PIX Magazine featuring Adelie Hurley August 1948 Reproduced courtesy Australian Consolidated Press
With so many Australian men fighting overseas, previously inaccessible job opportunities began to open up to Australian women. While women’s wages remained substantially lower than men’s, many seized the chance to enter the work force.
Adelie Hurley began her career as a freelance photo journalist for PIX magazine in Sydney. She was then given a full time position at the Daily Mirror, where she earned herself the name “Front Page Hurley”.
Adelie met Ed McGinty, a navigator in the US Navy, in 1942. Six months later they got engaged and were married a year later. Adelie knew that women were waiting between 1-2 years to gain passage to the USA, but she was able to pull some strings and secure a place on the SS LURLINE in 1945. She stayed in San Francisco with her husband for three years, working as a freelance photographer with a regular spot at the “Forbidden City” nightclub.
Adelie returned to Sydney in 1948 and Ed followed shortly after. They separated a few years later and Adelie now lives in Northern New South Wales with her sister, Toni.