Junie Morosi (b. 1933) was born in Shanghai. Educated at the International School in Manila and the University of East Philippines, by the age of 18 she had married, had 3 sons, and divorced. She came to Australia in 1962, working in marketing and public relations with Qantas. Morosi was central to one of several scandals that rocked the Whitlam government in 1974-5. Soon after she began work with Al Grassby in the incipient Commission for Community Relations, Treasurer Jim Cairns poached her as his private secretary. The press implied that she was offered the job because of her looks, and her Eurasian background adding greatly to the public excitement over the 'Morosi affair'. Her book Sex, Prejudice and Politics (1975), with an introduction by Cairns, is a defiant account of her personal experience of ideological sexism and racism in 1970s Australia. Lewis Morley has remarked that of all his famous female portrait subjects, Morosi exuded the most charisma.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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