Lillian Roxon
Encyclopedia
Lillian Roxon was a noted Australia
n journalist and author, best known for Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia (1969). Her niece Nicola Roxon
, the Australian politician, is currently the federal Minister for Health.
, Province of Savona
, Italy
. Her family, originally from Lwów
Ukraine, then Poland
, moved to the coastal town of Alassio in Italy, where Lillian was born. Because the Ropschitz family were Jewish, they migrated to Australia
in 1937 to escape the rise of fascism
, and they settled in Brisbane
. Shortly after their arrival, the family anglicised their names; the surname Roxon was Lillian's suggestion.
She studied at the University of Queensland
, where she met and had a brief affair with Zell Rabin, who gave Lillian her first job in America and who became a key associate of Rupert Murdoch
in the early 1960s. She pursued further studies at the University of Sydney
in the 1950s, where she fell in with the freewheeling movement known as the Sydney Push
. In the process, she attracted the attention of an ASIO
operative and was "reported on 25-6-51 as a communist sympathiser".
She began her career in newspapers in Sydney and for several years worked for the tabloid magazine Weekend, owned by newspaper magnate Sir Frank Packer and edited by renowned author Donald Horne
.
In 1959 she moved permanently to New York
, becoming the first Australian female overseas correspondent and the first Australian journalist to establish a high profile in America. From 1962 onwards she was the New York correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald
and over the next ten years she carved out a singular career reporting on arts, entertainment and women's issues for the Australian, American and British press.
and the rise of groups like The Beatles
, The Byrds
and The Rolling Stones
and she began to write regular articles on the subject. In early 1967 she visited San Francisco and was one of the first mainstream journalists to write about the nascent hippie
movement, filing a landmark story for The Herald on the subject. She also contributed to the famous Oz
magazine in the late 1960s.
Through her writings and her interest in pop, she became one of the leading lights of the social and musical scene that centred on the fabled New York music club Max's Kansas City
, which was frequented by members of the Andy Warhol
circle, Lou Reed
and The Velvet Underground
, Jim Morrison
and many others.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Roxon became close friends with critic and rock manager Danny Fields
, Village Voice journalist Blair Sabol, musician and writer Lenny Kaye
(later the guitarist in Patti Smith
's band and compiler of the original Nuggets
LP), photographers Linda McCartney
and Leee Black Childers and famous Australian academic, author and feminist Germaine Greer
.
In 1965 she was joined by Sydney Morning Herald's autocratic foreign correspondent Margaret Jones
. It was a clash of two unbending personalities which her biographer Robert Milliken described as "like two sopranos sharing the same stage". Perhaps to keep these two apart, Margaret was posted to Washington the following year.
Roxon also played host to many Australians who visited the city, including The Easybeats
and singer Lynne Randell
and artists including Clifton Pugh
. Australian singer Helen Reddy
credits Roxon for her first awareness of the women's movement and for providing much of the impetus for co-writing her international hit, "I Am Woman
".
Linda McCartney
(then Linda Eastman) was one of Roxon's closest female friends and she did much to further Eastman's career, but the friendship ended abruptly in 1969 when Eastman moved to London, married Paul McCartney
and cut all ties with all her former friends, a move which wounded Roxon deeply.
Lillian eventually retaliated, four years later, with her famously scathing review of the McCartneys' first American TV special
. Published in the New York Sunday News on 22 April 1973, Roxon's review panned the documentary and poured scorn on Linda, slamming her for being "catatonic with horror at having to mingle with ordinary people", "disdainful if not downright bored ... her teeth relentlessly clamped in a Scarsdale
lockjaw", and "incredibly cold and arrogant".
in late 1969 and the work for which she is best remembered. It was extremely successful, is still regarded as a landmark in popular music writing and is often quoted. However, the work had to be written concurrently with her regular duties as the Herald correspondent and other press commitments. The punishing schedule took a heavy toll on her health and she developed asthma
.
in New York, which was published in The Sydney Morning Herald under the title "There is a tide in the affairs of women". She wrote a regular column on sex and sexuality for Mademoiselle magazine (which continued after her death) and during 1971 she hosted a rock radio show that was syndicated to 250 stations. She met and became friends with David Bowie
and his first wife Angie on Bowie's first tour of the USA in late 1972 and was a major champion of Bowie's music in the American press as he was trying to break into America.
