Venie (nee Rich) was the second youngest of 11 children, born to immigrant Jewish parents in York, Western Australia.

In 1946, Venie Rich married Jack Holmgren, a non-Jewish comrade in peace activism against nuclear weapons and, later Australia’s involvement in Vietnam.

They had three children Jenny, David and Gerald and were active in community affairs from their home in Fremantle suburb of Bicton.

Venie and Jack also were business partners in Rellim Booksellers in Perth, one of the best technical bookshops in the country during the 1970s.  

After Jack’s death in 1975, Venie spent her gypsy years travelling in a campervan, documented in her travel memoir A Sense of Direction.

The bush property, at Wyndham on the Far South Coast of NSW, where she settled, was designed and established with her son David, the co-originator of the permaculture concept. 

In her late 50s, Venie began to write poetry and her first published anthology, The Sun Collection from 1989, became a poetry bestseller.

At the same time, she applied her activist skills and commitment to the campaign to save native forests of the region, being arrested twice for obstructing log trucks.

After 16 years of solo self-reliant living she moved to the local town of Pambula, where she penned her travel memoir, several more books of poetry and travelled widely as a performance poet.  

After the unexpected death of Gerard in 2010, she left her community of choice to join her son David, daughter-in-law Su Dennett and grandson Oliver at Melliodora, their home and permaculture demonstration site in Hepburn, central Victoria.

While waiting for the completion of the second handmade-house built for her by David, she wrote The Tea-house Poems, which received wide acclaim. 

Venie’s last move of her long life was up the road to Hepburn House, where she made an impression on the staff with her sharp mind and tenacity.