Special Achievements

First woman Articled on an Australian Merchant Ship (Radio Operator) (1954-60).  Popular author of 33 books on history, folklore, and preserving national traditions, plus an autobiography, including The ANZACs (1978), Australian Women at War (1984) and Prisoners of War (1992).  Her autobiography was published in two parts - Hear The Train Blow and Good-bye Girlie. For Good-bye Girlie Adam-Smith won the 1995 Benalla Award for Audio Book of the Year, and the 1995 TDK Australian Audio Book Awards, Unabridged Non-Fiction Category.

Patsy was awarded an Order of the British Empire - Officer (Civil) (OBE) in the Queens Birthday Honours list on 14 June 1980 for her services to literature. In 1993 she was awarded Order of Australia Book Prize. On Australia Day 1994 Patsy Adam-Smith was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to community history, particularly through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and the recording of oral histories. She enlisted as a Voluntary Aid Detachment during the Second World War.