Ita inspires by sharing story
Second Women of Strength luncheon at Wellcamp airport
ITA Buttrose is an inspirational Australian who first set foot in Toowoomba in 1959 as a teenage reporter to cover the royal tour.
The 2013 Australian of the Year was back in Toowoomba yesterday to speak at the second Women of Strength luncheon, which raises money for the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation.
Ms Buttrose has had an impressive career in the media and paved the way for other journalists, especially women.
“I don’t think gender, whether you are a man or a woman, should ever hold you back,” she said.
“I think if you feel like you have got some ability and you want to have a go at something - you must have a go.”
Ms Buttrose’s list of
achievements is long, including being the youngest editor of The Australia Women’s Weekly, founding editor of Cleo magazine, the first woman to edit a major metropolitan newspaper in Australia as editor-in-chief of the Sydney Daily and Sunday Telegraphs and the first woman director of News Ltd.
“I suppose I was probably
influenced by my father. He was a journalist and he was an editor and he was later an author,” Ms Buttrose said.
“I think I used to look at my parents’ friends, they were all journalists and artists and photographers, and I used to think ‘these people know how to live’.
“I just knew when I was 11 that that’s what I wanted to
be. I wanted to be a journalist and I have never wavered off that.”
Money raised during the lunch was expected to reach $25,000 and will go to the hospital’s midwifery unit.
Toowoomba Hospital Foundation CEO Alison Kennedy said the money would go to a vital piece of equipment.
Ms Kennedy also made an
exciting announcement that there would be the third Women of Strength luncheon held later this year.
Actress Magda Szubanski will be the special guest at the October 28 event, held at the Mills Precinct.
Tickets go on sale for the event at 10am on Monday. Go to toowoombahospitalfoundation.org.au/