Joan Long (nee Boundy)

Joan Long (née Boundy) began her career in the early 1950s as a secretary with the Commonwealth Film Unit. In 1952 she became the second woman after Catherine Duncan to be given a directorial role in the unit, making a series of short documentaries. After a 10-year hiatus raising her children, she worked on two important historical documentaries on the Australian feature film industry – The Pictures That Moved: Australian Cinema 1896–1920 (1968) and The Passionate Industry 1920–1930 (1973) – which established her significant role as a writer, producer and director. She went on to pursue a career in feature films, including as scriptwriter for Caddie (1976) and producer of Puberty Blues (1981). She became the first woman president of the Australian Writers Guild in 1972 and was awarded an AM for her services to the film industry in 1980.