Australian Catholic University has conferred an Honorary Doctorate on Australian journalist and literary critic Morag Fraser.
Best known as editor of Jesuit-owned magazine Eureka Street between 1991 and 2003, Ms Fraser accepted ACU’s highest honour, a Doctor of the University (Honoris Causa), on October 21 in Melbourne.
The honorary doctorate recognises Ms Fraser’s work in religious press, particularly in driving literary analysis at the intersection of theology and culture during her time as Eureka Street editor.
“I’m happy to accept this honorary doctorate because it pays tribute to all of the people who have made my extremely fortunate life possible,” Ms Fraser said.
“I was educated by Catholic women, a strong mother, a father committed to education, and that has led to everything I’ve done since.
“The work I’ve been involved in I hope continues the legacy of the Brigidine nuns who taught me, but also the faithful men I’ve known who are committed to making life better for people other than themselves.”
Born to a Presbyterian Scots sea captain and a musically gifted, entrepreneurial Catholic mother, Ms Fraser was habitually reading, drawing or writing as a child, leading to a lifelong interest in media and public life.
After writing her first letter to a newspaper at age 11, at 14 she worked “a classic summer job” persuading mothers and fathers to enter their infants in the Sun News-Pictorial’s summer promotion to find the “loveliest beach baby” in Victoria.
Her early days in the newsroom led to her working as a stringer for the Melbourne Herald and Sun. She also became editor of Farrago, the University of Melbourne’s student newspaper and the oldest of its kind in Australia.
In 1990, Ms Fraser was chosen by Jesuit priest Fr Michael Kelly to work on Eureka Street. In 1991, she became its editor, a position she held for 13 years.
“Eureka Street was exactly what its banner headline said, a journal of public affairs, theology and the arts. We believed, and I still believe very strongly, that those three are all complementary and necessary,” Ms Fraser said of the original vision for Eureka Street.
“It was to be a Catholic voice in a pluralist society that would speak to the issues of the day and all the richness of culture that one can bring to it.”
For her services to journalism, Ms Fraser was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2004 and in 2005 she became chair of the Australian Book Review.
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Former editor of Eureka Street accepts ACU’s highest honour (ACU)
