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Through the Wall: Reflections on Leadership, Love and Survival
An uplifting memoir of resilience and strength from ex-Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh.
Anna Bligh knows something about hard knocks and high walls. She was raised by a single mother in the working class Gold Coast, a young girl with a soon-to-be-estranged dad who struggled with alcoholism. She spent over 17 years in the rough and tumble of the Queensland Parliament (seven of them as either Deputy Premier or Premier) and she was the first woman to be elected Premier of an Australian State in her own right. In 2011, she led Queensland through the devastation of Australia's largest natural disasters. Her Party then lost the 2012 State election and Anna stepped down to start a new life, only to find herself diagnosed with cancer.
Writing with her trademark honesty, warmth and humour about the challenges that public and private life have thrown her, Anna reflects candidly - as a wife, mother, daughter, friend and political leader - on the lessons of leadership, resilience, community and family. 'It is not my bruises and scratches that I want others to see,' she writes in this inspiring, unflinching and engaging memoir about breaking through walls and overcoming obstacles, 'I want them to see the hole in the wall.'
Anna Bligh knows something about hard knocks and high walls. She was raised by a single mother in the working class Gold Coast, a young girl with a soon-to-be-estranged dad who struggled with alcoholism. She spent over 17 years in the rough and tumble of the Queensland Parliament (seven of them as either Deputy Premier or Premier) and she was the first woman to be elected Premier of an Australian State in her own right. In 2011, she led Queensland through the devastation of Australia's largest natural disasters. Her Party then lost the 2012 State election and Anna stepped down to start a new life, only to find herself diagnosed with cancer.
Writing with her trademark honesty, warmth and humour about the challenges that public and private life have thrown her, Anna reflects candidly - as a wife, mother, daughter, friend and political leader - on the lessons of leadership, resilience, community and family. 'It is not my bruises and scratches that I want others to see,' she writes in this inspiring, unflinching and engaging memoir about breaking through walls and overcoming obstacles, 'I want them to see the hole in the wall.'
336 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 24, 2018
Anna Bligh demonstrates tough leadership, whether it was through the devastating Queensland floods or her own personal cancer battle. A well written book too.
September 19, 2015
As a Queenslander I am very familiar with Anna Bligh, having experienced her reign as Premier of our state for several years. Although not necessarily strongly affiliated with the ALP, I would consider myself a supporter of Anna and was very interested to read her biography.
I was aware that Anna's childhood was not always a happy one and she does not gloss over this fact. However I was very impressed with the balanced way she approached this time of her life - expressing the difficult times she and her mother and siblings experienced with some compassion for her father and his battle with alcoholism. Despite the hardships of her early life Anna also speaks of many happy times and also illustrates how her early love of learning and the determination of her mother that she secure a solid future for herself put her on the path to success.
Like most politicians Anna's rise to the top of her party was not an overnight journey. Starting out in student politics, she worked tirelessly for many years in the lower echelons of the ALP, gradually gaining ground over time. Although her early years were in the 1970s and 1980s, there was still a lot of inequality to deal with and it was inspiring to read about how she dealt with this and continued to soldier on. I learned a lot about the behind the scenes things she did in QLD politics and grew to admire her more knowing these facts.
A fair portion of the book is devoted to the QLD floods of 2011 and Anna details how this massive natural disaster was also a major event in her political and even personal life, being thrust into the world spotlight so firmly. She writes of the personal toll of seeing so much heartache first hand and you can appreciate how under the brave face she put forward was an ordinary and compassionate human being struggling to lead her state through very unchartered territory. She also details the difficult days following the 2012 election defeat and letting go of a political career. It was interesting to learn just how sudden a public life can end but Anna writes of this time in a positive way as she regained the freedom to live the life of a normal citizen again. She does not shy away from her battle with cancer, detailing the disease in all its ugliness but also sharing the mindset she had to adopt to make it through this horrible time.
