Day 2 of Fairway Galle Literary Festival 2018

“Don’t try to be a second class man, be a first class woman”

advises Sallyanne to a roomful of enthralled men and women.

The first female Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Sallyanne Atkinson is a politician, speaker, mentor and author. Her book ‘No Job for a Woman’, tells her inspiring story from wartime childhood in Sri Lanka to becoming the first female Lord Mayor of Brisbane.

Sallyanne’s Sri Lankan heritage began when her mother, pregnant with her left Ceylon before the fall of Singapore while her father remained with the Ceylon Planters and Rifle Corps. Returning to the country in 1944, studying at Bishops College and living in the island for a few years, Sallyane still recalls a few vivid memories of her time in the country.

Sallyane’s session at the Festival bought in a full house that even required a few audience members to be sitting on floors and stairs and standing against the wall. Her session was spent reminiscing about her childhood in Sri Lanka and her inspiring journey to becoming the first female mayor of Brisbane and the struggles that came with it.

“While I was working my way up as a politician and holding positions in the field I was still referred to as ‘dear, darling and pet’. I mean one day I was even asked, while I was working, if I didn’t have to go get my hair done!” shares Sallyane, “You just have to stop listening to the others advice and just do what you want to do.”

She dived into the topics of the ‘Me Too’ campaign and spoke about the difficulties women face in their careers.

Having caught up with her after her session Sallyanne said that her session was ‘very interactive’.

“As a speaker, I learnt from my audience and got to really listen to what people think. I love the Literary Festival and I really loved the session.”

We also spoke to some of the audience members who attended the session to gather a few comments;

 “It was interesting. Her different perspective on the ‘Me Too’ campaign was intriguing” – Rukman 

“It was excellent. She was very amusing and very fluent in her language and it was great hearing about her experience of early day Sri Lanka” – Judy 

“I thought it was very informative. She was very frank and outright and has a great sense of awareness” – Trauteshaw

“It’s very nice to hear the recollections of someone who lived in the Ceylon in the 40’s and 50’s.” – Rajeev 

“It was a very good session. Quite interesting” – Dr. Jayathunge 

“It was a very interesting talk. She was humorous and it was lovely hear her comments on living here in Sri Lanka” – Premila 

“It was pretty fascinating. I really valued her comments” – Narmada 

“I thought she gave a good message for women that we should go ahead and do it without taking everyone’s advice and I loved listening to her experiences” – Nilani 

“As an Australian of Sri Lankan heritage it was really interesting to hear about her experience here” – Melan