August 26th 2002 August 25 will be forever known as a tragic day in Australian Literature, as we mourn the loss of one of our great writers, Dorothy Hewett. She may be better known as a poet and playwright than a writer of musical theatre, but Hewett often included music and song in her works, and her highly popular 'The Man from Mukinupin' was indeed billed as a musical play. Born in 1923, Hewett's career spanned 12 collections of poetry, three novels, an autobiography, 13 plays and many articles and short stories, with a sequal to her autobiography 'Wild Card' left unfinished. Survived by her husband Merv Lilley and their children Kate and Rozanna, and her three children to her late husband Les Flood, Joe, Michael and Tom, Australia's "grande dame of Australian literature" died at Springwood Hospital of breast cancer.