Although covering some fairly complex subject matter, Through The Wall is written in a very easy to read style. At no time did I feel the story dragged - even through the less interesting political information - and I really don't have much interest in politics at all. It is also not an overly long book, which also helped with the telling of Anna's story.
Overall I thing I most enjoyed getting the know the "real" Anna Bligh and what made this woman tick. As a political leader I think she did great things for women, not just in the political arena but also in the community as well. I would say you do not need to be a Queenslander or even a woman to enjoy this book.
I was aware that Anna's childhood was not always a happy one and she does not gloss over this fact. However I was very impressed with the balanced way she approached this time of her life - expressing the difficult times she and her mother and siblings experienced with some compassion for her father and his battle with alcoholism. Despite the hardships of her early life Anna also speaks of many happy times and also illustrates how her early love of learning and the determination of her mother that she secure a solid future for herself put her on the path to success.
Like most politicians Anna's rise to the top of her party was not an overnight journey. Starting out in student politics, she worked tirelessly for many years in the lower echelons of the ALP, gradually gaining ground over time. Although her early years were in the 1970s and 1980s, there was still a lot of inequality to deal with and it was inspiring to read about how she dealt with this and continued to soldier on. I learned a lot about the behind the scenes things she did in QLD politics and grew to admire her more knowing these facts.
A fair portion of the book is devoted to the QLD floods of 2011 and Anna details how this massive natural disaster was also a major event in her political and even personal life, being thrust into the world spotlight so firmly. She writes of the personal toll of seeing so much heartache first hand and you can appreciate how under the brave face she put forward was an ordinary and compassionate human being struggling to lead her state through very unchartered territory. She also details the difficult days following the 2012 election defeat and letting go of a political career. It was interesting to learn just how sudden a public life can end but Anna writes of this time in a positive way as she regained the freedom to live the life of a normal citizen again. She does not shy away from her battle with cancer, detailing the disease in all its ugliness but also sharing the mindset she had to adopt to make it through this horrible time.
Although covering some fairly complex subject matter, Through The Wall is written in a very easy to read style. At no time did I feel the story dragged - even through the less interesting political information - and I really don't have much interest in politics at all. It is also not an overly long book, which also helped with the telling of Anna's story.
Overall I thing I most enjoyed getting the know the "real" Anna Bligh and what made this woman tick. As a political leader I think she did great things for women, not just in the political arena but also in the community as well. I would say you do not need to be a Queenslander or even a woman to enjoy this book.
March 23, 2016
I have always admired Anna Bligh so it was interesting to read her own story. A girl from a battling family with an alcoholic father. She gets her chance to break out and she grabs every opportunity to find herself as Premier of Queensland. Her message that the first person to break through a barrier always gets bloodied rings true. But in her political career she managed to correct some very bad evils from the past, showed great empathy and intelligence and was part of the great revival that is now Queensland.
She writes very well. In the first half of the book there was an overuse of 'I', 'me' and 'my', but maybe this was warranted as she often was the only woman in a world of conservative men. In the second half when she was in power there was a greater use of the more inclusive 'we' which revealed she had learnt to be a good leader was to bring people along with you.
The style of the book matches Ms Bligh's style - open and honest, with no real nastiness or spilling the beans on the Labour Party or carrying a grudge. There is a lot to learn from the book on modern day politics and how focused the politicians are on their media appearances. It was interesting to see those occasions where her media performances are best remembered are times when she admitted she let her guard down and showed her true self.
She writes very well. In the first half of the book there was an overuse of 'I', 'me' and 'my', but maybe this was warranted as she often was the only woman in a world of conservative men. In the second half when she was in power there was a greater use of the more inclusive 'we' which revealed she had learnt to be a good leader was to bring people along with you.
The style of the book matches Ms Bligh's style - open and honest, with no real nastiness or spilling the beans on the Labour Party or carrying a grudge. There is a lot to learn from the book on modern day politics and how focused the politicians are on their media appearances. It was interesting to see those occasions where her media performances are best remembered are times when she admitted she let her guard down and showed her true self.
