After marrying in 1939, Anne Von Bertouch taught with her husband in Tasmania for more than a decade before adopting an alternative lifestyle at Mungo Bush in the Myall Lakes. She drew on this experience for her her novel, February Dark (1959), which was runner-up in the Sydney Morning Herald Literary Award. The novel was reprinted in 1983 to accompany a prequel, The Ride Home. In 1990, she was a member of the First Fleet reenactment, recounting this experience in The Voyage Out. She is perhaps best-known as a patron of the arts in Newcastle where she ran the Von Bertouch Galleries and was the first director of the Newcastle Region Art Gallery. She wrote about the restoration of the Von Bertouch Gallery in What Was It Before It Was A Gallery?She was awarded an honorary masters degree and a doctorate of letters from the University of Newcastle for her services to the arts. Her valuable art collection was bequeathed to the City of Newcastle after her death.