Roxon's health declined during the early 1970s. She made what would be her last visit home to Australia in early 1973 and while she was in Sydney in early February she was interviewed by ABC
journalists Jeune Pritchard and Gary Hyde for the ABC's pop magazine program GTK
. The shorter Jeune Pritchard interview was included in a special on the current Australasian tour
by The Rolling Stones
, and showed Roxon looking obviously puffy and unwell. In the longer Gary Hyde interview Roxon was questioned about the current state of rock music in general; in response to Hyde's questions about up-and-coming acts, she nominated The New York Dolls and the then-unknown Bette Midler
as names to watch, and concluded the interview by making a self-deprecating joke about her weight. Both clips are currently (May 2009) available for viewing on the YouTube
video-sharing website.
One of Roxon's last print articles reported on the landmark New York concerts at Max's Kansas City by Iggy Pop
and The Stooges
and her final piece, filed in early August, was on rising British glam rock
star Marc Bolan
.
Roxon wrote a novel, loosely based on her years in Sydney, which was never published. This manuscript now resides in Sydney's Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
, along with her large collection of letters and other papers, donated by her family and her close friend, the film producer, Margaret Fink
.
A documentary film entitled Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon, written and directed by Paul Clarke
, premiered at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival
and was partly financed by the Festival's Premiere Fund.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n journalist and author, best known for Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia (1969). Her niece Nicola Roxon
Nicola Roxon
Nicola Louise Roxon is an Australian politician, and is the Minister for Health and Ageing. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the Division of Gellibrand, in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.-Early and personal life:She...
, the Australian politician, is currently the federal Minister for Health.
From Italy to Australia, then the U.S.A.
She was born Lillian Ropschitz in AlassioAlassio
Alassio is a town and "comune" of 11.312 inhabitants in the province of Savona situated in the North West of Italy and approximately 80 km from the French border.Alassio is known for its natural beauty and scenic views...
, Province of Savona
Province of Savona
The Province of Savona is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Savona.-Overview:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Her family, originally from Lwów
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
Ukraine, then Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, moved to the coastal town of Alassio in Italy, where Lillian was born. Because the Ropschitz family were Jewish, they migrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1937 to escape the rise of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, and they settled in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. Shortly after their arrival, the family anglicised their names; the surname Roxon was Lillian's suggestion.
She studied at the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, where she met and had a brief affair with Zell Rabin, who gave Lillian her first job in America and who became a key associate of Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
in the early 1960s. She pursued further studies at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
in the 1950s, where she fell in with the freewheeling movement known as the Sydney Push
Sydney Push
The Sydney Push was a predominantly left-wing intellectual sub-culture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early '70s. Well known associates of the Push include Jim Baker, John Flaus, Harry Hooton, Margaret Fink, Sasha Soldatow, Lex Banning, Eva Cox, Richard Appleton, Paddy McGuinness, David...
. In the process, she attracted the attention of an ASIO
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
operative and was "reported on 25-6-51 as a communist sympathiser".
She began her career in newspapers in Sydney and for several years worked for the tabloid magazine Weekend, owned by newspaper magnate Sir Frank Packer and edited by renowned author Donald Horne
Donald Horne
Professor Donald Horne was an Australian journalist, writer, social critic, and academic who became one of Australia's best known public intellectuals....
.
In 1959 she moved permanently to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, becoming the first Australian female overseas correspondent and the first Australian journalist to establish a high profile in America. From 1962 onwards she was the New York correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
and over the next ten years she carved out a singular career reporting on arts, entertainment and women's issues for the Australian, American and British press.
1960s
In the mid-1960s Roxon became fascinated by pop musicPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and the rise of groups like The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
and she began to write regular articles on the subject. In early 1967 she visited San Francisco and was one of the first mainstream journalists to write about the nascent hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
movement, filing a landmark story for The Herald on the subject. She also contributed to the famous Oz
Oz (magazine)
Oz was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London...
magazine in the late 1960s.
Through her writings and her interest in pop, she became one of the leading lights of the social and musical scene that centred on the fabled New York music club Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
, which was frequented by members of the Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
circle, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
and The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
and many others.
Rock criticism
Her articles about the burgeoning rock scene are now credited as being foundation stones of serious rock writing, and she has since been described by other leading critics as "the mother of rock". She was friendly with many leading music stars but rarely became personally involved. Although she looked young enough to mix easily with the rock crowd, she was at least ten years older than most of the musicians she wrote about. Unusually for the time, she did not smoke or take drugs and only rarely drank alcohol. These factors, together with her renowned wit, combined to give her writing a degree of ironic detachment that influenced many younger rock writers. She was one of the first mainstream journalists to treat popular music with any degree of seriousness and to regard it not as a trivial "flash in the pan" but as an important social phenomenon.During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Roxon became close friends with critic and rock manager Danny Fields
Danny Fields
Danny Fields is an American journalist and author. As a music-industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the underground and punk rock scenes.- Early life :...
, Village Voice journalist Blair Sabol, musician and writer Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye is an American guitarist, composer and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group.- Early life :...
(later the guitarist in Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
's band and compiler of the original Nuggets
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era is a compilation album of American garage rock singles released in the mid- to late 1960s. It was assembled by Jac Holzman, founder of Elektra Records, and Lenny Kaye, later lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Group...
LP), photographers Linda McCartney
Linda McCartney
Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman....
and Leee Black Childers and famous Australian academic, author and feminist Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
.
In 1965 she was joined by Sydney Morning Herald's autocratic foreign correspondent Margaret Jones
Margaret Jones (journalist)
Margaret Mary Jones was an Australian journalist, noted for being one of the first accredited to China after the Cultural Revolution, and first female Foreign Editor on any Australian newspaper...
. It was a clash of two unbending personalities which her biographer Robert Milliken described as "like two sopranos sharing the same stage". Perhaps to keep these two apart, Margaret was posted to Washington the following year.
Roxon also played host to many Australians who visited the city, including The Easybeats
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
and singer Lynne Randell
Lynne Randell
Lynne Randell was an Australian pop singer. For three years in the mid-1960s she was Australia's most popular female performer and had hits with "Heart" and "Goin' Out of My Head" in 1966, and "Ciao Baby" in 1967. In 1967, Randell toured the United States with The Monkees and performed on-stage...
and artists including Clifton Pugh
Clifton Pugh
Clifton Ernest Pugh AO, was an Australian artist and three-time winner of Australia's Archibald Prize. He was strongly influenced by German Expressionism, and was known for his landscapes and portraiture...
. Australian singer Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy , often referred to as "The Queen of 70s Pop", is an Australian-American singer and actress. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10...
credits Roxon for her first awareness of the women's movement and for providing much of the impetus for co-writing her international hit, "I Am Woman
I Am Woman
"I Am Woman" is a song cowritten by Helen Reddy and singer/songwriter/guitarist Ray Burton and performed by Reddy. Released in its most well-known version in 1970, the song became an enduring anthem for the women’s liberation movement.-Success:...
".
Linda McCartney
Linda McCartney
Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman....
(then Linda Eastman) was one of Roxon's closest female friends and she did much to further Eastman's career, but the friendship ended abruptly in 1969 when Eastman moved to London, married Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and cut all ties with all her former friends, a move which wounded Roxon deeply.
Lillian eventually retaliated, four years later, with her famously scathing review of the McCartneys' first American TV special
James Paul McCartney (TV special)
James Paul McCartney is title of a 1973 television special produced by ATV and starring British musician Paul McCartney and his then current rock group Wings. It was first broadcast in April 16, 1973 in the United States on the ABC network, and was later broadcast in the United Kingdom on May 10,...
. Published in the New York Sunday News on 22 April 1973, Roxon's review panned the documentary and poured scorn on Linda, slamming her for being "catatonic with horror at having to mingle with ordinary people", "disdainful if not downright bored ... her teeth relentlessly clamped in a Scarsdale
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...
lockjaw", and "incredibly cold and arrogant".
Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia
During 1968-1969 Roxon was commissioned to write what became the world's first rock encyclopedia, published by Grosset & DunlapGrosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....
in late 1969 and the work for which she is best remembered. It was extremely successful, is still regarded as a landmark in popular music writing and is often quoted. However, the work had to be written concurrently with her regular duties as the Herald correspondent and other press commitments. The punishing schedule took a heavy toll on her health and she developed asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
.
1970s
In the early 1970s Roxon's profile expanded and she became more widely known for her feminist stance. She wrote a groundbreaking and highly personal report about the August 1970 women's rights marchWomen's Strike for Equality
The Women’s Strike for Equality was a strike which took place in the United States on August 26, 1970. It celebrated the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, which effectively gave American women the right to vote. The rally was sponsored by the National Organization for...
in New York, which was published in The Sydney Morning Herald under the title "There is a tide in the affairs of women". She wrote a regular column on sex and sexuality for Mademoiselle magazine (which continued after her death) and during 1971 she hosted a rock radio show that was syndicated to 250 stations. She met and became friends with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and his first wife Angie on Bowie's first tour of the USA in late 1972 and was a major champion of Bowie's music in the American press as he was trying to break into America.
Roxon's health declined during the early 1970s. She made what would be her last visit home to Australia in early 1973 and while she was in Sydney in early February she was interviewed by ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
journalists Jeune Pritchard and Gary Hyde for the ABC's pop magazine program GTK
GTK (TV show)
GTK was an Australian popular music TV series produced and broadcast by ABC Television.-History:The series title was an abbreviation of the phrase "Get To Know"...
. The shorter Jeune Pritchard interview was included in a special on the current Australasian tour
The Rolling Stones Pacific Tour 1973
The Rolling Stones Pacific Tour 1973 was a concert tour of countries bordering the Pacific Ocean in January and February 1973 by The Rolling Stones. The tour is sometimes referred to as the Winter Tour 1973...
by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, and showed Roxon looking obviously puffy and unwell. In the longer Gary Hyde interview Roxon was questioned about the current state of rock music in general; in response to Hyde's questions about up-and-coming acts, she nominated The New York Dolls and the then-unknown Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
as names to watch, and concluded the interview by making a self-deprecating joke about her weight. Both clips are currently (May 2009) available for viewing on the YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video-sharing website.
One of Roxon's last print articles reported on the landmark New York concerts at Max's Kansas City by Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
and The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
and her final piece, filed in early August, was on rising British glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
star Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
.
Roxon wrote a novel, loosely based on her years in Sydney, which was never published. This manuscript now resides in Sydney's Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
State Library of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales is a large public library owned by the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Macquarie Street, Sydney near Shakespeare Place...
, along with her large collection of letters and other papers, donated by her family and her close friend, the film producer, Margaret Fink
Margaret Fink
Margaret Fink is a prominent Australian film producer noted for her important role in the revival of Australian cinema in the 1970s....
.
Death
Lillian Roxon died at the age of 41 on 10 August 1973, after suffering a severe asthma attack in her New York apartment. She was survived by two brothers Jack and Milo. Both parents predeceased her and she never married nor had children.Biography
In August 2002, a biography of Lillian Roxon was published in Australia by Black Inc.: Lillian Roxon, Mother of Rock, written by the Sydney-based journalist and author Robert Milliken.A documentary film entitled Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon, written and directed by Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke is an All Star winning former Gaelic footballer for Dublin. He played football with his local club Whitehall Colmcille in Dublin and was a member of the Dublin senior football team for a number of years, starting in 1985...
, premiered at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
and was partly financed by the Festival's Premiere Fund.