November 19, 2020
The photograph of Anna Bligh in the back cover of her memoir Through the Wall (2015) looks like that of any neighbourhood girl you may see from day to day. And, like any neighbourhood girl, from Jenny Curran in Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump (1986) to Sarah Maloney in Bryce Courtenay’s Four Fires (2001), Bligh has experienced much heartache and triumph in her life.
What distinguishes Bligh’s life story is her acute awareness of being a woman in a male-dominated environment, in this case the Queensland Parliament and that state’s Labour Party. More importantly, as documented in her memoir, Bligh fiercely disciplines and evaluates herself with the idea of a female role model to future generations of women who aspire for leadership in any profession, including politics. It is not the power itself, but how to utilise one’s power “to make a difference, to get things done, to shape our world, to make things fairer and better for everyone” (p.8), that she wants to illustrate.
Through the Wall is a surprisingly honest political biography, full of sincerity and gratitude, always giving credit where it is due. The writing is straightforward and beautiful, showcasing Bligh’s deep appreciation of literature and arts. A fine balance is maintained between the public and private aspects of her life, but the book’s focus is always on people, real human beings whose lives are affected by politics on a daily basis. It demands that readers judge Bligh as a politician, rather than as a woman.
A couple of paragraphs particularly stand out as Bligh looks back at her 17 years in the rough and tumble of the Queensland Parliament, including four-and-a-half years as Australia’s first popularly elected female premier. The lengthy quote below demonstrates how correctly Bligh as a leader understands her mob:
"In Australian cultural discourse it is common to hear questions about what makes Queenslanders different. Why do we seem to breed and attract the larger-than-life characters, the florid and flamboyant, the wild crocodile hunters and the loudmouth politicians in big hats? I have come to believe that it is our status as a frontier that marks us in this way. European settlement occurred later here than in other major states, and it met with much harsher conditions. Blinding heat, raging floods, cyclones and searing droughts, combined with sharks, snakes, poisonous spiders and crocodiles, kept all but the most tenacious settlers at bay. Only the tough, the undaunted and the brash would survive and make it. It’s a history that breeds a pioneering spirit and a fierce parochial pride that you can feel at a State of Origins football game.
"In Queensland, this history has settled deep into our psyche. We may not know or understand all the pioneering history, but we all hold firm to the view that we’re a little bit tougher than the rest of the country… We don’t all wrestle crocodiles, wear big hats, shoot our mouths off or throw money at wild ideas, but in these big colourful characters we admire something bold and crazy-brave. They speak to a sense we have of ourselves as people who thrive on beating the odds, who stare down their critics. You can see a similar social and political culture in American states like Texas, for similar reasons. It may give rise to some overblown public identities, but it’s also a mindset that encourages risk-taking and entrepreneurial zeal." (p.253-254)
As a politician, Bligh’s insight into the subtle but crucial interaction between the government, the media and the public is also noteworthy, as proved by the following confession:
"I told the team [at Emergency HQ] that we were about to be tested like never before, that we now had a catastrophic disaster on multiple fronts, that lives would depend on our ability to rise to the demands of this next challenge. I told them the eyes of the nation were now on us. I told then I knew they had what it took. That I knew they would not fail this test.
"As I left the meeting to convey the dire news to a hungry media, I felt a steely resolve not to be defeated by any of it. I felt the need to convey that resolve to my frontline, to my colleagues, to the media and, most of all, to the public. I wanted everyone to know that in the face of these overwhelming events, the leadership was strong. Thinking of a way to convey this strength, I quickly scribbled “hearts, will” on the bottom of my handwritten briefing notes.
