| Creator: |
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| Date of birth: |
10/06/1946 |
| Place of birth: |
Colac |
| Date of death: |
16/06/2009 |
| Place of death: |
Melbourne |
| Biography: |
Helen Robertson was born in Colac, raised in Melbourne and began nursing training at the Alfred Hospital in January 1964. Helen gained her midwifery certificate and lived and worked in Europe for a number of years before returning in 1982 to Brunswick, Melbourne. During the 1980s, Helen was a member of the Orange Action group to raise money for women and children damaged and deformed by Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
Helen joined the Women's Circus in 1993 and performed in the Women and Sports Show as well as on barges for the Moomba River Pageant. She became a skilled bike rider who performed with several women balanced on the bike. Helen attended the clowning course; performed in the end of year show, Death: the Musical; was part of a mind-reading act; and was one of the performers in the fifth Women's Circus show, Leaping the Wire, at the old Brickworks in Brunswick in 1995.
Helen was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and began attending the Lesbian Cancer Support Group. She was a member of the Lesbian Meditation Group which formed in 2003 and met once a month for approximately three years. After Helen was told her cancer had metastasised in 2005 she reduced her work hours and was careful to rest and eat healthily. During the last months of her life Helen was cared for at home by her friends till she died peacefully in her sleep. Helen's funeral was held at the Uniting Church in Sydney Road Brunswick on 22 June 2009 and she was buried in the Fryerstone Cemetary.
This collection is No. 149 of the Victorian Womens Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archive |
| Activities/Occupation: |
Feminists |
|