Titanic rewritten in heroic tale of Aussie survivor

Of the 2200 passengers and crew aboard the Titanic, which set sail from Southampton bound for New York, just six were Australian.

But only one Australian born crew member, a young nurse from Adelaide, was among the 700 people to survive the sinking of the "unsinkable" vessel in the early hours of April 15, 1912.

Her name was Evelyn Marsden and while the story of the fateful ship has been retold countless times in the past 114 years, her tale was largely forgotten.

That is until now.

Journalist Lisa Wilkinson, known for her time as editor of bestselling magazines Dolly and Cleo before a successful career in television, now adds second-time author to her credentials with the publishing of The Titanic Story of Evelyn.

It is a true and never-before-told story of the heroic role played by Evelyn after the Titanic fatally hit an iceberg.

The book was officially launched at Australia's National Maritime Museum on Tuesday night with the help of another notable South Australian, former prime minister Julia Gillard.

Ms Wilkinson was compelled to tell the story after realising every retelling of the Titanic, from movies to books to podcasts, seemed to have been written by men.

Even following the disaster the women who had survived were not asked to contribute to any of the inquiries held, as their thoughts and recollections were not deemed useful enough by the men who ran them.

"No one had ever looked at this story through the female lens," Ms Wilkinson said.

"Everyone's read the Titanic story, but not this way ... there are so many layers of stories that haven't been told."

The idea for the book first came to Ms Wilkinson three years ago and she wrote it while in the midst of fighting a defamation claim brought by Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten.

Lehrmann lost the case and his multiple appeal attempts have failed, most recently in the High Court which has brought finality to the case.

While the two women did not discuss the tumultuous circumstances the book was written in, Ms Wilkinson thanked her family, including husband Peter FitzSimons, daughter Billie and sons Jake and Louis, for their support.

The women on stage noted that in many ways the arrogance of men had led to the tragedy.

But the Titanic story was also one of duty as most men on board stood back to allow women and children into the lifeboats.

"On the one hand you've got men acting they way they did, leading to the outcome it did, and then on the other you've got so many who heroically gave up their lives so that women and children would be saved," Ms Wilkinson said.

The packed crowd included a number of famous faces from politics, journalism and television.

But Ms Wilkinson was most moved by the attendance of Evelyn's great niece Patrea, who thanked her for bringing an amazing woman to life on the page.

The book would also ensure remarkable women were not lost to history, Hachette Australia and New Zealand chief executive Louise Stark noted.

"As a society, to move forward and to progress, we need to look back to understand ourselves, and if we are only looking back to the male version of our history, that understanding will never come," she said.