New Book Places Women At The Forefront Of History

Local author Kaaren Sephton is currently compiling her second major work which will bring together stories from women across the region in an effort to fill in the gaps of our regional history.

Having previously published her thesis, At The Crossroads: Biographies of Mia Mia, Kaaren says she felt compelled to bring together unique female histories after speaking with members of the Mackay Family History Society.

She is now putting a call out for family members of women who lived around the 1900s and have now passed on but would have an interesting story that their ancestors would like to share with the community.

“Women have achieved so much with so little recognition, they often get unnoticed,” said Kaaren.

“From farmer’s wives to indigenous women from The Leap, hoteliers to matrons at the hospital and women who lived through WWI – I want to create a broad snapshot of women from the early days.”

Family members are invited to contact Kaaren directly and she would like to receive old photographs and information about individuals so she can compile them into a new history book.

While she is ideally looking for women who lived around the 1900s, Kaaren says that if she gets a good response from the community, she will consider looking at women from different eras in a subsequent book.

So far, she has 40 local women for the book and she is hopeful more families would like to come forward.

You can contact her directly by emailing kskaslester@gmail.com.

Image: Kaaren Sephton with her first book The Crossroads: Biographies of Mia Mia. Photo contributed

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