Cecily Crozier facts for kids

A portrait of Cecily Crozier titled "Passion Waiting."

Cecily Medland Crozier (born July 21, 1911, in Elsternwick – died 2006, in Adelaide) was a talented artist, poet, and editor. She is best known for helping to start aCOMMENT, an exciting and new literary magazine in Melbourne.

Early Life and Travels

Cecily Crozier was born in Elsternwick, Australia, on July 21, 1911. Her parents were Robert Henry Crozier, a mining engineer, and Elsa McGillivray. Cecily had two younger brothers, Laurie and Brian. Her family was quite well-off.

Cecily's uncle, Frank R. Crozier, was a famous Australian war artist during World War I. He continued to paint after the war, and Cecily even helped organize one of his art shows later on.

Her family moved a lot because of her father's job. They lived in Burma for a while, then returned to Melbourne. When Cecily was about ten, they moved to London. After two years, her mother took the family to the south of France, living in cities like Nice, Grasse, and Montpellier.

In France, Cecily went to a convent school for a few months, then a Lycee (a type of high school) until she was fifteen. She also learned to play the piano. At eighteen, she moved back to London and worked as an artist's model. Later, she lived in Alexandria for several years, where she designed and made clothes.

Founding aCOMMENT Magazine

The cover of aCOMMENT magazine from July 1941.

When World War II started, Cecily Crozier returned to Australia with her mother. In 1940, Melbourne didn't have many modern literary magazines. So, Cecily, then 29, decided to create one with her cousins, Sylvia, Eila, and Irvine Heber Green (who was also an artist).

Their magazine first came out in September 1940. It was initially called Comment, but they soon changed it to aCOMMENT. The title was always printed with a small 'a' followed by capital letters on each cover. Because of wartime shortages, the magazine was printed on brown wrapping paper.

Irvine Green, who was a photographer and artist, created many designs, woodcuts, linocuts, and photos for aCOMMENT. He and Cecily married in July 1941.

aCOMMENT was known for publishing experimental and often surrealist writing and art. It featured works by many important Australian modern artists and writers from the 1940s, such as James Gleeson, Albert Tucker, and Max Harris. The magazine often lost money, with Cecily and Irvine covering the costs. It stopped publishing after 26 issues in 1947.

Later Life and Legacy

After her marriage to Irvine Green ended, Cecily Crozier married Ernst Heydeman. He was a chemist who had moved to Australia from Germany. She met him through her piano teacher.

Cecily also became interested in breeding and showing Dachshund dogs. She had a kennel called Longlo Kennels in Croydon and later in Adelaide.

Later in her life, Cecily worked with historian David Rainey to create an online archive for the aCOMMENT magazine. This project included a biography of Cecily, based on interviews they did.

Cecily Crozier wrote drafts of her own life story, called Memoirs of an Australian Woman, though it was never published. She passed away in a nursing home in Adelaide in 2006, at the age of 95.

Works by Cecily Crozier

• Untitled, 1947 correspondence:aCOMMENT. Winter no. 26 1947; (p. [20])
• New Country, 1944 column: aCOMMENT, July no. 20 1944; (p. [2])
• Sand, 1944 short story: aCOMMENT, January no. 18 1944; (p. 4, 6)
• Tails Up with Sylvia Green, Eila Green, Cecily Crozier (editor), Melbourne : aCOMMENT Publications, [1944] selected work children's fiction and poetry
• Untitled Cecily Crozier 1942 column: aCOMMENT, October no. 13 1942; (p. [9])
• Parfum Exotique "When, my eyes closed, on an Autumn night", Charles Baudelaire, 1942 poetry: aCOMMENT, October no. 13 1942; (p. [6])
• Untitled, 1941 correspondence: aCOMMENT, July no. 6 1941; (p. inserted after page 10)
• Angry Penguins [Cecily Crozier], 1941 review: aCOMMENT, May no. 5 1941; (p. [14])
• Review of Angry Penguins 1940-1943 periodical (9 issues)
• Untitled "they walk down the street", 1941 poetry: aCOMMENT, May no. 5 1941; (p. [11])
• Cafe Concert "She walked, for walking, using curvulatious hips for swinging at...", with Irvine Green, 1941 poetry: aCOMMENT, March no. 4 1941; (p. [15])
• Untitled, 1941 correspondence: aCOMMENT, November no. 8 1941; (p. 11)
• Tears for a Dead Bird is "the grass is high, there are purple patches in the grass," 1940-1941: aCOMMENT, Christmas no. 3 1940-1941; (p. [12])
• As in a Dream 1940-1941 prose: aCOMMENT, Christmas no. 3 1940-1941; (p. [9])
• Wildly shaking trees, 1940 poetry: COMMENT, November no. 2 1940; (p. [13])
• Le Bon Dieu, 1940 short story: COMMENT, November no. 2 1940; (p. [10-12])
• Untitled, 1940 column: COMMENT, November no. 2 1940; (p. [3])
• Untitled "green are her eyes", 1940 poetry: COMMENT, September no. 1 1940; (p. [7])

Works About Cecily Crozier

• Appears in Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 To Now, Part 2, 12 June 2021 – 26 January 2022, at the National Gallery of Australia