More than 40 people attended the event to celebrate the book’s launch, which was printed by John Weston. 

An historical account, Mr Mackie’s book explores the life of Kiama resident Miss Weston during the 1900’s. A pianist, singer, actress and concert director, Miss Weston mentored a number of people in the Illawarra including costume-designer Orry Kelly. 

Mr Mackie said that there was a need to document Miss Weston’s life after her connection to Orry Kelly was not portrayed in its entirety. 

“Orry Kelly’s life has been celebrated in both book and film in the past year,” he said.

“Regrettably [Miss Weston’s] role in Orry’s early life was not adequately documented and [my] book is intended to correct the situation.”

In doing so, Mr Mackie aims to provide readers with a social history of Kiama over fifty years from 1900. As Miss Weston spent her life entertaining the Kiama district and raising funds for a number of organisations between 1904 to 1954, all proceeds from the production and sale of the book will be donated Kiama’s Red Cross. 

‘Kiama’s most remarkable Miss Eleanor Pamela Weston’ documents Miss Weston’s role as Matron to Red Cross Voluntary Aides in Scarborough, Bomaderry and Sydney before returning to Kiama in 1925 to open the floristry business ‘The Grotto.” 

The youngest daughter of Joseph Weston and the great aunt of John Weston, Mr Mackie said Miss Weston’s story is worthy of being told.  

“Eleanor devoted herself to raising money for local organisations,” he said.

“That was one of the reasons why I was interested in researching and telling her story but there are so many other reasons too.

“Eleanor was also heavily involved in concerts for a number of years.” 

A self-declared history enthusiast, Mr Mackie launched his book detailing Kiama’s social history from 1900 to 1958. 

Mr Weston said ‘Kiama’s most remarkable Miss Eleanor Pamela Weston’ was the result of extensive research. 

“It took around six months,” he said.

“I had to go through every page of the Kiama Independent over the period when Eleanor was around. She started to do concerts in 1904 and was still doing them in 1950 so it was quite a lot of time to cover. 

“Despite that, I had a lot of fun sitting down and spending time finding the articles using Trove.” 

Having grown up in an apartment beneath Miss Weston’s house, Mr Mackie said he had a personal connection to the story. 

“When I was born, I came home to a flat that was underneath Miss Weston’s home,” he said. 

“I was a baby there til Mum and Dad bought a house across the street, so I grew up knowing Miss Weston and she often called to me and asked me to do messages for her.” 

Having lived in Kiama for a number of years, Mr Mackie said Kiama residents will enjoy reading his book about Miss Weston. 

“The book launch itself went very well. There were about 40 people there, and a couple came from Goulburn who lived opposite Eleanor,” he said. 

“We have lots of people who love Kiama’s history and we have lots of historians who live here, so I’m sure [the book] will be well read.”

For Mr Mackie, there were a number of benefits in writing the book. 

“Miss Weston was the most inspirational woman that I could ever think of from Kiama,” he said.  “I researched Kiama to the nth degree and she was the standout.”