Elizabeth Dyneley Fell, known as Liz Fell, (7 March 1940 – 13 August 2020) was an Australian activist, journalist, academic, feminist and public intellectual, who was a founding member of the prison activist organisations Prisoners Action Group and Women Behind Bars. She was awarded the George Munster Award for Freelance Journalism in 1986 for her radio features on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Radio National about government and corporate activity in media and telecommunications.

Early life and education

Fell was the second child of John and Margaret Fell (Grant) and younger sister of Eleanor. She attended Abbotsleigh and Frensham boarding school. She studied a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney from 1955 majoring in psychology. In her final year she was awarded the prize for best student. She then worked as a psychology tutor for Professor John Maze and became a member of the intellectual movement based around the University, the

Sydney Push The Sydney Push was an intellectual subculture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Its politics were predominantly left-wing libertarianism. The Push operated in a pub culture and included university students, academics, manual w ...

Career

In 1969, Fell joined the sociology department at the

University of NSW The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public university, public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight (Australian universities), ...

where she taught in a range of courses including architecture. In 1971 she was the founder of a controversial sex education publication aimed at students called SEX. In 1970 she became an active supporter for the

Gurindji Gurindji may refer to: * Gurindji, Northern Territory, a locality in Australia *Gurindji people, an Australian Aboriginal people **Gurindji language, the language of the Gurindji people **Gurindji Kriol language, the main language now spoken by Guri ...

campaign for Aboriginal self-determination and over many years continued her support for Black Power leaders in Sydney such as her close friend, Aboriginal activist and academic Gary Foley. Fell worked in television, print and radio as a journalist. She joined the ABC program Lateline in 1974 and also worked for the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

on the ''

Sunday Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week. For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...

'' program and ''

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'', ''The National Times'' and '' The Sun-Herald'', and '' Dateline'' on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). Elizabeth (Liz) was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the Telecommunication Society of Australia.

Death

Fell taught university students and worked as a freelance journalist until she was 73 and died on 13 August 2020, following a long illness, aged 80.

References

External links

Television in the Satellite Age
conference paper, May 1984
Liz Fell
contributor to ''TelSoc – Telecommunications and the Digital Economy'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fell, Elizabeth 1940 births 2020 deaths Australian freelance journalists University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of the University of Technology Sydney Australian activists Australian feminists 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian writers