<Meet the Team>
Backroom Press was incorporated as a not-for-profit association in 2009. The object of the association is to help educate the community through the publication of books with subject matter or themes drawn from the Kimberley region.
THE COMMITTEE
The Management Committee of Backroom Press Inc is elected each year at the AGM. Those elected in 2011 were:
Sudha Coutinho (chairperson)
Christine Elsasser (secretary)
Alex Smee (treasurer)
Robyn Wells
Valerie Burgess
Flip Prior
Pat Lowe
Joyce Hudson
MEMBERSHIP
The objectives of Backroom Press Inc are to foster understanding between different cultural groups and support community educational projects. Your membership fee supports our work. Members get 25% discount on all our titles and receive E-bulletins several times a year.
Membership fees are $10 a year. They can be paid through the shopping cart from this page.
New members are welcome. Join us by sending an email to admin@backroompress.com.au.
HISTORY
Backroom Press was founded by Pat Lowe, Susan Sickert and Joyce Hudson in 2006 to publish entertaining and educational books from the Kimberley region.
 |
 |
 |
PAT LOWE
Pat Lowe began life in England and migrated to Australia in 1972. After failing as a teacher, Pat studied psychology and worked in prisons for more than 30 years. She has travelled widely in Australia and overseas, and moved to the Kimberley in 1979. Pat lived for several years in the Great Sandy Desert and has written a number of books for adults and children, most of them about desert life and natural history.
Publications:
Jilji — Life in the Great Sandy Desert, with Jimmy Pike, Magabala Books, 1990
Yinti — desert child, with Jimmy Pike, Magabala Books, 1992
The Girl With No Name, Penguin Books, 1994
Desert Dog, with Jimmy Pike, Magabala Books, 1997
Jimmy and Pat Meet the Queen, Backroom Press, 1997.
The Boab Tree, Lothian Books, 1998.
Desert Cowboy, with Jimmy Pike, Magabala Books, 2000.
Feeling the Heat, Penguin Books, 2002.
Out of the Desert, Magabala Books, 2002 (co-editor).
Hunters and Trackers, Rosenberg Publishing, 2002
Two Sisters, with Ngarta Jinny Bent, Jukuna Mona Chunguna, Eirlys Richards, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2004.
SUSAN SICKERT
Susan Sickert grew up in South Australia and feels at home in places where she can see the horizon. She has lived and worked in many parts of Australia and has travelled overseas a number of times. She studied art teaching but became disenchanted with it when she realized that she was not expected to put the theories of education she learnt about at Teachers College into practice in the classroom. Susan has tried her hand at youth work, shoemaking, performing, cameleering and bookselling. In recent years, Susan discovered a penchant for writing which led her into the world of publishing. She enjoys seeing an idea take shape and materialise into a book. Susan has lived in the Kimberley since 1985 and intends to make it her base for many more years.
Publications
Beyond the Lattice – Broome’s Early Years, Fremantle Art Centre Press, 2002
JOYCE HUDSON
Joyce Hudson grew up in Queensland in the days when career opportunities for women were few, so she trained as a nurse. Later she was greatly relieved to discover she had a talent for learning and anaylsing languages. This allowed her to move to a career in linguistics, at first with the Summer Institute of Linguistics and later as an independent linguist working to maintain Indigenous languages. The main languages she studied were Walmajarri, from the Great Sandy Desert, and Kriol. She has coordinated the publication of many books about Kimberley languages and supported language programs in schools. Joyce has lived in the Kimberley since 1967 and looks like staying there forever.
Relevant Publications
Hudson, J. 1978, The core of Walmajarri grammar, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.
Hudson, J. 1978, Grammatical and semantic aspects of Fitzroy Valley Kriol, Workpapers of SIL-AAB Series A, no.8. Darwin.
Hudson, J. 1984, ‘Why English should be taught as a second language in Aboriginal schools in the Kimberley’, Wikaru, vol. 12, pp. 99-106.
Hudson, J., Richards, R. with P. Siddon & P. Skipper et al, 1983, The Walmajarri: an introduction to the language and culture, Workpapers of SIL-AAB Series B, no.1. Darwin.
Hudson, J & McConvell, P. 1984, Keeping Language Strong: Report of the pilot study for the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, Halls Creek, WA
Berry, R. & Hudson, J. 1997, Making the jump: a resource book for teachers of Aboriginal students, Catholic Education Office, Kimberley Region, Broome, WA.
Richards, E. & Hudson, J. (comps) 1990, Walmajarri–English Dictionary, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Darwin.
Richards, E. & Lowe, P. & Hudson, J. (eds) 2002, Out of the Desert: Stories from the Walmajarri Exodus, Magabala books, Broome WA.