bed, apart from a very active period in the 1970s. She would move from near-inertness to creative bursts of highly directed writing activity. She wrote her first novel in eight weeks and re-wrote many of her plays in the theatre on-the-fly, in collaboration with the director and the actors. The first draft of her final play Nowhere she wrote in only three days at the age of 78. Despite her enduring shyness, Hewett loved being part of a community, whether it was the people in the rural towns of her youth in the 1930s, the Redfern slum dwellers in the early 1950s, the CPA involvement of 1945–1967, the university communities of the late 1960s, or the Bohemian city cliques of the 1970s. She was resolute in pursuit of her ideals, marginalising at various times partners, financial security and even her children to writing, socialism or her search for romantic passion. However, all five of her adult children were successful in their chosen fields. Hewett encouraged and constructively criticised the work of young poets and her house became a meeting-place for struggling writers. In Perth, weekly meetings were held where poets read their work, and lively social events were attended by writers, students, actors and intellectuals. She had many friends of different political persuasions. At Woollahra, even more than in South Perth, the open house was almost a nightly event. Crowds of young writers, musicians and artists gathered, and well known figures from the literary, arts and political scene were often present. She continued to be visited in her later residences by interviewers, arts figures and fans of her work. Controversies Throughout her life, Hewett was no stranger to controversy and sometimes revelled in it. Her early romantic involvements, her attempted suicide and her membership of the CPA greatly distressed her parents and grandparents. On the other hand, when she left the CPA she was strongly attacked by hard-line Communist colleagues, though the Party always claimed her as their own. Padraic McGuiness attacked her as a former Communist immediately after her death. The subject matter and language of her plays could be shocking to members of her audience. The publisher sent warnings to school librarians to return Chapel Perilous if necessary, and most of them did. Women rushed out of a performance of Bonbons and Roses in tears when menstruation took place on stage, and flowers were placed in the theatre