Rosemary Cameron has had a diverse and fascinating career spanning positions in arts management, events management and, more recently, as CEO and Director of both the Brisbane and Melbourne Writers' Festivals.
Literature, culture and language have been the overarching ties between some of Rosemary's career highlights including stints in France, Norway and London, where she worked with the English National Opera and later the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden as well as Sydney with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and later Melbourne for the Writers' Festival.
Having held the position of Principal of the Fig Tree Cultural Tacticians in Melbourne, Rosemary has also acted as a judge on the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for Fiction and for Poetry, assessed grants for Arts QLD, directed a poetry festival in Newcastle and has been a treasurer of the Australian Crime Writers Association.
While Rosemary has gone on to achieve professional success in her chosen field, it is the legacy of friendship she holds dearest.
"I have the most marvellous group of friends from St Aidan's. There are about 12 of us who are very, very close," she says.
"I'd put my life on the line for these women. They have looked after me through thick and thin and they have never faltered. We all went to university and then travelled overseas together. We went out with each other's brothers, became godparents to each other's children and now we are attending those children's weddings. The first one of our group became a grandmother recently. And although we live all over the place we have regular get-togethers and our conversations continue without pause. Those women are by far the most important legacy of my time at St Aidan's."
