Lainie Anderson is a journalist, author and columnist who was recently bestowed with a Medal of the Order of Australia for her contribution to community history. She is an executive committee member with the History Council of SA, a History Guardian with the History Trust of SA, SA representative for the Federation of Australian Historical Societies, an ambassador for the Hutt Street Centre and was a former spokesperson for Voluntary Assisted Dying SA.
What first inspired your love for writing and storytelling?I was inspired into journalism in the 1980s by groundbreaking women journalists Jana Wendt (A Current Affair) and Ita Buttrose (Australian Women’s Weekly).
The saying ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’ is so true.
Both were intelligent, sassy and formidable, and I just adored them.
My darling Dad can take the credit for introducing me to politics, as we used to argue relentlessly over the television news.
Both Mum and Dad were incredibly encouraging, too, always telling me I could do anything I set my mind to.
And my wonderful English/Australian History teacher at Minlaton High School, Claudia Agnew, gave me the confidence to apply for a journalism degree in 1987.
Your first journalism job was in regional journalism. How did you find your way to the Sunraysia Daily at Mildura and what are some of the places your journalism career has taken you since?I scored my first job at the Sunraysia Daily by writing on my CV that my hobbies were beer and pasta.
I still have no idea why I wrote it, because pasta wasn’t really my thing, but the editor loved it and thought I’d get on well with the rest of the newsroom.
Pretty soon after moving into country Victoria, I set myself the goal of covering politics for the Herald Sun in Melbourne.
So my next job was at the Shepparton News, and after that came The Weekly Times, which is a sister paper to the Herald Sun and was also located in the same building.
I then set about making sure I was always in the same lift as the Herald Sun chief of staff, and badgered him until he gave me a job.
Then I badgered him until he let me write politics.
From the Herald Sun I moved overseas to London, where I did casual shifts on lots of Fleet Street newspapers (Australian sub-editors had a great reputation in the late ’90s for being skilled and hard-working) before getting full-time work on the The Times.
I was there for two and a half years, when Tony Blair’s ‘Cool Britannia’ was in full flight and Bill Clinton was getting impeached over the Monica Lewinsky affair.
Every shift was amazing.
How did you transition into writing novels?
I moved back to Adelaide in mid-2000 and got a job as public relations manager at the South Australian Tourism Commission, which re-introduced me to everything wonderful about our gorgeous State.
In 2007, when I was married with twin boys, I was asked to write a weekly column in the Sunday Mail. Then in 2009, a reader asked me to write a column on the old Vickers Vimy bi-plane out at Adelaide Airport, and I learned about SA’s incredible aviators Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith.
With their air mechanics Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, they made the first, record-breaking flight from England to Australia in 1919.
The Vickers Vimy was made of wood, wire and fabric, it was an open-cockpit plane, and there were basically no airfields after India.
Their story was absolutely amazing, and yet so many South Australians don’t know about it.
Anyway, I got a bit addicted (as you can probably tell) and 10 years later my first novel Long Flight Home was published by Adelaide’s Wakefield Press.
What inspired you to write about murder mysteries?At the height of Covid in 2020, I saw a tweet by Keith Conlon that said something like, “On this day, Kate Cocks was born in Moonta. She became one of the world’s first policewomen”.
I looked her up on the internet and discovered her real name was Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks – and decided she was a woman I couldn’t ignore.
I ended up studying her story as part of a PhD at the University of South Australia.
In 1915, unmarried and 40 years of age, she became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary as men and with the same powers of arrest.
A strict Methodist and teetotaller, she walked the streets with a five-foot cane, barking “three feet apart” to couples caught canoodling.
She also loved a tight perm and she loved to shop, and was known to be incredibly empathetic. Everything about her is fascinating.
I wanted the world to get to know her story, so I decided a rollicking murder mystery was a good way to go about it.
In the final year of my PhD, I signed a two-book deal with Hachette Australia – for The Death of Dora Black, and later, Murder on North Terrace.
I’ve recently signed another contract for two more novels.
What is the most challenging part of bringing together a novel?Everything! Seriously. I’m not great at it yet.
Murder mysteries are particularly hard (I think!) because you need an over-arching murder mystery with all of the plot twists and red herrings, but you also need additional universal themes plus great characters for people to fall in love with.
Those characters need to go on their own journeys throughout the novel.
I’m also trying to pack each novel with history and historical themes (without being boring) which adds to the challenge.
I’m not complaining – I’m incredibly grateful and I love it.
I’m just waiting for it to get less stressful!
Who are the greatest inspirations behind your work and broader life and why?Without doubt, my husband Max is my greatest inspiration (and my rock and everything else).
I’m very lucky in that I married an awesome writer and an even better editor.
He’s incredibly intelligent, thoughtful and patient – he knows when a sentence is wrong and is able to articulate it clearly.
He edited my Sunday Mail columns every week, and now he edits every chapter.
And yes, we’ve had some ripper arguments!
I honestly can’t believe he puts up with my tantrums and keeps coming back for more.
Deserves a medal, bless him.
What is your all-time favourite book?That’s an easy one. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières.
I was in London a few years after it became an international bestseller in 1994, and would gush about it to total strangers on the Tube if I saw them reading it.
Alongside a writing career you’ve been involved in a number of other roles including as a spokesperson for Voluntary Assisted Dying SA; Ambassador for SA’s Epic Flight Centenary; and co-founder of support website Mining Family Matters. What are the key things that drive you and your ventures outside of writing?When I was younger and the boys were little, I suppose I wanted to be a strong role model for them.
I’ve always liked being busy and challenged, and I love setting goals and working strategically toward them.
Voluntary Assisted Dying was very personal because my dad was a strong advocate before his death from cancer in 2009.
I just thought it was so unfair that people didn’t have a choice.
I’m proud to have been part of the team that got the legislation passed after so many failed attempts.
As I get older, I appreciate how many amazing opportunities I’ve had in my life.
I try to be kind, and to give back.
What’s next for you?Editing book three in the Petticoat Police Mystery series, which will be out in September, and writing book four!
