Images above of Elizabeth Jolley receiving her Honorary Doctorate from Curtin University
Courtesy Curtin University of Technology
Records and Archives Office

Elizabeth Jolley's medallion to commmemorate her Honorary Doctorate from Curtin University
Courtesy Curtin University of Technology
Records and Archives Office

The accompanying inscription for the medallion (click to view large image)
Courtesy Curtin University of Technology
Records and Archives Office

Honours

1985
President of the Australian Society of Authors, 1985-1986 (succeeding Donald Horne, who became Chair of the Australia Council).

1987
Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award in Arts, Entertainment and Culture, awarded 1 June.

Honorary DTech awarded by the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University, Perth) "in recognition of her international standing as an author and creative writer, her interests in the Western Australian Institute of Technology and her professional contribution to students' learning," 20 March 1987.

Foundation Member of the Curtin University Fellowship, conferred 25 May 1987.
Commemorative plaque, 32 St. George's Terrace, Perth (opposite Government House). Inaugurated in 1979, the commemorative plaques honour "distinguished Western Australians."

1988
Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), for service to Australian literature, announced by the Governor General of Australia the Rt Hon Sir Ninian Stephen in the Queen's Birthday Honours List (13 June) and presented by the Governor of Western Australia Professor Gordon Stanley Reid AD, 29 September.

Honorary Life Membership of Curtin Alumni, awarded 13 October.

1989
Advance Australia Award, awarded 26 January.

Fellowship of Australian Writers (Western Australia) Crucible and Life Membership, awarded April.

1991- present
Curtin University Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Series

1991
Dibble, Brian. "'Adam Was an Androgyne…': Community in the Fiction of Elizabeth Jolley." Alexander Library Lecture Theatre, Perth, 4 December.

1992
Taylor, Andrew. "Careful, She May Be Sitting Behind You: Australian Writers and the Wider World." Alexander Library Lecture Theatre, Perth, 7 October.

1993
Dodson, Patrick. "The Process of Reconciliation." Alexander Library Lecture Theatre, Perth, 28 September.

1994
Lawrence, Carmen. "'My Invalid Carrot is the Prettiest of Them All.'" Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 24 November.

1995
Summers, Anne. "The Newspaper of Claremont." Alexander Library Lecture Theatre, Perth, 10 August.

1996
Feuer, Jane. "In Defence of Melodrama: Camp, Drag, Excess, Melrose Place and Everyday Life." Norman Dufty Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 13 November.

1997
Special Presentation of The Well at Cinema Paradiso, Perth, 21 July, with its director, Samantha Lang, attending and speaking before the film-showing.

1998
Hazel Hawke. "The Whispering in Our Heart." Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 6 June.

1999
Ruth Cracknell. "Creative Woman: Pluses and Minuses." Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 30 September.

2000
Patricia Routledge. "In Praise of Mentors." Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 14 August.

2001
Hilary McPhee. "Creative Tension." Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 1 November.

2002
Barry Humphries. "My Life As Me." Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 22 July.

2004
Robert Drewe. "Territory."  Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 5 October.

2006
Katherine Brisbane. "Imagining a Creative Nation." Alexander Library Lecture Theatre, Perth, 3 August.

2007/2008
Elizabeth Webby (Chair), Kim Scott, Julienne van Loon, Dave Warner. "Critical Regionalism: Realizing the Local." Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 8 February 2008.

2009
Prof Raimond Gaita. "Literature and Morality? Of Course. But Literature and Law?" Building 213, Curtin University, 22 October 2009.

2010
Noeline Brown. "How ageing is represented in the media" Bankwest Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, 23 September 2010.

1994
Room 101 in Building 210, Curtin University, named the Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre.

1995
Doctor of Letters honoris causa awarded by Macquarie University, 28 April 1995.

Both Jolley and Jessica Anderson are awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters at this graduation ceremony. Jolley, having been introduced by then Vice Chancellor Diane Yerbury, gives an 8-minutes graduation address which draws on favourite writers and refers to constant themes in her work.

 

1997
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters, awarded for "recognition of her outstanding contribution to Australian literature," by the University of Queensland, 19 December 1997.

