From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eva Bacon
Eva Bacon
Eva Bacon (1909 - 23 July 1994), born Eva Goldner, was
a socialist and feminist based in Brisbane, Australia, who
Politics
was most active between the 1950s and the 1980s.[1]
Communist Party of Australia
Raised in Austria and a member of several leftist political
During her life in Australia, Eva Bacon was heavily in-
organisations in her youth, Eva Goldner escaped Nazi
volved in the Communist Party of Australia. A communist
occupied Austria in 1939, eventually migrating to Aus-
in her youth in Austria, it was natural for Bacon to seek
tralia.[2] Goldner remained involved in local and interna-
out like-minded people when she escaped the Nazis for
tional politics and joined the Communist Party of Aus-
Australia. Through her involvement with the CPA, Bacon
tralia (CPA),[2] marrying fellow member Ted Bacon in
met and married her husband Ted,[8] who served as the
1944.[3] Throughout her career Bacon was an active
Secretary for the Queensland Branch of the CPA for some
member of the CPA, and the Union of Australian Women
time.[9] Ted and Eva were heavily involved in the CPA
(UAW),[4] where she was heavily involved in Internation-
as shown by the hundreds of leaflets, pamphlets, typed
al Women’s Day campaigns, including attending the 1975
speeches, and letters from protest, rallies, events, and
UN World Conference on Women in Mexico[5] celebrat-
meetings contained in their personal Archive.[10]
ing International Women’s Year. Bacon was also an active
While Bacon insisted that her Communist leanings
member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL), the
did not affect her work with other political groups such
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
as the UAW,[6] it is clear that her involvement in the CPA
(WILPF).[6] She was passionate about childcare issues,[1]
had a negative impact on her reliability in other areas of
and through her political work clashed particularly with
her life. Right-wing politicians such as Joh Bjelke-Peter-
conservative Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson.[6]
son drew connections between her involvement with the
two groups to try and discredit the UAW as a Communist
Early Life and Young Adult- organisation.[11]
Bacon was a member of the Central Committee of the
hood CPA since 1948 by her own account,[12] and she and Ted
Born in Austria in 1909 to Jewish parents, Eva Goldner remained committed members throughout their lives.
was aware of fascism and anti-Semitism from early in her
life.[4] She was a Communist militant in her youth and Joh Bjelke-Peterson
as a member of International Red Aid, a Communist or- Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was the Premier of Queensland
ganisation established to provide aid to ’class-war’ polit- from 8 August 1968 – 1 December 1987 who personally
ical prisoners,[7] she worked to help victims of fascism.[1] objected to Eva Bacon’s political activities and her mem-
Goldner and her mother, as leftist Jewish women, were bership of the Communist Party.[11] His attitude towards
forced to flee Austria in 1939 following the Nazi occu- political activists, and groups such as the Union of Aus-
pation of Austria, migrating to Australia after some time tralian Women was paternalistic: “...all these protest
in England.[6] Goldner, a dressmaker and fashion design- groups consist of the hard-core activists who hide behind
er by trade,[2] became involved with the left in her new the gullible, the naive and the well-meaning.”[11]On the
home where she attended her first International subject of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Eva Bacon has been quot-
Women’s Day meeting the same year she arrived.[2] She ed as saying “I believe Mr Bjelke-Petersen in using my
attributed that meeting to inspiring much of her later po- personal political commitment is trying to enlist support
litical activism. Goldner soon became a member of the for his anti-democratic policies”.[4]
Communist Party of Australia,[2] where, at a performance The Bjelke-Petersen government’s ‘censorship laws’
by the Unity Theatre Group, she met her husband Ted were designed to limit the impact of the CPA in Queens-
Bacon, a returned soldier and fellow communist and po- land by censoring the publication of positive content
litical activist.[8] They married in 1944 in Brisbane[3] and about the organisation in the media, instead promoting
had one child, a daughter, named Barbara.[4] negative perceptions of the group, and all the organi-
sations with which it was associated.[8] The Queensland
government’s ‘obscenity’ laws also restricted the promo-
tion or dissemination of sexually orientated information
even if it was educational.[13] The Women’s Liberation
Movement’s pamphlet ‘Female Sexuality and Education’
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eva Bacon
was considered to be obscene by Bjelke-Petersen, and In 1958 Bacon was involved in with the UAW’s Inter-
was confiscated from the Brisbane offices of Communist national Women’s Year celebrations which drew a crowd
Party of Australia by the ‘State Licensing Branch’ of the of hundreds to hear speakers Dymphna Cusak and Dame
Queensland Police Department at 5 p.m. on Friday 8 Oc- Sybil Thorndyke, a celebration which also addressed
