People Australia

Merle Highet with her husband Ian, n.d.

Merle Elsie Theodora Highet, née Xenodohos, previously Saravanos and Hopkinson (1923-2015), stenographer, community activist, trade union worker, feminist and Communist 

Birth: 16 May 1923 in Sydney, and registered as the illegitimate daughter of John Nicholas Xenodohos (1893-1964), a restaurant proprietor, born at Arachova, Viotia, Greece, and native-born Agnes Rachel Rosetta, née Simpson, late Falconer. (1893-1972). Marriage: (1) 1942 at Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, to Augustus Saravanos, a fisherman born in Egypt. They had one daughter. The marriage ended in divorce. (2) 17 September 1948 in the District Registrar’s Office, Newtown, Sydney, to native-born Lindley Wilfred Benedict Hopkinson, a linesman. They later divorced. (3) 10 May 1958 in the District Registrar’s office, Chatswood, Sydney, to John Ian Highet (1924-1999), always known as Ian, an electrician and member of the Communist Party of Australia, born at Kilmarnock, Scotland. They had two children. Death: 20 June 1915. 

• Her father, active in the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) had a café in George Street, Sydney. She recalled her parents supporting unemployed men.
• Merle performed from the ages of 10 to 16 with her family in theatrical productions at the Workers Art Club, which became the New Theatre. She left school aged 14 and after a secretarial course at business college had various office jobs.
• For some years she worked as a secretary for Sam Lewis of the Teachers’ Federation of NSW. She was active in the Miners' Federation and Building Workers’ Industrial Union.
• She also supported peace and solidary movements and was a member of the CPA and the Socialist Party of Australia for over forty years. She was secretary of the Australia-USSR Friendship Society and took part in anti-Vietnam war protests.
• She was, as well, an executive member of the Union of Australian Women and represented it at the Tranby Aboriginal College.
• After retiring from full-time work with the BWIU, Highet became active in the Combined Pensioners’ Association and the Older Women’s Network (OWN). For sixteen years she was prominent in the OWN Theatre Group, “writing and performing witty skits and songs”. In 2001 she received the Edna Ryan award for community activism.
• Fellow CPA activists Della Elliott and Sylvia Harding were her sisters. 

Sources
photo and biography by Daren McDonald, ‘Merle Highet: 1923-2015’, Search Foundation: https://www.search.org.au/merle_highet