Dorothy Drain

Dorothy Drain (16 August 1909 – 31 May 1996) was an Australian journalist, columnist, war correspondent, editor and poet. She worked as a journalist with ''The Australian Women's Weekly'' for 38 years, with the final five years being as its editor."Dorothy Drain Retires"
''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 2 April 1975, p. 15. Retrieved 3 October 2020.Valerie Lawson, "Women's Weekly editor hid a streak of toughness. Obituary: Dorothy Drain (1909–1996)", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 5 June 1996, p. 10. She was "one of Australia's best-known journalists".

Early life and education

Drain was born Dorothy Simpson (Dot) Drain in Mount Morgan, Queensland on 16 August 1909. Her father, D. S. A. (David) Drain, was a headmaster of Scottish descent and her mother, Janet (sometimes referred to as Jean),"The Social Round"
''The Telegraph'' (Brisbane), 12 December 1938, p. 16. Retrieved 2 October 2020. was of Irish descent. Her father had been a contributor for '' The Bulletin'' during the First World War.

From the age of 2 until 12 she lived in Gracemere, near Rockhampton. In 1916 she enrolled in the Children's Corner in Rockhampton's '' Morning Bulletin''. In 1919 she won a prize from the Central Queensland Native Birds' Protection Association for the best essay on birdlife and in the same period won other essay contests organised by the Rockhampton Agricultural Society and the Children's Corner of ''The Morning Bulletin'' and ''The Capricornian''. In 1922 when she was just thirteen she was one of the winners of scholarships from the Department of Public Instruction with an "exceedingly creditable pass".

From 1924 to 1926 she attended the Presbyterian Girls College, a private boarding school in Toowoomba, Queensland. She won the 1926 Brunton Stephens essay, commenting at the time: "printer's ink, inherited from yfather, has an irresistible attraction" and that she intended to "follow up the call of journalism".

Brisbane, then Sydney

Drain passed a Public Service examination and in 1927 accepted a position at the State Insurance Office in Brisbane. During her leisure time she continued writing letters to newspapers, including one published in the ''Sydney Mail'' addressed to Cinderella which included references to Masefield, Shakespeare and Dickens. She also had some of her short stories published.

Drain obtained her first jobs as a journalist, with ''The Telegraph'' and then with ''The Courier-Mail'' in Brisbane. She moved to Sydney in 1936 and joined the Sydney ''Sun'' as a journalist.

She began writing poetry, most of it with a humorous twist, which was published regularly in the satirical periodical ''Smith's Weekly''.

''The Australian Women's Weekly''

In 1938 Drain joined ''The Australian Women's Weekly''. She would become that magazine's news editor in 1958, the assistant editor in 1970 and finally the editor in 1972 (succeeding Esmé Fenston in that role), a position she occupied until she retired in 1975. She was also appointed as one of the Board of Directors of the Australian Consolidated Press, which owned and published the ''Weekly''.

In 1946 she went to Japan for three months and, attached to the Australian forces, reported on the Allied occupation of Japan at the end of Second World War.Dorothy Drain
"This is the Japan our troops have occupied"
''The Australian Women's Weekly'', 20 April 1946, p. 17. Retrieved 3 October 2020. She was the "first woman correspondent to visit the British Commonwealth Occupation Force". In 1950 she filed reports from Singapore and Malaya during the Emergency period and South Korea during the Korean War. In 1965 she reported from Vietnam together with the ''Weekly'' photographer Ron Berg. She was "the first female Australian journalist to visit the troops in Vietnam".

For more than fifteen years (from 1947 until 1963) Drain penned a "popular" column of opinion and verse in the ''Weekly'' under the title "It Seems to Me...". The column drew "a large volume of fan mail, much of it from men".

She continued to write "brilliant" light verse which was published regularly in the ''Weekly'', verse that was "witty, pointed but always human, satirical without being malicious" and through which much of her character revealed itself.

A memorable career moment occurred in 1955 when she secured an interview with Frank Sinatra who was flying out to Australia for a tour. To do that she flew to Suva, joined Sinatra's flight and unexpectedly sat beside him on the plane.

Personal life

In 1936 when she was a young journalist Drain was living at 4 Tusculum Street, Kings Cross, in the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney. She would later write: "The reputation of The Cross was bohemian, even slightly wicked, just the sort of place to attract young people coming to the big city. In those days young people could afford to live there. You'd get a bedsitter for 25 shillings a week.""Extreme living"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 31 May 2003. Retrieved 4 October 2020.

She died of a heart attack on 31 May 1996. She had suffered from emphysema for many years. She had never married.

References

Further reading

* Jeannine Baker, ''Australian Women War Reporters: Boer War to Vietnam'', Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2015.
* Denis O'Brien, ''The Weekly: A Lively and Nostalgic Celebration of Australia through 50 Years of its Most Popular Magazine'', Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books, 1985.
* Entr
"The Weekly's War"
in: Scott Murray, ed., ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 249.

External links

Articles and verse by Dorothy Drain
at National Library of Australia

Dorothy Drain interviewed by Amy McGrath
at National Library of Australia

Biographical cuttings on Dorothy Drain, journalist
at National Library of Australia

Additional Resources on Dorothy Simpson (Dot) Drain (1909–1996)

(Photo) Australian war correspondent, Miss Dorothy Drain, representing The Australian Women's Weekly
at Australian War Memorial

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drain, Dorothy
1909 births
1996 deaths
Australian women journalists
Australian war correspondents
Australian columnists
Australian women columnists
Australian magazine editors
Women magazine editors
20th-century Australian poets
Australian women poets
20th-century Australian journalists
20th-century Australian women