tober 1971.[14] women’s influence on history, socialism, and world
peace. Eleanor Roosevelt sent a message about this meet-
Women’s Rights ing to the UAW, among others.[17]
In 1960 Bacon coordinated a visit to Australia by
Madam Chao Feng of the National Women’s Federation of
Union of Australian Women China and Madame Roesijati R. Sukardi, a journalist with
The Union of Australian Women was, and in Victoria re- the Indonesian Women’s Organisation to attend IWD
mains, a feminist activist organisation that relies on let- meetings nationally. As Australia did not recognise China
ter writing, petitions, marches and demonstrations to at the time, the UAW set about obtaining visas for the vis-
gain its objectives.[15] Some of these objectives were as itors and were delayed to the point that Feng and Sukardi
follows: could not attend several of their appointed meetings. [17]
• to achieve and maintain an enhanced status for According to personal anecdotes, Bacon was most
women proud of her involvement in the UWA’s program for re-
• to obtain higher living standards for all viving the IWD celebrations in Australia following World
• for the government to improve the welfare of its War II. She encouraged women to join marches and
citizens demonstrations on IWD’s official date of 8 March[4] and
• for public infrastructure to be shared by all ’saw IWD as a campaign, needing work almost all the year
(regardless of gender or race) round with 8 March as the highlight, rather than a one-
• the right for women to work day function.’[17]
• to obtain fertility control
• for the equality of indigenous Australians International Women’s Year 1975
• to oppose the White Australia Policy[15] The United Nations marked 1975 as International
As an older organisation, it has had to change some of Women’s Year (IWY) and declared the Decade for Women
its goals over time, whilst maintaining its primary aims. covering 1976-1985.[18] In this year a World Conference
This was evident for Bacon during the 1970s as she has on Women was held in Mexico for international govern-
spoken of the introduction of the notion that “the ‘per- ment representatives to take part in and a Tribune simul-
sonal’ is political”, and ‘sexual politics’ taking three years taneously for other groups and interested parties[5] at-
for the organisation to fully support. Her struggle with tended by women from all over the world to come to-
this shift was due to the move away from the economic gether and discuss women’s issues and women’s
and general political struggles that the UAW had previ- rights.[18]
ously focused on as the way to gain equality with men.[6] As her involvement with International Women’s Day
As a member of the Union of Australian Women, Bacon events was so strong at home,[1] Eva Bacon was invited
involved herself in numerous activities including writing to attend as a delegate to the Tribune by the Australian
for the UAW’s magazine, Our Women, as well as working Government who invested over $3 million into the
on books such as Uphill all the way: A Documentary History 1974-1976 budgets for International Women’s Year activ-
of Women in Australia. Her involvement in the Indigenous ities.[19] Bacon was the only representative from Queens-
rights movement is acknowledged by the National Mu- land chosen to take part in the Tribune,[2] taking part as
seum of Australia.[16] Although believed to be a faction a member and on behalf of the UAW according to official
of the Communist Party of Australia by the Premier of papers found in her personal Archive, along with Govern-
Queensland at the time, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the Union ment documents and documents from the Australian Em-
of Australian Women has always maintained its indepen- bassy in Mexico confirming her involvement.[20]
dence from the CPA.[6][11]
Childcare
International Women’s Day
Throughout her activist career Bacon lobbied for chil-
Eva Bacon attended her first International Women’s Day dren’s rights and for the establishment of appropriate
(IWD) meeting in 1939, not long after she migrated to childcare facilities through every party she was involved
Australia.[2] She became heavily involved in IWD activi- in.[1] During the 1950s Bacon traveled back to Europe
ties after her involvement with the UAW began, and act- to attend conferences on motherhood and childcare,[2][4]
ed as the International Women’s Day Committee secre- and in 1967 through the UAW Bacon lobbied for after
tary for the UAW between 1951 and 1974.[2][17][1] school and work based child care for mothers, arguing to
the Queensland Government that these were legitimate
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eva Bacon
concerns for mothers and children.[1] Through her work ^ Young, Pam (29 October), "Obituary", The Sydney
[4]
with the UAW, Bacon was involved in the establishment Morning Herald: 16, http://newsstore.smh.com.au/
of a childcare centre at The University of Queensland in apps/
1971.[1] viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=Eva+Bacon&pb=all_ffx&d
retrieved 2011-10-18
The Eva and Ted Bacon Archive [5] ^ Stevens, Joyce. "A History of International
Women’s Day in Words and Images: The Nineteen
Collection Seventies and Eighties Continued".