"It would be the first time during these events that I risked speaking to Queenslanders in lofty terms, and I wasn’t sure I could strike the right note. In the three minutes it took to walk across to the media room, I decided not to overthink it, to just go with my gut. I was convinced that the urgency and peril of the situation demanded words that would raise our spirits. This conviction outweighed my fear of the risk inherent in speaking to the community in an elevated language and tone. This was not the common language of Australian politics. Our citizens like it best when their political leaders don’t get too far above their station, when they act and sound as much like everyone else as possible rather than using dramatic rhetorical flourishes. I didn’t have much time to think about it and no time to confer with my staff, but I knew I was taking a personal and political risk. If I misjudged this, I would look foolish, and no one wants a fool leading an emergency." (p.242=243)
This is likely to be the sort of stuff that anybody interested in political auto/biographies would like to see – how politicians think and make their decisions on the spot at tough times, their fear and self-doubt, they capacity to interpret the difficulties at hand and to transform their challenges into solutions that truly enhance the interests of the public. It also reinforces this reviewer’s earlier observation that Bligh desires and further deserves to be judged as a politician, rather than as a female politician. To borrow Bligh’s own words, it is the hole in the wall that she wants us to see, not the blood, bruises and scratches that the act of going through the wall has left on her.
This review was originally published on "Voices under the Sun" blog (https://christinesunflower.com/2016/1...).
What distinguishes Bligh’s life story is her acute awareness of being a woman in a male-dominated environment, in this case the Queensland Parliament and that state’s Labour Party. More importantly, as documented in her memoir, Bligh fiercely disciplines and evaluates herself with the idea of a female role model to future generations of women who aspire for leadership in any profession, including politics. It is not the power itself, but how to utilise one’s power “to make a difference, to get things done, to shape our world, to make things fairer and better for everyone” (p.8), that she wants to illustrate.
Through the Wall is a surprisingly honest political biography, full of sincerity and gratitude, always giving credit where it is due. The writing is straightforward and beautiful, showcasing Bligh’s deep appreciation of literature and arts. A fine balance is maintained between the public and private aspects of her life, but the book’s focus is always on people, real human beings whose lives are affected by politics on a daily basis. It demands that readers judge Bligh as a politician, rather than as a woman.
A couple of paragraphs particularly stand out as Bligh looks back at her 17 years in the rough and tumble of the Queensland Parliament, including four-and-a-half years as Australia’s first popularly elected female premier. The lengthy quote below demonstrates how correctly Bligh as a leader understands her mob:
"In Australian cultural discourse it is common to hear questions about what makes Queenslanders different. Why do we seem to breed and attract the larger-than-life characters, the florid and flamboyant, the wild crocodile hunters and the loudmouth politicians in big hats? I have come to believe that it is our status as a frontier that marks us in this way. European settlement occurred later here than in other major states, and it met with much harsher conditions. Blinding heat, raging floods, cyclones and searing droughts, combined with sharks, snakes, poisonous spiders and crocodiles, kept all but the most tenacious settlers at bay. Only the tough, the undaunted and the brash would survive and make it. It’s a history that breeds a pioneering spirit and a fierce parochial pride that you can feel at a State of Origins football game.
"In Queensland, this history has settled deep into our psyche. We may not know or understand all the pioneering history, but we all hold firm to the view that we’re a little bit tougher than the rest of the country… We don’t all wrestle crocodiles, wear big hats, shoot our mouths off or throw money at wild ideas, but in these big colourful characters we admire something bold and crazy-brave. They speak to a sense we have of ourselves as people who thrive on beating the odds, who stare down their critics. You can see a similar social and political culture in American states like Texas, for similar reasons. It may give rise to some overblown public identities, but it’s also a mindset that encourages risk-taking and entrepreneurial zeal." (p.253-254)
As a politician, Bligh’s insight into the subtle but crucial interaction between the government, the media and the public is also noteworthy, as proved by the following confession:
"I told the team [at Emergency HQ] that we were about to be tested like never before, that we now had a catastrophic disaster on multiple fronts, that lives would depend on our ability to rise to the demands of this next challenge. I told them the eyes of the nation were now on us. I told then I knew they had what it took. That I knew they would not fail this test.
