Published in 2020
212 pages
Merle Thornton (born 1930) is an Australian feminist activist, author and academic. She is best known for her 1965 action at the Regatta Hotel where she and Rosalie Bogner chained themselves to a bar rail to protest the exclusion of serving women in public bars in Queensland, Australia.
Women’s rights and social justice are threads linking Thornton’s diverse range of pursuits and projects, including the 1965 founding of the Equal Opportunities Association for Women, helping establish the first Women’s Studies course at the University of Queensland in 1973, and contributing to feminist and social theory literature.
What is this book about?
An engaging, lively, provocative and, above all, inspiring memoir from one of our home-grown, unsung feminist heroes, Merle Thornton, who has lived a life full of daring, defiance and activism.
Merle Thornton is one of Australia’s most delightful, formidable and game-changing pioneering feminists – a woman who through her daring and defiance helped bring about positive change for generations of Australian women.
In her most audacious act, in 1965 she chained herself to the bar at the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane to protest against the law that excluded women from public bars in Queensland, bringing about the end of segregated drinking in that state. The bar in the hotel is now called ‘Merle’s Bar.’ But that’s just one achievement, in a life full and rich in defiance, daring and determination.
Warm, funny, rollicking – this is a memoir that is powerfully relevant to all women now.
