Megan Machin

Mrs Megan Machin (1906 – 20 May 1994), born Eleanor Margaret Sharpe, was an Australian journalist, playwright and author.

She was a student of Sydney Girls' High School, passing her Intermediate Certificate in 1923.

She became a journalist.

She was later a freelance writer, living in Castlecrag, Sydney.

She was possibly married to Alfred Herman Machin (c. 1906 – 18 November 1999), lived at Bayview, New South Wales and died on 20 May 1994.

In the 1940s at Marree, South Australia, while on a trip with "flying sister" Myra Blanch, she met 90-year-old cameleer Dervish Bejah. Bejah had assisted Larry Wells on the Calvert expedition, while his son Jack was associated with Cecil Madigan's 1939 exploration of the Simpson Desert. Her play Bejah Plants a Date Seed, based on conversations she had with the cameleer, was joint winner (with Vance Palmer) of the Commonwealth Jubilee play-writing contest sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1951. The script was collected by the ABC managing director, Charles Moses, and is held by the National Archives.

The Australian Women's Weekly published several long articles by Machin.

She died in 1994, leaving a collection of engravings by Fred Coventry in her will to the Art Gallery of New South Wales (321.1998–331.1998).

Notes

  1. ↑ Misspelled "Weels" in many reviews of this radio play
  2. ↑ Frederick Halford Coventry (1905–1995) was a New Zealand artist who studied at the Julian Ashton school 1926–1929 before leaving for London. He was a friend of William Dobell; they briefly shared a flat in Bayswater, London. He is not to be confused with the Adelaide artist Fred Coventry (1913–1995).

References

  1. ↑ "Intermediate". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 26, 848. New South Wales, Australia. 23 January 1924. p. 11. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "Two Share Prize For Serial". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 548. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1951. p. 3. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "Notice of intended distribution of estate". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 115. New South Wales, Australia. 9 September 1994. p. 5731. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Outback figures in radio serial". Weekly Times. No. 4315. Victoria, Australia. 5 March 1952. p. 37. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "Awards for radio plays". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. XVI, no. 213. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1951. p. 10. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Afghan Camel Driver Hero of AR Serial". The Age. No. 30189. Victoria, Australia. 31 January 1952. p. 1 (Radio supplement). Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Item details for: SP1310/1, Machin Bejah Plants". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Versatile skipper paints in islands". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 18, no. 13. Australia, Australia. 2 September 1950. p. 36. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "Boredom is foe of happiness". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 18, no. 14. Australia, Australia. 9 September 1950. p. 79. Retrieved 25 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "Flynn of the Inland remembered". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 23. Australia, Australia. 26 October 1955. p. 19. Retrieved 26 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ Dr Gail Ross (2011). "Fred Coventry". DAAO. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  12. ↑ Fred Coventry. "The barbaric property wall (circa 1929)" – via AGNSW.
  13. ↑ Fred Coventry. "and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore (circa 1929)" – via AGNSW.