Australia's Living National Treasures, National Trust of Australia (NSW), announced December.

This inaugural award for 100 prominent Australian citizens recognised their special contributions to Australian society and included Jolley as one of 5 Western Australians honoured.

1998
Appointed as Professor of Creative Writing at Curtin University, 6 June 1998.

State Living Treasures Award (Western Australia), awarded by the Ministry for Culture and the Arts, 21 October 1998.

Jolley was one of 11 artists honoured for a "lifetime work that has enhanced the artistic and cultural life of Western Australia, provided inspiration for other artists and enriched our community."

2000
Outstanding Citizen Citation, Claremont Branch of the Liberal Party, 25 January 2000.

Doctor of Letters honoris causa awarded for "eminent service to the community," by the University of New South Wales, 5 May 2000.

Commonwealth Recognition Award for Senior Australians, awarded in recognition of significant contribution to local community, October.

2003
Centenary Medal, awarded by the Governor General of Australia the Rt Reverend Dr Peter Hollingworth AC OBE, April.

The Centenary Medal, announced by Prime Minister John Howard on 28 December 2001, commemorated 100 years of federation and acknowledged "those who contributed to the success of Australia's first hundred years as a federal nation."

2007
Annual Elizabeth Jolley Memorial Scholarship, for a student enrolling in the Bachelor of Arts (Communication and Cultural Studies) at Curtin University of Technology.

The purpose of the scholarship is to encourage and reward young people who have demonstrated academic excellence and have an interest in pursuing a career in Creative Writing, Professional Writing, Literary and Cultural Studies or Performance Studies.

Dedicated Concert Program. WASO (Western Australian Symphony Orchestra) Great Classics [Concert Series]. Symphony No. 38 Prague, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ein deutsches Requiem (German Requiem), by Johannes Brahms. Cond. Lothar Zagrosek. Perf. Jutta Boehnert and Anton Scharinger. Concert Hall, Perth, 16-17 November.

"WASO salutes the life and work of the great WA writer Elizabeth Jolley [1923-2007] for whom music, especially Brahms' German Requiem, was a great source of joy and inspiration."

2007-2009
Melbourne Writers' Festival Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Series

2007
Caroline Lurie, "Elizabeth Jolley-A Tribute," Beckett Theatre, Melbourne, 30 August.

Past literary agent and close friend, Caroline Lurie delivered a tribute to Elizabeth Jolley. From 2008 these lectures will become known as the Annual Elizabeth Jolley Lecture.

2008
Elizabeth Webby, "The mysterious Mrs. Jolley", Federation Square, Melbourne, 23 August.

Elizabeth Webby AM is an Emeritus Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney.This is the first in a series of annual lectures to be held in honour of Elizabeth Jolley, extracts of each to be published in The Age and each to be recorded and broadcast by Radio National.

2009
Presented by Brian Dibble, Federation Square, Melbourne, 22 August.

Brian Dibble, who in 1972 founded what is now Communication and Cultural Studies at Curtin University, is Curtin's Emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature. He has published articles on Elizabeth Jolley's work and written/edited a dozen books, including his own poetry and prose and two edited volumes of William Hart-Smith's poetry.

2008
Publication of Doing Life: A Biography of Elizabeth Jolley by Brian Dibble, UWA Press.

Professor Dibble was given complete access to Jolley's personal papers held at the Mitchell Library, New South Wales to complete his biography of the author. The biography was awarded the 2008 WA Premier's Book Award in the category of WA History and was shortlisted for the 2009 Prime Ministers Literary Awards.

2010
A Jolley Performance, performed by Maggie Millar, Joy Mitchell and Sean Scully, Melbourne Writers Festival 2010, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, 3 September

Staged readings of two Elizabeth Jolley plays - Little Lewis Has Had a Lovely Sleep and Mr Right. Maggie Millar has previously performed in the role of Miss Vales in Little Lewis. Elizabeth once wrote to Maggie to say how much she enjoyed her performance and this led to further correspondence and a meeting in Perth. As a result of her experience with Elizabeth, Maggie performed a monologue, Miss Vales: Mr Right.