Anna Johanna Maria van Iersel, known as Annita, is an accomplished Dutch-born Australian artist and the former spouse of Paul Keating, a former Prime Minister of Australia. She held the name Annita Keating from 1975 to 1998.
Annita van Iersel was born on 5 October 1948 in Oisterwijk, a town in the Dutch province North Brabant. Annita pursued language studies in Paris and London before embarking on a career as a flight attendant with the Royal Dutch Airlines (Koninklijke Luchtvaartmaatschappij, KLM) and Italian airline Alitalia. It was during her time at Alitalia that she crossed paths with Paul Keating, who was at the time embarking on his political career. The couple married in the Netherlands on 17 January 1975.
Annita’s husband Paul was Prime Minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. During this time the couple and their four children (Patrick, Caroline, Katherine and Alexandra) lived in Canberra at The Lodge, and Annita actively supported her husband by appearing during campaign tours and accompanying him on numerous overseas visits. According to her profile at the National Archives of Australia, Annita’s linguistic prowess proved a diplomatic asset in Australia’s successful bid for the 2000 Olympic Games. She is credited as being a ‘perfect partner’ for a prime minister.
Annita and Paul Keating separated in 1998 before formally divorcing ten years later. By this time Annita had long resumed her maiden name of van Iersel. In 2004 in an interview with The Bulletin, she disclosed that it was Keating who initiated the separation at a dinner party with friends.
Following their separation Annita embarked on a new chapter, travelling and enrolling in a Master of Fine Arts program majoring in photography at the Australian National School of Arts in Darlinghurst, Sydney. She graduated in 2001 and later exhibited a series of paintings created in her studio on the Hawkesbury River. Her own story was featured in the exhibition Mrs Prime Minister: Public Image, Private Lives at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra.
Select sources:
- Annita van Iersel’s NAA profile
- “Annita ‘happy’ after speaking out“, The Age, 28 April 2004
- Political battles took toll on Keating’s marriage: O’Brien
- Tony Wright, “Former PM’s wife faces life with easel“, The Age, 20 March 2008
Katherine Keating: From policy to media
Annita and Paul Keating’s daughter Katherine was born in 1981. While studying for an arts degree at the University of New South Wales, Katherine worked as an advisor to the New South Wales state government under premier Bob Carr. From this beginning in policy she moved to work in media and advocacy, and became a board member for not-for-profit groups including the Sydney Cancer Foundation, the SAD Kids Foundation, the Young Garvan Committee and the National Institute for Dramatic Arts.
Katherine began living in New York in 2010. Here she sat on more boards including the performance committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the ambassadors’ council of the International Crisis Group, and an advisory committee for the Global Poverty Project. She also worked for VICE Impact, where she was an associate producer of VICE documentary The Third Industrial Revolution. Katherine also worked as associate producer for acclaimed Churchill biopic The Darkest Hour. In 2018 she became Chief Sustainability & Strategy Officer at Maverick, a Beverly Hills entertainment-management company.
Sources: Inside the high-altitude world of Katherine Keating; Katherine Keating: Driving Advocacy and Action; Katherine Keating profile
Alexandra Keating: Serial entrepreneur
Born in 1985, Alexandra Keating’s entrepreneurial journey began when she founded GoFundraise, a non-profit fundraising platform, while studying at the University of Sydney. She successfully sold the company in 2008. Subsequently, in 2013, Alexandra co-founded a new tech start-up called DWNLD. DWNLD is a content management system and was acquired by Dropbox in 2017.
In between her start-up ventures Alexandra has worked in marketing and partnerships at Thrillist and for companies including LionTree Advisors and RSE Ventures. However, she has continued her passion for entrepreneurship and in 2022 she ventured into the beauty industry by launching her brand Uni. Uni is a refillable body care brand that aims to address the beauty industry’s impact on oceans and marine life, and distinguishes itself by housing its products in reusable dispensers.
Sources: Faces of Entrepreneurship: Alexandra Keating, Uni; Uni Founder Alexandra Keating On Her Brand’s Fundraising Process And Future Stores; Five Minutes With Alexandra Keating, a Former PM’s Daughter Turned Founder of Body Care Brand, Uni
