Rosanne Gare

Rosanne Gare was appointed to set up the software division within Jacaranda Wiley, in Brisbane. It was intended more to explore the waters than to make money, though to everyone’s surprise the new department ran in the black from year one.

Gare had a background in classroom teaching rather than publishing, and is described by David Smith as “an original thinker” and “highly individualistic — someone who will follow what she works out is the right way to go, rather than follow what others are doing or the conventional wisdom”. Her successor, Bruce Mitchell, observed that “[David Smith] and Roseanne were a great team and I still feel privileged to have been allowed into their world of uncompromising excellence”. With John Collins of Wiley, Gare and Smith are credited with the decision not to put copy protection on Jacaranda’s software. Despite some problems with piracy, the team attributes the stable functioning of Jacaranda titles in schools – and the lack of support calls they receive — to this wise decision.

Gare resigned from Jacaranda in 1985 when she moved to Canberra, where her husband was employed. She suggested Bruce Mitchell as a possible replacement for her position, based on the correspondence that developed between them after he submitted a possible project to the company.