Babe Profile - March 2007

Helen O'Neill

If you have any imagination (as Anne Shirley would say) there could be nothing more thrilling or remarkable than delving into the curious and compelling lives of real people who have achieved extraordinary things - which is exactly what honorary Babe and award winning journalist, Helen O'Neill has been doing for her entire life.

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In her second biography, Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives (a finalist in the Walkley Awards and The Age Book of the Year), Helen takes us on a compelling journey of a woman whose wallpaper designs defined the 1960s and 1970s. Florence also created a life as chanteuse and a dancer in Shanghai and a French couturier called Madame Pellier in London, before she was murdered in 1977 at the age of 78.

"Researching Florence Broadhurst's life was a roller coaster. She led a series of lives in different countries ... the result is a story that has to be read to be believed," Helen says.

Helen's own biography is rather impressive: a former staff writer and section editor for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and Vogue Australia, she still writes regularly for publications including US Conde Naste Traveler, the weekend Australian, US Marie Claire, Cleo, HQ, Woman's Day and Woman's Weekly. Oh, and documentaries Helen has worked on have also won international awards, with one screening in over 200 countries on the same day.

Helen O'Neill

Helen is seems unaffected by all of the praise she's received and says growing up in the UK with her scientist father, mother and the eldest of four siblings, that she never thought her life would lead her to this point.

"I never imagined being a journalist - I left college with a degree in English and not knowing what I was going to do … although as it happens, I did start up a school newspaper!" Helen laughs.

After finishing her degree, Helen was encouraged by a friend to write for a magazine in Bristol, before she began working at the Sydney Morning Herald in 1986. She then went on to work in London's Fleet Street for British newspapers, before The Australian newspaper brought her back in 1997.

It was after writing a small piece on David Pescud that she was approached by Random House to write his biography and Helen says it was perfect timing - she had just gone to freelance and had the time to pursue it.

"It happened by chance - I basically met him and wrote a small piece for the Weekend Australian Magazine, and it got a reader response that you seldom receive ... as a result I was approached by the publishers," Helen says.

Florence Broadhurst

Helen says she has a real taste for it now, and is working on some European books at the moment.

"I think a lot of journalists are drawn to writing fiction, but I've never been one of those. I love real life stories that sound bizarre, or stories that have great emotional depth and colour."

"Florence was much more complicated though, because she's dead, and she lied so much about her life," Helen says.

Helen is set to fly into the U.S for the launch of her Florence book in May, and the book's publishers, Hardie Grant Books, hope to release it in Europe next.

One might wonder if Helen has any spare time - surprisingly, she does. She loves to see movies, plays soccer (left wing striker), finds time to swim, and cycles to work.

"I guess you could say I'm a commuter cyclist when I need to be - the perfect antidote to the keyboard!"

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