Jill Baker (author)
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikitia's general notability guideline. |
Jill Baker (Author) | |
|---|---|
| Add a Photo Jill Baker in 2023 | |
| Born | Jill Hammond Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia |
| Occupation |
|
| Language | English, Sindebele |
| Citizenship | Australian |
| Alma mater | Guildhall School of Music |
| Genre | Historical fiction, Biograpy |
| Notable awards | Order of Australia Medal |
| Children | Nicola |
| Parents | John and Nancy Hammond |
| Website | |
| jillbakerauthor.com | |
Jill Baker born 5th December 1940 is a Rhodesian/Australian writer. She has written two books, the first, Beloved African,[1] a biography of her father's life; and the second, the first part of The Zambezi Trilogy, The Horns.[2] Parts 2 and 3 are in progress.
Biography
Baker was the daughter of John Hammond, MA Cantab, headmaster of two of the first African Government schools in Southern Rhodesia[3] Mzingwane in Matabeleland and Goromonzi in Mashonaland - and Nancy Sugden, LRAM, graduate of the Royal Academy of Music London.
Her childhood friends were Dumiso Dabengwa, Ernest Bulle and Prune Madeya, whose life paths form the basis of the future trilogy. On leaving school in 1959 she studied piano and composition under Dr Cimbro Martin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and completed a business administration course at St. Godric's College in Hampstead.[4]
Baker was married to Tony Baker, a tobacco farmer, in 1962 living in Umvukwes (now Mvurwi) and Centenary before farm manager positions became redundant[5] following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI)[6]. Their daughter Nicola was born in 1971 but they were divorced in 1975.
RADIO AND TV
Baker worked for the next 18 years as a freelance journalist, TV newsreader, current affairs anchor, and host of classical music and documentary programmes at Rhodesia Television[7] (RTV) and The Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation, (RBC) Baker joined Blackberry Productions, to manage its audio division, producing commercials and sponsored radio programmes, before returning to The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation after Independence to set up the new radio station Radio Three.[8]
CO-ORD-A-NATION
Baker founded Co-Ord-A-Nation[9] in 1976, responding to the increased desperation of black and white women in Rhodesia during the guerrilla war following UDI.[10] With most men on regular call up,[11] wives and mothers had to take charge of running farms and businesses. For African women life became almost untenable, as sons joined the Rhodesian African Rifles, other sons joined one of the liberation armies, ZIPRA or ZANLA. Co-Ord-A-Nation operated with volunteer teams running bases throughout the country, providing physical and mental support and training groups for women of all races as well as establishing Forces Canteens.[12]
ZBC RADIO 3
Following the election in February/March 1980,[13] a team from the BBC was invited to newly independent Zimbabwe to look at new platforms for radio and television. Baker recommended the establishment of a radio station crossing cultures and aimed at the under 45's. BBC gave approval. ZBC Radio 3 was a new concept for the country with broad appeal style, and age-relevant black and white presenters. Among the disc jockeys were Josh Makawa, Mandy Mundawarara, John Matinde, Wellington Mbofana, Keith Lindsay, Mike Mundwa, Mike Mills, Roy Brassington, Trish Johns and Busi Mhlanga.
JILL BAKER ASSOCIATES
In 1980, Baker opened a public relations and marketing consultancy bearing her name, in Ballantyne Park, Harare.[14]
Baker married John Lambert in June 1982, and in September, commentated for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. As Qantas had recently recommenced flights to Southern Africa],[15] she was asked to conduct travel trade seminars around Australia highlighting Zimbabwe.
EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA
The Baker family emigrated to Australia in November 1983, settling in Adelaide. John died in 2008 after a 25 year marriage.
5UV
In 1984, as Jill Lambert, Baker was appointed Director of the Adelaide University radio station 5UV[16], and ran this for five years. 5UV (now Radio Adelaide), offered educational public radio, with on air training for aspiring newsreaders and broadcasters, programmes of national and international academic debate and publication of papers as well as live and pre-recorded on air performance for music students. During this time, the station twice won the Pater Award[17] [18]as the Best Public Radio station in Australia presented by the Australian Academy of Broadcast Arts and Sciences. The station's lack of visibility beneath one of the University's Plazas, was resolved by 1989 with the construction of a purpose built radio station on North Terrace, Adelaide master minded by the station's Technician Rick Palmer.
THE SATOUR GROUP
On leaving the radio station, Baker formed the Satour Group comprising of four components. Tailored Tours, Conventions Worldwide, The Real Incentive and Events Oz. Baker was involved in tourism development projects and management consultancy plus oversight of incentive programmes, tours and events. The company operated until Baker retired to write her first book, Beloved African, in 1999.
THE ZIMBABWE CONNECTION
In 2002, aware of events occurring in Zimbabwe, in particular the seizure of farming land under the government's fast-track land reform policy[19], Baker (then Jill Lambert) formed The Zimbabwe Connection.
