Anne Elder (4 January 1918 – 23 October 1976) was an Australian ballet dancer and poet.

Career

Inspired by

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...

, she commenced ballet lessons with

Laurel Martyn Laurel Martyn (; 23 July 1916 – 16 October 2013) was an Australian ballerina.Bruce Dawe Donald Bruce Dawe (15 February 1930 – 1 April 2020) was an Australian poet and academic. Some critics consider him one of the most influential Australian poets of all time.

and Philip Martin she began to publish poetry regularly in newspapers and periodicals, including the ''Australian'', ''Meanjin'', ''Quadrant'', ''Overland'' and ''Southern Review''. Her first collection of Poems, ''For the Record'', was published in 1972. A second collection of her poetry, ''Crazy Woman'', was published posthumously in 1976, and was highly commended in the National Book Council awards for 1977. In 1976, her husband John Elder established The Anne Elder Trust Fund Award for poetry, presented annually to the best first book of poetry published in Australia. The award was administered for forty years by the Victorian Branch of the

Fellowship of Australian Writers The Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) was established in Sydney in 1928, with the aim of bringing writers together and promoting their interests. The organisation played a key role in the establishment of the Australian Society of Authors in ...

. It is now run by Australian Poetry. A commemorative volume of her poetry, ''Small Clay Birds'', was published by Monash University in 1988. A biography of Anne Elder, ''The Heart's Ground'', written by Julia Hamer, appeared in 2018 along with a new collection of Anne's poems, ''The Bright and the Cold'', compiled by her daughter Catherine Elder. Both volumes are published by Lauranton Books.

Personal

Born Anne Josephine Chloe Mackintosh in Auckland, New Zealand in 1918, she moved to Melbourne with her parents in 1921. In 1940 she married John Stanley Elder, a solicitor serving in the 2nd/8th Field Regiment, Australian Imperial Force. They had two children, a son and a daughter, born in 1945 and 1947. After having a heart attack in 1968, her health and spirits declined. She died of cardiopulmonary disease complicating scleroderma on 23 October 1976 in Royal Melbourne Hospital and was cremated.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elder, Anne Australian ballerinas 1918 births People from Melbourne 1976 deaths People from Auckland Australian women poets 20th-century Australian women Deaths from scleroderma People educated at St Catherine's School, Melbourne New Zealand emigrants to Australia