Josie McSkimming on growing up with her bohemian sister, the poet Dorothy Porter, and how their lives took off on wildly diverging paths as they grew up.

Sisters Dorothy and Josie Porter grew up in an interesting and sometimes volatile home on the northern beaches of Sydney in the 1970s.

Together with their middle sister Mary, they lived in a world of books, a backyard menagerie of animals, and regular birdwatching excursions. Their father Chester was a well-known lawyer who was sometimes a explosive presence at home. 

Josie adored her charismatic big sister 'Dod', for her wicked sense of humour, her appetite for life, and her fierce talent.

After the girls left home and began their adult lives, they set off on wildly different paths.

Dorothy ran headlong into bohemian adventures, and became a famous poet. While Josie, to her sister's dismay, became a born-again Christian for 35 years, eventually leaving the church after questioning the doctrines enforcing women's submission.

Dorothy died at just 54 years old, and decades later, Josie has written down her own version of the family story, paying tribute to the many ways her big sister shaped her life.

This episode of Conversations explores family dynamics, parenting, love, grief, sisters, sisterhood, poetry, religion, indoctrination, gay conversion, coming out, lesbians, the queer community, writing, books, family history, origin stories, parenting, mothers, fathers, Lindy Chamberlain, Australian poets, modern poets, Church, bible study, leaving the church, Mona Vale.

Gutsy Girls: Love, Poetry and Sisterhood is published by UQP.