Working with the Australian Department of Immigration, Baker’s volunteers managed a flood of applications from black and white Zimbabwean families, seeking to gain work and residence.
For her work in resettling those families into farming positions, and other businesses all over the country, she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal, O.A.M.[20] in 2005.
Baker was married to Ray Elford in 2012.
Authorship
BELOVED AFRICAN
Baker's start in authorship followed the death of her father. Beloved African was launched at the Adelaide Writers' Week in February 2000, published by Covos Day in South Africa, Australia, and the UK.[22] The book tells of the life's work of John Hammond in the early days of African Education in Britain's youngest colony.[23]
THE ZAMBEZI TRILOGY
A covert reunion in 2010 with her childhood friend, Dumiso Dabengwa, who had become Intelligence Supremo and Commander of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, ZIPRA during the liberation war, resulted in a request to write his biography but after initial research it was felt there would be insufficient time spent together to be able to do it justice.
It was the subsequent enthusiasm of Baker's husband Ray for her ongoing research, that persuaded her to write a trilogy as historical fiction instead, based around the lives of her three childhood friends. Dumiso Dabengwa being one of them. The Zambezi Trilogy covers the period from 1840 to a time to be decided in the future.
Book One: THE HORNS
Through the eyes of Baker's three childhood friends, The Horns brings to life the establishment of the amaNdebele Kingdom by King Mzilikazi in 1840, through to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965; Book One of The Zambezi Trilogy was first published in 2019[24] and on September 14th, 2018 was launched at the Bulawayo Theatre in Zimbabwe, by Dumiso Dabengwa.
Book Two:
This will be launched in London in 2024. Again through the eyes of her now adult childhood friends, this deals with the impacts of the guerrilla war and crippling international sanctions on their lives as the country battled to keep going during the years of Independence under Prime Minister Ian Smith following the declaration of Independence in 1966 to 1979;
Book Three:
The final book of The Zambezi Trilogy the years as an Independent Zimbabwe under Prime Minister then President Robert Mugabe, it will underline the story of Zimbabwe today, including the persecution that Matebele people still face. Book Three will be co-authored by an African journalist.
Appointment as a Special Envoy
In 2022, for her work in recording Matebele history, Baker has been made a Special Envoy to the Matebele Royal Family, The House of Khumalo.Through video logs on her YouTube channel @JillBakerZim she tells Matabele stories of her homeland.[25] These have become a useful resource as their history is no longer taught at schools in Zimbabwe.[26]
References
- ↑ Publisher: Gary Allen Pty Ltd ISBN: 9781875169863
- ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/HORNS-ZAMBEZI-TRILOGY-BOOK-ONE/dp/198295440X
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/apr/29/2
- ↑ https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1413437973/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1641567472&partId=nla.obj-1413644154#page/n66/mode/1up
- ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/720874
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_2658000/2658445.stm
- ↑ https://www.rhodesia.com/oz_wa/b3_tcant.html
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=4_Ju9ZdlwU0C&dq=zbc+radio+3&pg=PA12
- ↑ see p 77 of A BRUTAL STATE OF AFFAIRS: THE RISE AND FALL OF RHODESIA - Henrik Ellery and Dennis Anderson
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhEAQAAIAAJ&dq=co-ord-a-nation&pg=RA5-PA53
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/01/28/rhodesia-orders-new-military-callup/44ed6000-91bf-4c97-a256-6550d3f88d2a/
- ↑ https://firearmsuk.org/featured-1/stories-of-rhodesia-the-war-years-in-rhodesia-part-1-order-of-battle-by-tony-ballinger/
- ↑ https://www.eisa.org/wep/zim1980election.htm
- ↑ https://www.africanadvice.com/1130889/Companies_And_Businesses/Zimbabwe/Jill_Baker_Associates_(PVT)_Ltd/
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116473108
- ↑ "Radio 5UV".
- ↑ https://whitefiles.org/rwz/zzc/2003_radio_and_tv.pdf
- ↑ https://media.adelaide.edu.au/radio/caamatraining/Resources/Radio%20Industry%20-%20RA%20Trng%20Manual.pdf
- ↑ Zimbabwe's Land Reform Myths and Realities by Ian Scoones et al.
- ↑ "Adelaidean -- Queen's Birthday Honours".
- ↑ https://www.jillbakerauthor.com
- ↑ https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Beloved-African-Baker-Jill-U.S.A-Covos-Day/16879214976/bd
- ↑ Racial Integration in Zimbabwean Schools, 1979-1980 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3098502
- ↑ http://www.vividpublishing.com.au/thehorns/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/@JillBakerZim
- ↑ https://www.ajol.info/index.php/asr/article/view/23202/19890
External links
This article "Jill Baker (author)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace. [Category:Australian people]]