{{Short description|Australian author, musician, and educator (1918–2004)}} {{use Australian English|date=September 2024}} {{use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = June Epstein | other_names = June Guest | birth_name = June Sadie Epstein | birth_date = {{birth date|1918|06|29|df=y}} | birth_place = Perth, Western Australia, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|2004|07|09|1918|06|29}} | death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | occupation = Author, musician, educator | employer = Australian Broadcasting Corporation | known_for = Disability rights activism | awards = Medal of the Order of Australia of the General Division (1986) }}
'''June Sadie Epstein''' (29 June 1918, Perth, Western Australia – 9 July 2004, Melbourne, Victoria) was an Australian author, musician, and educator. She is considered to be one of the most influential Australian children's writers of the 1950s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rees |first=Leslie |title=Towards an Australian Drama |year=1953 |pages=167}}</ref>
== Personal life == Epstein was born on 29 June 1918 in Perth, Western Australia.{{cn|date=June 2024}}
She had three children with her husband Julius Guest, whom she married in 1949. Two of her children died at a young age due to encephalitis and a brain tumor. These experiences fueled her advocacy for the rights of disabled people.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Papers of June Epstein, 1935–1999 [manuscript] |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2880250 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=National Library of Australia Catalogue |language=en}}</ref>
Epstein died on 9 July 2004, in Melbourne at 86 years old.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=GUEST, June {{!}} Death Notices {{!}} Melbourne |url=https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/death-notices/guest-june/3361277/ |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=My Tributes |language=en}}</ref>
== Career == In 1935, June Epstein received the first edition of a three-year music scholarship from the Trinity College of Music in London (now the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance), where she graduated with a Teacher's Diploma, and a second University of London scholarship towards a bachelor's degree in music. The beginning of World War II in 1940 cut this short and Epstein began working with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) back in Australia. She was a broadcaster, composer, pianist, recitalist, and scriptwriter, and worked with the ABC for several decades after.<ref name=":1" />
Shortly afterwards, in 1942, Epstein began teaching music at the Frensham School in Mittagong, New South Wales, before becoming the Director of Music at the Melbourne Girls Grammar School. She was also involved in composing and teaching children's music with the Melbourne College of Advanced Education, Institute of Early Childhood Development until 1976.<ref name=":1" />
Epstein began publishing her work in 1951 and would go on to create over fifty plays, scripts, short stories, books, and songs.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=June Epstein |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A24992 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories |publisher=The University of Queensland}}</ref>
In 1988, she published her autobiography, ''Woman with two hats: an autobiography.'' Most of her work focused on the experiences of people with disabilities and she endeavored to raise awareness for the needs of that community.<ref name=":2" />
== Works (selected) ==
=== Books and short stories ===
* ''The story of the bionic ear'' (1989) * ''Woman with two hats: an autobiography'' (1988) * ''The Friends of Burramys'' (1981, Melbourne: Oxford University Press) * ''Boy on Sticks'' (1979, Melbourne, Spina Bifida Association)
=== Radio plays ===
* ''A Dog's Life'' (radio drama) (1951)<ref name=":0" />
== Awards and nominations == 1986: Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division for "service to the arts and to the welfare of people with disabilities"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miss June Sadie EPSTEIN |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/880770 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}}</ref>
1981: ''The Friends of Burramys'' – Nominated for the Best Children's Book, Whitley Awards<ref name=":3" />
== Legacy == The National Library of Australia's Manuscript Collection hosts a collection of Epstein's work and correspondence, called the ''Papers of June Epstein 1935–1999'', which she herself had donated up until 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003 |title=Papers of June Epstein Finding Aid |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-342743512 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref> They also hold a collection of biographical cuttings from newspapers about her life as an author.<ref name=":1" />
== References == <references />
== External links ==
* [https://www.womenaustralia.info/entries/epstein-june-sadie/ June Epstein] from the Australian Women's Register * [https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2880250 National Library of Australia Catalog of the Papers of June Epstein]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, June}} Category:1918 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Australian children's writers Category:20th-century Australian women writers Category:20th-century Australian writers Category:20th-century Australian musicians Category:20th-century Australian women musicians Category:Australian disability rights activists Category:Writers from Perth, Western Australia Category:Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia