Lillian Roxon - 1970s

1970s

In the early 1970s Roxon's profile expanded and she became more widely known for her feminist stance. She wrote a groundbreaking and highly personal report about the August 1970 women's rights march in New York, which was published in The Sydney Morning Herald under the title "There is a tide in the affairs of women". She wrote a regular column on sex and sexuality for Mademoiselle magazine (which continued after her death) and during 1971 she hosted a rock radio show that was syndicated to 250 stations. She met and became friends with David Bowie and his first wife Angie on Bowie's first tour of the USA in late 1972 and was a major champion of Bowie's music in the American press as he was trying to break into America.

Roxon's health declined during the early 1970s. She made what would be her last visit home to Australia in early 1973 and while she was in Sydney in early February she was interviewed by ABC journalists Jeune Pritchard and Gary Hyde for the ABC's pop magazine program GTK. The shorter Jeune Pritchard interview was included in a special on the current Australasian tour by The Rolling Stones, and showed Roxon looking obviously puffy and unwell. In the longer Gary Hyde interview Roxon was questioned about the current state of rock music in general; in response to Hyde's questions about up-and-coming acts, she nominated The New York Dolls and the then-unknown Bette Midler as names to watch, and concluded the interview by making a self-deprecating joke about her weight. Both clips are currently (May 2009) available for viewing on the YouTube video-sharing website.

One of Roxon's last print articles reported on the landmark New York concerts at Max's Kansas City by Iggy Pop and The Stooges and her final piece, filed in early August, was on rising British glam rock star Marc Bolan.

Roxon wrote a novel, loosely based on her years in Sydney, which was never published. This manuscript now resides in Sydney's Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, along with her large collection of letters and other papers, donated by her family and her close friend, the film producer, Margaret Fink.