Background
Dunn was born in Shanghai, China around the time of the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War, and her family, associated with Chiang Kai-Shek, fled to Hong Kong. They later emigrated to Australia, where Dunn attended school and was naturalised as an Australian citizen in the 1970s. After graduating in Arts from the University of Sydney, Dunn held several jobs, including as an editor at Pergamon Press. It was here that Dunn first drew publicity for activism. Dunn complained to a recruitment firm about sexism in their advertisements, however her attachment of her business card to the letter got her fired, an action which became front page news in Sydney. She was later partly reinstated.
In the early 1980s she married Brett Collins, a convicted bank robber turned prison activist, whom she met through her work editing a prison magazine. They separated within a few years and subsequently divorced. Throughout this period Dunn was engaged with political and social issues.
Read more about this topic: Irina Dunn
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