In Conversation with Helen Meredith ('53)

I recently spoke with Helen Meredith (’53, nee Wrench) who is a former journalist, editor and commentator with forty years’ experience on the Australian and international scene. Helen kindly answered a number of questions that I put forward. She was inducted to the Pearcey Foundation Hall of Fame in 2017, recognising her significant contribution into one or more of Australia’s ICT research, industry or professional development. She was the recipient of St Margaret’s Distinguished Past Student Award in 2018.

Now living deep in a rainforest, Helen writes fiction and poetry. It was interesting to learn that she has published poetry under the name Leila Meredith. She has been a member of The Thursday Girls for more than 20 years, an informal group of a dozen older women in regional Queensland who collaborate on projects for charity, engage in lively debate, support each other when times are tough and celebrate life’s milestones.

Resilience, Risk and Remarkable Change: A Life Shaped by St Margaret’s

When asked about her fondest memories of St Margaret’s, Helen Meredith smiles with nostalgia.

“My sister had been a boarder at St Margaret’s during World War II,” she begins. “When my father was repatriated, our family moved from the country to Brisbane, and I became a day girl. My sister had been happy at St Margaret’s, and many women in our extended family had attended boarding schools. For my parents, it was an easy choice.”

The family’s Anglican faith and deep commitment to community service were values naturally mirrored in the school’s ethos.

“Music, literature and service were central to our lives. Both my parents played and sang, and my mother was a Guiding Commissioner and Training Advisor. Fundraising for causes like the Red Cross was part of our daily rhythm. St Margaret’s reinforced all these interests and expectations.”

She recalls with warmth the teachers who inspired her — music teacher Nora Baird, English teacher Miss Diamond (‘truly a jewel’), and the youthful and respected sports mistress Margie Gehrmann, who introduced the girls to the joys of the National Fitness program through bush hikes and Tallebudgera camps. “And then there was ‘Wix,’ our headmistress Vera Wearin — to be obeyed but deeply respected. I still remember standing beside her as School Captain outside Eton Hall at assembly. It was an honour.”

Her schooling years were marked not only by academic and extracurricular richness, but by the wider world’s upheaval.

“The war had jolted Australians awake. It made us more accepting of change,” she says. “Women were ready for the post-war reconstruction programs and the feminist movement that would follow. St Margaret’s gave us much more than resilience and skills — it gave us confidence to adapt, to lead, and to take risks.”

In 1953, her class was small — just 14 girls in 6A — but their bond was powerful.

“We inhabited a little room at the top of the Barley Sugar stairs. We were close, a bit wild, and many of those friendships have lasted a lifetime.”

From Words to the World: A Career in Journalism and Technology

By the early 1970s, life had taken Helen from Brisbane to Canberra. She had married, raised four children, and built a solid career as a science editor and publications specialist with the National Capital Development Commission, while also teaching ‘Communications in Science’ at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra).

“I had extracted myself and the children from domestic violence. It was a time of constant change, but we were getting on with life,” she reflects. “The children were thriving in school and had inherited the family passion for music. I had stable work, and we were safe.”

It was during this period that she met Ernst Koszcar, a veteran journalist and Hungarian émigré who had survived both Nazi and Soviet rule.

“Ernst became a dear friend and mentor. We often discussed how rapidly digital technology was changing society. He warned that the media would need to do a far better job of explaining innovation, scrutinising government, and tracking industry.”

Taking his advice, she made a bold career pivot — from science publishing to technology journalism — at a time when few women occupied such spaces.

She became editor of The Australian’s Computers and High Technology section, which grew into the largest weekly technology section of any daily newspaper in the world.

“It was a roller-coaster ride — exhilarating, demanding, and absolutely male-dominated. But my earlier experience in a multidisciplinary, male-dominated environment had prepared me well.”

Later, she joined the Australian Financial Review as Communications Editor, covering a period of extraordinary change — the government’s allocation of mobile phone spectrum, the creation of the Aussat satellite service, and the dawn of Australia’s digital age.

She also co-founded the independent international online news service, GlobalFlow, focused entirely on global communications.

“When I won a media award for it, I had to keep quiet — I was moonlighting!” she laughs. Though GlobalFlow ultimately closed after the U.S. market crash, she continued to write for the AFR, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald well into her seventies.

Championing Women in Technology

Throughout her career, Helen noticed the glaring absence of women’s voices in technology. Together with technology professional Ann Moffat, she co-founded Females in Technology (FIT) at UNSW.

“Ann and I felt the time had come to bring women in the tech sector together — to build community, share experience, and promote opportunities. We started small, speaking at schools and encouraging girls to explore careers in technology. We never imagined FIT would become a global movement supporting women in IT and, later, across the entire STEM spectrum.”

Her advocacy continued in the early 1990s when the National Information Technology Council invited her to edit a publication on “Women in Technology”. “At the time, women in the field were still largely invisible,” she recalls. “I found fourteen extraordinary women working in senior roles across the industry. Each had a story worth telling.”

The book, published in 1993 with a foreword by then Prime Minister Paul Keating, highlighted how information technology was about far more than machines — it was about how society perceives and interacts with itself.

“If I were compiling that book today, I’d be spoiled for choice,” she reflects. “STEM women now lead some of the nation’s most powerful institutions — yet there’s still much to do. Men still dominate the ranks, and diversity remains limited.”

She points to the Khuda Family Foundation’s $100 million donation to the University of Sydney, supporting STEM education for girls in Western Sydney, as a landmark initiative.

“It’s inspiring, but we shouldn’t have to rely on philanthropy. Our education systems — including schools like St Margaret’s — must continue to lead this change.”

A Legacy of Leadership and Learning

Now in her late eighties, she remains deeply connected to the technology community through organisations like the Pearcey Foundation and Women in Technology (QLD). “Each year, I see extraordinary young women winning national awards for innovation and entrepreneurship. It gives me enormous pride.”

Looking back, she credits St Margaret’s not only with shaping her resilience and intellect but also her sense of purpose.

“The school instilled in us the importance of leadership, service, and courage. We were encouraged to think for ourselves, to care about others, and to meet the world with curiosity.”

And, as she notes with a chuckle: “Now, in our late 80s, you’ll still find us tapping away at our phones and Zooming with our families. We’ve come a long way from the kerosene fridge and the ice cream churn.”

“Resilience and skills? Perhaps,” she concludes. “But also risk-taking, lucky timing, and the kindness, wisdom and advice of others — not least my four children, who are diligent, ethical and deeply musical. St Margaret’s helped plant those seeds.”

By Norma Tucker (’66)