Ann Howard (born 1942) is an Australian author and historian. She has written books on the history of the

Australian Women's Army Service The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was a non-medical women's service established in Australia during the Second World War. Raised on 13 August 1941 to "release men from certain military duties for employment in fighting units" the servi ...

, including ''You'll Be Sorry! How World War II Changed Women's Lives''. Her more recent books include ''A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees'', which she wrote after interviewing more than 100 Australians about their experiences. A resident of

Dangar Island Dangar Island is a forested island, in area, in the Hawkesbury River, just north of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Dangar Island is a suburb of Hornsby Shire and as at the 2016 census had a population of 303, which swells dramatically duri ...

on the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, for nearly 50 years, Howard has also authored four books on the island's history.

Early life in England

Howard was born in London in 1942. During World War II, she was evacuated with her mother to

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

on the coast of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, where her family remained after the war. She received a scholarship to

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

, intending to become a painter.

Life in Australia

Howard moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia, with her husband and their two young children in the 1970s. After he died unexpectedly, she bought a run-down property on

, just north of Sydney. Called The Pavilion, it was the last remaining part of the homestead of politician

Henry Cary Dangar Henry Cary Dangar (4 June 1830 – 25 April 1917) was a colonial Australian politician. He served two terms in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly during the 1870s and 1880s. Biography Dangar was born in Port Stephens, New South Wales, s ...

, built in 1889. Howard completed two masters degrees while working as a teacher, raising her three sons, and gradually restoring the heritage home. Regarding her work as a historian, Howard has stated, "I like grassroots history; I don’t like history that is politicised. I like to hear people's voices and try to provide a platform for people's voices. So I'm always listening for stories."

Major works and critical reception

''You'll Be Sorry!''

Howard's ''You'll Be Sorry: How World War II Changed Women's Lives'' (2016) is based largely on extracts from interviews, letters, and other recollections of 150 Australian women who served in the wartime auxiliary services, focusing on their experiences in assisting the military and their return to often "duller or frustrating lives" afterwards. The women worked as clerks, cryptographers, transport drivers, despatch riders, and at coastal artillery installations. The 2016 edition published by BigSky Publishing is an augmented version of two volumes Howard originally published in 1990, including ''You'll Be Sorry!'' and ''Where Do We Go From Here?'' In 2017, ''You'll Be Sorry'' was shortlisted for the Society of Women Writers' non-fiction history prize.

''C'mon Over''

Her book, ''C'mon Over: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney'' (2002), examined the lives of children who were sent from England to Australia under a child welfare scheme started by Dr

Thomas Barnardo Thomas John Barnardo (4 July 184519 September 1905) was an Irish-born philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1867 to the date of Barnardo's death, nea ...

. In 2003, a review in ''The Journal of Australian Studies'' commended the way that Howard "skilfully outlines the precarious act faced by policy makers" in ''C'mon Over: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney''. Noting that Howard, like Barnardo, " schewsstatistics in favour of personal vignettes and concrete details" about the child migrants' experiences, the review stated that the "main complaint is simply that too little of each story is told", while acknowledging "the need to compress what is surely a staggering amount of research".

''A Carefree War''

For ''A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees'' (2018), Howard interviewed more than 100 Australians about their wartime experiences as children who were sent inland for their protection. A 2018 review in ''Agora'' said that ''A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees'' "succeeds in painting a picture of this darkest and most perilous year", 1942, when it appeared a Japanese invasion of Australia was imminent. A review in ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' called it a "scrupulously researched and usefully indexed book".

Dangar Tales

In addition, Howard has written four books on the history of

, including details about its social history. ''The Bush Telegraph Weekly'' said that ''Rainbow on the River and Other Dangar Tales'' "sheds light on previously unknown history of Dangar Island with many marvellous river tales." Environmental historian Paul Boon noted that " oward'sbooks collate an amusing collection of anecdotes and snippets of local history."

Selected bibliography

Non-fiction historical

* ''A Carefree War: The Hidden History of World War II Child Evacuees'' * ''You'll Be Sorry! How World War II Changed Women's Lives'' * ''Where Do We Go From Here? Compelling Postwar Experiences of Australian Ex-Servicewomen, 1945–1948'' * ''C'mon Over: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney, 1921 to 1965'' * ''After Barnardo: Voluntary Child Migrants from Tilbury to Sydney, 1921 to 1965'', with Eric Leonard * ''Women in Australia''

Books on Dangar Island

*''Rainbow on the River & Other Dangar Tales'' *''Derrymacash to Dangar'' *''Ten Dry Pies & Other Dangar Tales'' *''A Ghost, a Murder & Other Dangar Tales''

Books for children

* ''The Cattle Drovers'' (''The Making of Australia'') * ''Coaches, Riverboats, and Railways'' (''The Making of Australia'')

Short works

*"The Old Country" in ''Haunted Encounters: Ghost Stories from Around the World''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Ann 1942 births Living people Australian women journalists Journalists from New South Wales Australian women short story writers 20th-century Australian historians 21st-century Australian historians 21st-century Australian journalists 20th-century Australian journalists 20th-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian short story writers 20th-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian women writers English emigrants to Australia