Valentine Leeper
Valentine Alexa Leeper (14 February 1900 – 26 July 2001) was an Australian classicist, teacher, polemicist, and letter-writer of renown.
Life
Valentine Leeper was born on Valentine's Day 1900 in the Leeper Building of
Leeper was educated at
Views
Eccentric and conservative in style, but liberal in many of her views, Leeper acquired from her father the spirit of a controversialist, and over many decades she was a frequent writer of letters to newspapers, government ministers, Anglican church leaders and many others. She was a commentator and activist on international affairs (e.g. as a long-time member of the League of Nations Union), Indigenous affairs (including as a long-time member of the Victorian Aboriginal Group), education (including the protection of classical studies), the church (for example, as an advocate of women's ordination). Her other interests included hockey playing.
In 1944, she published a pamphlet, Piecrust Promises, attacking what she saw as the British betrayal of Poland to the Soviet Union during World War II, which had originally been fought to protect Poland. For many years in the mid-20th century, Leeper appeared on Australian radio as a provider of little-known information and her own clear opinions. A strong defender of her father's memory and opinions, she provided much information for a biography of him, written by John Poynter, and published in 1997.
In 1998, Leeper was installed as a fellow of
Nobody's Valentine: Letters in the Life of Valentine Alexa Leeper, 1900-2001 was published in 2008.[3] It was launched by Geoffrey Blainey and has been described by women's historian Patricia Grimshaw as "a vivid and compelling portrait of this influential woman", and as being at "the forefront of insightful biography".[4]
References
- ^ a b Trinity College - Women at Trinity - Valentine Alexa Leeper
- ^ Donald Markwell, "Valentine Leeper", in A large and liberal education: higher education for the 21st century, Australian Scholarly Publishing and Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2007.
- ^ Marion Poynter, Nobody's Valentine: Letters in the Life of Valentine Alexa Leeper, 1900-2001, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2008.
- Trinity College (University of Melbourne), December 2008, p. 9.
Sources
- Marion Poynter, Nobody's Valentine: Letters in the Life of Valentine Alexa Leeper, 1900-2001, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2008.
- Patricia Grimshaw, "A woman of passionate engagement", TrinityToday, Trinity College (University of Melbourne), December 2008.
- Donald Markwell, "Valentine Leeper", in 'A large and liberal education': higher education for the 21st century, Australian Scholarly Publishing & Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2007.
- Trinity College (University of Melbourne), September 2008.
- John Poynter, Doubts and Certainties: A life of Alexander Leeper, Melbourne University Press, 1997.