The Australian Women's Weekly July 2024

PG 56 If you get me in a room with any of my sisters, you can guarantee within minutes there will be giggles – often tears of laughter – even more so if a camera is involved. So, when The Weekly saw new, never-before-seen images of the British royal family we were delighted by the contact sheet of the Queen and Princess Margaret’s photo shoot with Norman Parkinson (page 32). Taken in 1980, the photos captured spontaneous behind-the-scenes moments and reminded me of shots of my sisters and me at our brother’s wedding. Smiling, then giggling, then full-blown laughter, the photos capture the joy of the sibling bond in full flight – of course, the difference is that we were in a garden in Adelaide, not at Buckingham Palace! Joy…

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Goodbye, Pat I was sad to see Pat McDermott has retired from writing her column in The Australian Women’s Weekly (Thanks for the memories, AWW, June). I have been following her and the family for the 40 years she has been writing. Her column was the first article I would read each month. I have laughed and cried along with her adventures. Thanks, Pat – you deserve the well-earned rest. All the best for the years ahead. J. Hawkins, via email. Stop the gaslighting Thank you for another very informative article, Have you been gaslit by your doctor? (AWW, June). In the 1980s I experienced debilitating issues with my body and was told there was nothing wrong. I saw…

Chelsea BLOOMS England’s roses At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year, Dame Judi Dench (right) was presented with a clipping from a sycamore that stood at Hadrian’s Wall for nearly 200 years. Dame Judi gave the cutting a name. “I found out Hadrian had an adopted son called Antinous and so that’s what its name is,” she said. Dame Joanna Lumley (left) looked absolutely fabulous. Women we love Top nurse Cathy Halmarick, a nurse and midwife who helped establish a sexual and reproductive health hub in Victoria, has been named HESTA’s Nurse of the Year. Environment prize Wirdi woman Murrawah Johnson has received the Goldman Prize for blocking the Waratah coal mine which would have destroyed the 8000-hectare Bimblebox Nature Reserve in Queensland. Untameable 2021 Australian of the Year…

BRAZIL Flood of aid Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina and the United States have sent aid to Brazil as the country confronts the worst flooding it has seen in 80 years. More than 2.3 million people have been impacted by the torrential rain. SWITZERLAND Art in the park Artist Guillaume Legros, aka “Saype”, used eco-friendly paint to turn this park in Zurich into a giant canvas in aid of humanitarian sea rescue NGO SOS Mediterranee Switzerland. The piece is called Bright Dreams and covers 4200 square metres of grass. Mexico Street food star A 70-year-old roadside taco stand in Mexico City has been awarded a coveted Michelin star. Chef Arturo Rivera Martinez told the Michelin Guide “the secret is the simplicity of our taco”. France Little Olympics For the first time in…

At the start of every week on the Sydney set of Colin from Accounts there’s a sense of anticipation in the air. And it’s not down to the excitement of catching up with colleagues to share any weekend adventures. “We have Hidden Money Monday, where we take $50 or $100 and hide it somewhere on set,” Harriet Dyer – co-creator and star, alongside husband Patrick Brammall – says of a tradition they began to inject some fun into the start of the week. “We’ve hidden it in so many nooks and crannies – the brewery, the kitchen at Gordon’s house, under knick-knacks or a pot plant.” “The crew still have to do their job and not ruin the set,” adds Patrick, who plays Gordon. “But we really do take pains…

When Asher Keddie began filming her latest television project, Fake – in which she both stars and produces – something unusual happened. It wasn’t her first producing role – that had happened the previous year with mega-hit Binge series Strife. Nor was she a stranger to being the central character in a show that demanded long hours on set: Offspring (which ran from 2010-2017) had seen to that. She was used to juggling constant travel with kids, home, husband and the minutiae of maintaining all aspects of life beyond the set on a multitude of jobs. But for the first time, Asher found herself uttering three words that she’d never thought would leave her lips: “I need help”. For decades she’d bare-knuckled her way through the demands on her time…