"As I left the meeting to convey the dire news to a hungry media, I felt a steely resolve not to be defeated by any of it. I felt the need to convey that resolve to my frontline, to my colleagues, to the media and, most of all, to the public. I wanted everyone to know that in the face of these overwhelming events, the leadership was strong. Thinking of a way to convey this strength, I quickly scribbled “hearts, will” on the bottom of my handwritten briefing notes.
"It would be the first time during these events that I risked speaking to Queenslanders in lofty terms, and I wasn’t sure I could strike the right note. In the three minutes it took to walk across to the media room, I decided not to overthink it, to just go with my gut. I was convinced that the urgency and peril of the situation demanded words that would raise our spirits. This conviction outweighed my fear of the risk inherent in speaking to the community in an elevated language and tone. This was not the common language of Australian politics. Our citizens like it best when their political leaders don’t get too far above their station, when they act and sound as much like everyone else as possible rather than using dramatic rhetorical flourishes. I didn’t have much time to think about it and no time to confer with my staff, but I knew I was taking a personal and political risk. If I misjudged this, I would look foolish, and no one wants a fool leading an emergency." (p.242=243)
This is likely to be the sort of stuff that anybody interested in political auto/biographies would like to see – how politicians think and make their decisions on the spot at tough times, their fear and self-doubt, they capacity to interpret the difficulties at hand and to transform their challenges into solutions that truly enhance the interests of the public. It also reinforces this reviewer’s earlier observation that Bligh desires and further deserves to be judged as a politician, rather than as a female politician. To borrow Bligh’s own words, it is the hole in the wall that she wants us to see, not the blood, bruises and scratches that the act of going through the wall has left on her.
This review was originally published on "Voices under the Sun" blog (https://christinesunflower.com/2016/1...).
January 2, 2019
Even if you only read the first chapter you will get something out of this book. Anna's reflections are particularly inspiring to women who find themselves in leadership positions or those aspiring to leadership, however, I think the sentiments are important to all who need to find reserves of strength in life. The takeaway message is to look for "holes in the wall" where other trailblazers have broken through and smoothed the path a little. I found her recollections of the 2011 floods to be quite emotional and even reading it again it is a wonder that humans have such resilience.
May 19, 2018
I enjoyed reading this memoir by Anna Bligh. I guess the main theme is as she states, “survival” and how she made it through “the wall” of prejudice against women in power, to become Queensland’s first female premier.
February 12, 2018
Honest. Inspiring. Emotional.
Definitely take the time to read this book you will enjoy it.
Definitely take the time to read this book you will enjoy it.
July 27, 2020
Great autobiography about a female leader who has battled a lot and survived
July 19, 2017
This is a great insight into the woman who created political history, more than once. It is also a refreshing account of the reality of breaking down the barriers that exist for women in the political arena. It becomes clear during the course of the book that Anna's very matter of fact approach and willingness to work hard were some of the keys to her success. While I'm not politically aligned to any particular party, I am a Queenslander and this book made my chest swell with pride and at times, brought a tear to my eye. Thanks, Anna!
June 23, 2016
I enjoyed this book but don't expect an honest, balanced review of her life or time in politics. The issues she discusses are interesting but the failures are glossed over but usually ignored. Having said that Bligh does not attempt to blame others, so it was refreshing for a modern political bio.
July 24, 2015
I was struck by how well written this book is. Also, how Anna Bligh would have been a good member of a Federal Cabinet. A very easy but worthwhile read.
September 23, 2015
Brilliant. The woman and the writing.
Fun fact: Anna Bligh and I went to the same Gold Coast primary school, 15ish years apart.
Fun fact: Anna Bligh and I went to the same Gold Coast primary school, 15ish years apart.
December 29, 2015
Absolutely brilliant!! If you love her already then this book will give you a sense of endearment to her! A MUST read!!!!!!
June 8, 2016
Blaze energy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2016
A positive depiction of the personal and political struggles with a strong feminist theme
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews