Great women once - still doing great things now

Maggie Kirkman lifts the lid on the rich experiences of 20 women who have achieved great things in older age in Time of Our Lives: Celebrating Older Women.

A psychologist and senior research fellow in global and women's health at Monash University, Maggie says just seeing an older woman eagerly engaging with life can be inspiring.

"The women in this book might look, well, old. In person, some appear to be quite frail," she writes in her introduction.

"They have a past worth knowing. They also have a present."

The women profiled come from diverse backgrounds.

Maggie describes Mig Dann as "one of the coolest people I've met". Mig worked for David Bowie in the 1970s, and hung out at Andy Warhol's Factory in New York.

Fast forward to 2022 and she became a Doctor of Philosophy at the age of 81.

Lester Jones, 91, runs her own tutoring business after holding senior positions in education.

In her 70s, Robina Rogan joined a group of women and built a St Ayles skiff, modelled on a type of fishing boat common on the east coast of Scotland. It's a large rowboat that takes four single-oar rowers. They rowed it around Victoria's Port Phillip Bay from Williamstown on Thursday nights.

Then there's Rosemary Salvaris, a 76-year-old civil celebrant who has taken up orienteering; and Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, the first Indigenous school teacher in the Northern Territory, who is showing young people about culture and community.

Journalist and former politician Maxine McKew describes the book as "a must-read for all those women who refuse to go gentle into that good night".

Time of Our Lives - Celebrating Older Women, by Maggie Kirkman (Monash University Publishing) RRP $34.99.