‘The great weakness of criticism in Australia is that it is not in itself a profession. Journalism is a profession. But to be a critic is to write a column in one’s spare time.’

That was theatre critic Katharine Brisbane writing in The Australian in 1971. Most critics, she went on to say, ‘have another job—usually a journalistic or academic one—at which they earn their real living; and a visit to an exhibition or a performance is a diversion of their weekly routine’.¹