Gay Bilson

Gay Bilson, born in 1944, trained as a librarian. During the early 1970s she moved from Melbourne to Sydney with her partner, Tony Bilson. Together they opened Tony's Bon Goût, in 1973 and then in 1977 the Berowra Waters Inn, on the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney. After her relationship with Tony ended, Gay continued to manage Berowra Waters Inn, widely regarded as Australia's best restaurant, until its closure in 1994. In 1995, Gay Bilson took on Bennelong, housed within the Sydney Opera House, where she spent a somewhat tumultuous three years. Since 1999 she has focused on writing, living in McLaren Vale, South Australia. Her culinary memoir, "Plenty", won both the Age Book of the Year Award and the Nita B Kibble Award in 2005.