Patricia Azarias

The Secrets of the Blue Box began as Patricia's Ph.D. at the University of Technology Sydney, written about her extraordinary mother Sol. It opens with a cache of hidden family secrets, deposited by her mother, telling of an early romance that had remained entirely unknown to her. Her examiners called it a magnificent doctorate and said they could see it become an instant best seller.

Patricia translated Jean Dutourd's Au Bon Beurre, a landmark of French literature that has never been out of print since 1954, as The Fat and the Lean: Tales of Occupied Paris. Her edition comes with an introduction and notes, and was made with the support of the heirs of Jean Dutourd.

With her husband Yannis, Patricia created the Lysicrates Foundation to support Australian playwrights and teach children about democracy; she is its Co-Founder, Organiser and Fundraiser. Its two prizes, the Lysicrates Prize for plays written for adults and the Martin-Lysicrates Prize for plays written for children, are decided by the audience, who vote by dropping tokens into golden urns.

Patricia was nine years old when her father first told her about Dag Hammarskjöld and the United Nations, and she was sure right away that it was where she wanted to work. Her first job was with the UN Development Program, for almost nine years, including three years of field service in Zimbabwe. Later, as the most senior Australian in the UN at the time, she was appointed Director of the Internal Audit Division of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, examining the operations of all the large UN departments, as well as all the UN's peacekeeping operations.

With her husband, Patricia established SafeMate Australia Pty Ltd, which assists first responders at a medical emergency to provide rapid, targeted help to the patient. A QR-coded card, lanyard, keyring or wristband gives paramedics a patient's medical details within 20 seconds. Earlier she did cost-benefit analyses for a regional bank in Saudi Arabia and, on returning to Sydney, was briefly a banker.

Patricia served on 15 boards and committees, including SBS Television and Radio, South East Sydney Local Health District, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and Pillar Superannuation. In public life she was for ten years Director of the Public Accounts Committee in the Parliament of New South Wales, serving through two changes of government, and later Chief Executive of the Ministry of Infrastructure Management.