http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/stevens/
The Fryer Library at the University of Queensland holds
70s80s_3.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
one of the most extensive collections of archival material
[6] ^ Young, Pam (1998). Daring to Take a Stand: The
documenting Left-wing and radical activism in Brisbane
Story of the Union of Australian Women in Queensland.
and state-wide.[21][22] The collection includes publica-
Queensland: Wavell Heights. ISBN 0949861170 :.
tions, literature and personal archives of key groups and
http://library.uq.edu.au/search~S7?/
figures of the movement including that of Eva and Ted
XPam+Young&SORT=D/
Bacon.[23] The Bacon archive was donated in the late
XPam+Young&SORT=D&SUBKEY=Pam%20Young/
1980s in the hope of protecting the documents in the
1%2C15%2C15%2CB/
face of a still heavily anti-communist public sphere.[10]
frameset&FF=XPam+Young&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C.
Additions were continually made until 1999 when Ted’s
[7] International Red Aid
brother, on behalf of the deceased couple, compiled the
[8] ^ Healy, Connie (2000). Defiance: Political Theatre in
last of their work and the Fryer archive became officially
Brisbane 1930-1962. Australia: Boombana
available for academic use.[10] The Eva and Ted Bacon
Publications. ISBN 1876542047 :.
collection consists of a wide range of publications, photos
http://library.uq.edu.au/search~S7?/
and other literature as well as a series of hand-written
XPolitical+theatre+in+brisbane&SORT=D/
notes, research and drafted political theses.[10]
XPolitical+theatre+in+brisbane&SORT=D&SUBKEY=Political%20the
1%2C9%2C9%2CB/
Selected articles published in frameset&FF=XPolitical+theatre+in+brisbane&SORT=D&2%2C2%2C
[9] McGuire, John (1996). "Julius, Max Nordau (1916 –
Our Women 1963) - Biography". Australian Dictionary of
• ’Blue Flowers’, 1961, October-December issue. [24] Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/
• ’The Magic Circle’, 1964, June-September issue.[25] julius-max-nordau-10652. Retrieved 19.10.2011.
