Together, stories of women from Anna Blackwell and Flora Shaw to Janet Mitchell and Caroline Isaacson, illustrate the gains and setbacks of women journalists over nearly a century. In each successive story, the tenacious determination of these women stands clear against the background of the prevailing patriarchy.

Patricia Clarke was a trailblazer herself as the only woman on the Melbourne staff at the Australian News and Information Bureau in the early 1950s. In a detailed epilogue, Patricia shares stories of her own life and career in the days of crowded newsrooms, clattering typewriters, and overflowing cigarette trays.

The book also features an introduction by Amy Remeikis, political reporter at Guardian Australia, who reflects on the struggles and achievements of her early counterparts as well as the current working environment for women journalists.

Bold Types is a book that will resound with and inspire today's audience, in a world where women are still fighting for equal rights and often, respect in the workplace.

Reviews

Bridget Griffen-Foley, Australian Book Review

• An extraordinary range of journalistic, organisational, entrepreneurial, and interpersonal skills is on display in this book. The thirteen women we meet battled conservative proprietors, antagonism from male journalists, precarious employment, low gradings and pay, and child-bearing and care.

Kathryn Shine, The Conversation

• Bold Types provides a welcome and overdue rewriting of the history of Australian journalism. It should be of interest to reporters, news bosses and educators, who can finally acknowledge the pioneering contributions of our first female journalists.

Chris Saliba, Books+Publishing

• An enlightening series of biographies focusing on gutsy and tenacious women, Bold Types is an accessible book that will appeal to readers of Australian history.

Dr Suzanne Jamieson, Royal Australian History Society Journal

• This engaging book by long-time journalist Patricia Clarke, who began her own journalistic career in 1951 (yes, 1951), stands as a snapshot of Australian women journalists working up until the author started her own career. To my great shame I had never heard of any of them. Of course I was familiar with the obvious women journalists of the Labour/Labor movement and early feminists…but the 13 women included here were a revelation.

About the author

Dr Patricia Clarke is a writer, historian, editor and former journalist, who has written extensively on women in Australian history and the history of journalism. In 2001, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to Australian history, and she is an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. Bold Types is her fifteenth book.