Discovering Millicent Armstrong with Dianna Nixon

Millicent Armstrong with horses at her Gunning property. Photo: Lucy Knight

Join the Friends of the National Library and Dianna Nixon of Music Theatre Projects Ltd as she shares with us her 9 year journey uncovering the life and work of the playwright, Millicent Armstrong.

Playwright Millicent Armstrong (1888-1973) was a World War I veteran and soldier-settler farmer. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government for bravery on the Western Front.

Armstrong graduated from the University of Sydney with first-class honours in English. She headed to London in 1914 intending to publish her first novel, but almost immediately became involved in war-work.

After the war, she returned to a property between Gunning and Goulburn in New South Wales, where she farmed and wrote award-winning plays.

About Dianna Nixon

Dianna lives north of Canberra in charming Gunning, a village of 800 people in a rich farming and grazing area.

As a pianist, singer, actor, director and producer, she runs 2 businesses – the not-for-profit creative production company, Music Theatre Projects and her piano and voice practice, Wild Voices Music Theatre. She has been active in this region as a professional performing artist, arts educator and passionate arts advocate for 20 years.

Dianna graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, then lived and worked all around Australia. She has directed more than 70 works, directing and performing in all kinds of spaces ranging from the National Zoo, National Gallery of Australia and a solo gig in one of Canberra’s iconic bus shelters.

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The Details

What: Discovering Millicent Armstrong with Dianna Nixon
When: Wednesday, 19 March 2025 from 6pm to 7pm
Where: National Library of Australia, Parkes Place Canberra ACT 2600
Cost: $15 Friends Members, $20 Non-members. Tickets available through National Library of Australia.