


Agnes G. Murphy
By Teresa Pitt. The term ‘lesbian’, meaning a same-sex attracted woman, appeared in a medical dictionary for the first time in 1890. It didn’t pass into common usage for many decades after that.

Catherine Helen Spence, Clara Morison (extract)
by Catherine Helen Spence (1825-1910). There had been for some months, as has already been hinted, a stagnation of business, and a great want of money in South Australia

Catherine Helen Spence, Clara Morison (review)
Her uncle determines that … Clara will be sent out to South Australia with a letter of recommendation and £10 in her purse.

Catherine Helen Spence, A week in the future (fiction extract)
by Catherine Helen Spence Spence’s science fiction novel, A week in the future, was first published in 1888. We originally intended to publish the following to accompany Bill’s piece on the book in January, but somehow the scheduling got mixed up. The...
Catherine Helen Spence, An Autobiography (review)
by Emma, I was 30 years old before the dark veil of religious despondency was completely lifted from my soul, and by that time I felt myself booked for a single life. People married young if they married at all in those days

Bella Lavender, Mrs Pankhurst: sonnet
by Bella Lavender, née Guerin (1858-1953) Sonnet (suggested by the W.P.A. cable to the Albert Hall meeting on 10th April, 1913) by Bella Lavender, M.A. More free art thou in prison than the race Of sordid men who sell for gain or greed Our free-born sisters in their...
Bella Guerin, From imperialistic butterfly to democratic grub
by Elizabeth Lhuede Another in our series of forgotten Australian women writers: Bella Guerin (1858-1923). Back in February, the Trove Facebook page posted the question, “Have you used Trove to research women’s history?” Accompanying the post was a photo of a group of...
Louise Mack, In a country school (short story)
by Louise Mack (1870-1935) A proud country school teacher meets his match in a pupil’s equally proud mother. When Ernest Rawson, B.A., was appointed to the head-mastership of Waradgeree Superior Public School, the town hugged itself complacently, and imagined...