Anne Mary Ross Fairbairn AM (also Body, née Reid; 1928 – 22 October 2018)[1] was a widely published Australian poet,[2] journalist[3] and expert in Arab culture.[4] Fairbairn has been known for her work in bringing together Australian and Arab cultures for over 30 years through poetry.[5]
She is the only granddaughter of Australia's fourth Prime Minister, George Reid.[6]
In 1965, she married Geoffrey Forrester Fairbairn,[7] a Professor in the Department of History at the Australian National University.[2] Geoffrey died in London of lung cancer on 11 September 1980.[8]
She died at the age of 90 on 22 October 2018.[9]
In 1995, she was awarded the Banjo Paterson Writing Award for Open Poetry.[1] This was followed by the Order of Australia in 1998 for services to literature and international relations between Australia and the Middle East.[1]
In September 2005, Fairbairn received the award, "Living for Others – Promoting Peace through Media, Arts and Culture" from the International and Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace presented in Sydney by Professor Marie Bashir AO, Governor of New South Wales.[10]