• ’Tropical Fruit Salad’, 1965, March-May issue.[26] [10] ^ , Queensland, http://www.library.uq.edu.au/
• ’The Language of Flowers’, 1965, June-August fryer/ms/uqfl241.pdf
issue. [27] [11] ^ Brennan, Frank (1983), Too Much Order with Too
Little Law, St Lucia, Queensland: University of
Queensland Press, pp. 129, ISBN 0702218421,
References http://library.uq.edu.au/search~S7?/
[1] ^ Our Women, Our State: Women in Pictures: 1967, Xfrank+brennan&SORT=D/
http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/ Xfrank+brennan&SORT=D&SUBKEY=frank%20brennan/
q150-women/1960/index.shtml#item-eva-bacon, 1%2C53%2C53%2CB/
retrieved 2011-10-18 frameset&FF=Xfrank+brennan&SORT=D&26%2C26%2C
[2] ^ Grant, H. (2005), Great Queensland Women, [12] Bacon, Eva, The Struggle for Unity in the Labour
Brisbane: State of Queensland (Office for Women), Movement in the Post War Period, Queensland,
pp. 72–76, http://library.uq.edu.au/search~S7?/ http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/ms/
X%22great+queensland+women%22&SORT=D/ uqfl241.pdf
[13] "Leaflet called obscene.". The Courier
X%22great+queensland+women%22&SORT=D&SUBKEY=%22great%20queensland%20women%22/ Mail
1%2C2%2C2%2CB/ (Queensland): pp. 12. 7 Oct. 1971.
[14] Gifford, C. E.
frameset&FF=X%22great+queensland+women%22&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C, (1971), Press Release, Queensland,
retrieved 2011-10-18 http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/ms/
[3] ^ "Marriages", The Courier Mail (Queensland): 6, uqfl241.pdf
Friday, 12 May 1944, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/ [15] ^ "Union of Australian Women: History and
del/article/ Background". Union of Australian Women Victoria.
2006. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~uawvic/
42058786?searchTerm=((Taylor,%20Jonathan%20(1941-)))%20NOT%20(id:82385fb5-7803-4870-8359-31db2dede5df)&searchLimi
retrieved 2011-10-18 about_us.htm. Retrieved 03.10.2011.
[16] "Union of Australian Women". National Museum
Australia. 2008.
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eva Bacon
http://www.indigenousrights.net.au/ Queensland. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/
organisation.asp?oID=13. Retrieved 05.10.2011. iwd/. Retrieved 20.10.2011.
[17] ^ Stevens, Joyce. "A History of International [24] Bacon, Eva (October-December 1961). "Blue
Women’s Day in Words and Images: The Nineteen Flowers". Our Women. http://library.uq.edu.au/
Fifties and Sixties". http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/ search~S7?/Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D/
stevens/50s60s.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-18. Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&extended=0&SUBKEY=eva%
[18] ^ "1st World Conference on Women, Mexico 1975: 1%2C4%2C4%2CB/
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the frameset&FF=Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C.
United Nations concerning the World Conference [25] Bacon, Eva (June-September 1964). "The Magic
on International Women’s Year". Circle". Our Women. http://library.uq.edu.au/
http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/ search~S7?/Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D/
1453.html. Retrieved 18.10.2010. Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&extended=0&SUBKEY=eva%
[19] "International Women’s Year, 1975 – Fact Sheet 1%2C4%2C4%2CB/
237". http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact- frameset&FF=Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C.
sheets/fs237.aspx. Retrieved 18.10.2011. [26] Bacon, Eva (March-May 1965). "Tropical Fruit
[20] , Queensland, http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/ Salad". Our Women. http://library.uq.edu.au/
ms/uqfl241.pdf search~S7?/Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D/
[21] "Fryer Library: Special Collections Library of the Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&extended=0&SUBKEY=eva%
University of Queensland". University of 1%2C4%2C4%2CB/
Queensland. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/. frameset&FF=Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C.
Retrieved 20.10.2011. [27] Bacon, Eva (June-August 1965). "The Language of
[22] "Online Exhibitions: Radical Politics and the Flowers". Our Women. http://library.uq.edu.au/
University of Queensland". Fryer Library: Special search~S7?/Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D/
Collections Library of the University of Queensland. Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&extended=0&SUBKEY=eva%
University of Queensland. 1%2C4%2C4%2CB/
http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/ frameset&FF=Xeva+bacon&searchscope=7&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C.
radical_politics/page1.html. Retrieved 20.10.2011.
[23] "Online Exhibitions: International Women’s Day,
March 8th". Fryer Library: Special Collections Library of
External links
the University of Queensland. University of
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eva_Bacon&oldid=462607219"
Categories:
• Australian feminists
• Australian socialists
• Australian communists
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