The Australian Women's Weekly October 2020

It has long been said that the pen is mightier than the sword, and in today’s world that may be truer than ever. Words have the power to unite and inspire, but in the wrong hands they can also cause great destruction and division. This month our fascinating and frightening investigation into Fake News (page 42) shows how it’s much more than just Donald Trump’s favourite put-down. It took just three little words – ‘I AM WOMAN’ – to create the rallying cry for a generation of women and to make Australian singer-songwriter Helen Reddy a feminist icon around the world. We get a uniquely personal insight into the woman behind the anthem from her daughter Traci (page 76). Meanwhile, the esteemed judges of our 2020 Women of the Future…

YANKEE FAN A lovely group of Aussie women I met last year in New York gifted me an incredible box of national treats. Among the items was The Weekly. I’m so delighted with your publication, which introduced me to some Aussie slang such as “skerrick” and “spanner” and gave me insight into topics of interest to women throughout the nation. The photography is marvellous and I loved the advertisements for Australian products. It’s clear you have a fabulous read in store every month and I feel “Down Under” with you! L. Roman-Williams, Richmond, Virginia, USA COMFORT AND HOPE I’ll never forget the catastrophic fires that raged through eastern Australia last summer (Forged in Flames, AWW, September), nor the men and women who risked their lives to save others, or the…

Diana & Debicki AS THE CROWN approaches its climactic final seasons, Australian star Elizabeth Debicki has revealed she’ll step into the role of Diana, Princess of Wales. Since lighting up the screen as the coolly beautiful golfer, Jordan Baker, in The Great Gatsby, Melbourne-raised Elizabeth has given gripping performances in The Night Manager, The Kettering Incident and Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Tenet. But it seems her latest role is her most coveted yet, with Elizabeth saying, “Princess Diana’s spirit, her words and actions live in the hearts of so many. It’s my true privilege and honour to be joining this masterful series.” A star-studded baby boom IN A WORLD full of uncertainty, life finds a way, and some of The Weekly’s favourite couples have annouced the very best kind of news.…

TWO LITTLE DEVILS Conservation organisation Aussie Ark has welcomed two tiny Tasmanian Devil joeys, Itchy and Scratchy, who are being hand-raised by keeper Hewin Hochkins. PENGUINS ON SHOW The whole world can now watch the nightly march of the fairy penguins at Phillip Island, which is being livestreamed from 6pm to give relief to a pandemic-weary world. View at penguins.org.au A DOG’S LIFE Pets of the Homeless cares for the pets of those at risk of or experiencing homelessness, like cute pup Vindi (above) who found a loving temporary home. For details visit petsofthehomeless.org.au…

The last weeks of 2019 were a challenge unlike anything Turia Pitt had faced for a very long time. Bushfires raged through forests surrounding her home town on the south coast of NSW, the sky was alternately black and angry red, houses were evacuated and thousands of people were trapped on the roads heading north. On New Year’s Eve, the fires roared into the outskirts of Milton, just five kilometres away. Turia stood on her balcony and watched “as two angry plumes from the fires north and south joined over Mollymook Beach. “And then, the power went out. Mobile reception became spotty. Internet was down. Rumours swirled around town like the ashes that rained down on us. Embers in our backyards. Homes had been lost. Whole streets obliterated. A girlfriend’s…

In a fire-engine red wool coat purchased “on sale at Neiman Marcus [department store]” for maximum impact – and warmth – her hands waving aloft and lashed together with sharp, plastic zip-lock cuffs, octogenarian actor Jane Fonda is out of her comfort zone but in her element. From Capitol Hill she bellows thanks to BAFTA for the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film as police lead her away to the jailhouse. It’s a scene that lit up news channels around the world last October and featured in the iconic actor’s acceptance video, played with pomp and glory on a big screen at the Beverly Hills BAFTA gala she couldn’t attend. To the uninitiated it looked like a piece of choreographed theatre, filmed in Washington D.C. perhaps for a…