''Sun'' as a journalist.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/183761663 "Staff Presentation"], ''The Telegraph'' (Brisbane), 7 March 1936, p. 15. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref>

She began writing poetry, most of it with a humorous twist, which was published regularly in the satirical periodical ''Smith's Weekly''.<ref name="lawson" />

==''The Australian Women's Weekly''== In 1938 Drain joined ''The Australian Women's Weekly''. She would become that magazine's news editor in 1958, the assistant editor in 1970 and finally the editor in 1972 (succeeding Esmé Fenston in that role), a position she occupied until she retired in 1975. She was also appointed as one of the Board of Directors of the Australian Consolidated Press, which owned and published the ''Weekly''.

In 1946 she went to Japan for three months and, attached to the Australian forces, reported on the Allied occupation of Japan at the end of Second World War.<ref name="d-d-japan">Dorothy Drain, [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47503500 "This is the Japan our troops have occupied"], ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 20 April 1946, p. 17. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> She was the "first woman correspondent to visit the British Commonwealth Occupation Force".<ref name="d-d-japan"/> In 1950 she filed reports from Singapore and Malaya during the Emergency period and South Korea during the Korean War.<ref>Dorothy Drain, [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55456742 "Dorothy Drain flies over Korean battlefield"], 7 October 1950, p. 15. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> In 1965 she reported from Vietnam together with the ''Weekly'' photographer Ron Berg. She was "the first female Australian journalist to visit the troops in Vietnam".<ref>Steve Meacham, [https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/pages-for-the-ages-a-quick-flick-through-history-20110802-1i9od.html "Pages for the ages: a quick flick through history"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 3 August 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2020.</ref> thumb|Dorothy Drain, "It Seems To Me..." columnist, 1947 For more than fifteen years (from 1947 until 1963) Drain penned a "popular"<ref>[http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/cal/weekly.html The Australian Women's Weekly], womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 4 October 2020.</ref> column of opinion and verse in the ''Weekly'' under the title "It Seems to Me...".<ref>[https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/resources/it-seems-me-magazine-article It seems to me magazine article], dva.gov.au. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> The column drew "a large volume of fan mail, much of it from men".<ref name="d-d-retires" />

She continued to write "brilliant" light verse which was published regularly in the ''Weekly'', verse that was "witty, pointed but always human, satirical without being malicious" and through which much of her character revealed itself.<ref name="d-d-retires" /><ref>Dorothy Drain, [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55465941?searchTerm=dorothy%20drain%20drearily "Progress"], ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 1 December 1945, p. 15. Retrieved 5 October 2020.</ref><ref>Dorothy Drain, [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44800759?searchTerm=dorothy%20drain%20liz "Thoughts after reading that Liz Taylor has a grandchild"], ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 18 August 1971, p. 39. Retrieved 5 October 2020.</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45657989?searchTerm=dorothy%20drain%20maxi "What's new - or is it?"], ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 8 April 1970, p. 35. Retrieved 5 October 2020.</ref><ref>Dorothy Drain, [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/41491067?searchTerm=dorothy%20drain%20%22christmas%2C%20they%20say%22 "Christmas, they say"], ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 29 December 1954, p. 20. Retrieved 5 October 2020.</ref>

A memorable career moment occurred in 1955 when she secured an interview with Frank Sinatra who was flying out to Australia for a tour. To do that she flew to Suva, joined Sinatra's flight and unexpectedly sat beside him on the plane.<ref>Dorothy Drain, [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51390277/4817003 "Sinatra in Australia: His loves are work and his children"], ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 26 January 1955, pp. 20-21. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref>

==Personal life== In 1936 when she was a young journalist Drain was living at 4 Tusculum Street, Kings Cross, in the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney.<ref name="social-round" /> She would later write: "The reputation of The Cross was bohemian, even slightly wicked, just the sort of place to attract young people coming to the big city. In those days young people could afford to live there. You'd get a bedsitter for 25 shillings a week."<ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/cross-currents-20030531-gdguo7.html "Cross currents"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 31 May 2003. Retrieved 4 October 2020.</ref><ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/extreme-living-20030531-gdguoa.html "Extreme living"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 31 May 2003. Retrieved 4 October 2020.</ref>

She died of a heart attack on 31 May 1996. She had suffered from emphysema for many years.<ref name="lawson" /> She had never married.

== Commemoration == In 1983 a TV mini series, ''The Weekly's War'', depicting Drain's work as a war correspondent during the Second World War was broadcast by the Nine Network.<ref>Scott Murray, ed., ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford University Press, 1996 p. 249</ref>

In November 2023 it was announced that Drain was one of eight women chosen to be commemorated in the second round of blue plaques sponsored by the Government of New South Wales alongside Kathleen Butler, godmother of Sydney Harbour Bridge; Emma Jane Callaghan, an Aboriginal midwife and activist; Susan Katherina Schardt; writer Charmian Clift; Pearl Mary Gibbs an Aboriginal rights movement activist; Beryl Mary McLaughlin, one of the first three women to graduate in architecture from the University of Sydney; and Grace Emily Munro.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Power |first=Julie |date=19 November 2023 |title=The 'clever girl' who helped build the Harbour Bridge |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-clever-girl-who-helped-build-the-harbour-bridge-20231116-p5ekga.html |access-date=19 November 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Plaques |first=Blue |date=20 November 2023 |title=New round of Blue Plaques recognises the stories of NSW |url=https://blueplaques.nsw.gov.au/news-and-media/articles/2023/new-round-of-blue-plaques-recognises-the-stories-of-nsw |access-date=21 November 2023 |website=Blue Plaques |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==  {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * Jeannine Baker, ''Australian Women War Reporters: Boer War to Vietnam'', Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2015. * Denis O'Brien, ''The Weekly: A Lively and Nostalgic Celebration of Australia through 50 Years of its Most Popular Magazine'', Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books, 1985. * Entry [https://archive.org/details/australiaonsmall00murr/page/248/mode/2up "The Weekly's War"], in: Scott Murray, ed., ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 249.

== External links== * [https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/advanced/category/newspapers?l-artType=newspapers&keyword=dorothy%20drain Articles and verse by Dorothy Drain] at National Library of Australia * [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-215178868/listen Dorothy Drain interviewed by Amy McGrath] at National Library of Australia * [https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/335617/Details? Biographical cuttings on Dorothy Drain, journalist] at National Library of Australia * [http://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/drain-dorothy-simpson-dot-25991 Additional Resources on Dorothy Simpson (Dot) Drain (1909–1996)] * [https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C14247?image=1 (Photo) Australian war correspondent, Miss Dorothy Drain, representing The Australian Women's Weekly], at Australian War Memorial

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drain, Dorothy}} Category:1909 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Australian war correspondents Category:Australian columnists Category:Australian women columnists Category:Australian magazine editors Category:Australian women magazine editors Category:20th-century Australian poets Category:20th-century Australian journalists Category:20th-century Australian women journalists Category:20th-century Australian women poets Category:Australian women war correspondents