Shirley Stott Despoja

Shirley Margaret Stott Despoja (born 1936) is an Australian journalist. She was the first female journalist in the general newsroom of The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide, and was the paper's first arts editor.

Biography Born Shirley Margaret Stott to a working-class family in Sydney, she studied at St George Girls High School before commencing, but not completing, an art's degree. Stott left university without a degree after being offered a journalism role at The Anglican, a newspaper published by the Anglican Church of Australia, working for editor Francis James.

With limited career prospects in Sydney, Stott moved to The Canberra Times, and then later was offered a position at The Advertiser in Adelaide—she was the first woman to work on general news for the paper, instead of the "women's pages". She returned to Canberra when she married, but when her marriage ended, she was asked back to The Advertiser by editor Don Riddell as the paper's first arts editor, at a time when the arts were flourishing in South Australia under the premiership of Don Dunstan. The dispute went to the Supreme Court of South Australia, where the Advertiser'''s appeal against the claim was dismissed. Stott Despoja retired from the paper in 1992.

In November 2018, she was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

Personal life In 1963, Stott interviewed Croatian migrant Mario Despoja for The Advertiser about his success on the quiz show Coles £3000 Question''. They married ten months later, but divorced after twelve years.

Their daughter, Natasha Stott Despoja, was a Senator for South Australia from 1995 to 2008, and leader of the Australian Democrats from 2001 to 2002.