Wendy Lowenstein was an Australian historian, author and teacher notable for her recording of people's everyday experiences and her advocacy of left wing politics. Lowenstein is chiefly known for her oral histories, including Weevils in the Flour: an oral record of the 1930s depression in Australia, and for her commitment to recording Australian folklore and child rhymes. Lowenstein was a member of the Communist Party of Australia from age 15 until 1956, when she split over the revelations in the Secret Speech and the repression of the Hungarian revolution of 1956. Lowentstein remained active in the revolutionary left despite this split—according to her obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald when she discovered school children fighting over the going rate for sex work in the 1970s, she lectured them on basic principles of unionism such as maintaining a base rate for labour, and not undercutting other workers.