“Journalistic genius”: Florence Baverstock
by Elizabeth Lhuede Another in our series of forgotten Australian women writers. Florence Baverstock, poet, short story writer, journalist and editor, was born Louisa Florence Blair in 1860. Her father, David Blair, emigrated to Australia from Ireland in 1850 and...
Myra Morris, Come wind and come rain! (poem)
by Myra Morris (1893-1966) In this Wednesday’s post on Women’s Nights held by the Australian Literary Society, we named some of the papers and activities that were presented. These included recitations of poems by contemporary poets, including Victorian-born Myra...
The Australian Literature Society’s Women’s Nights, 1920s
The Australian Literature Society (ALS) was formed in Melbourne in 1899. Its aim was to encourage the study of Australian literature and of Australian authors. It did this, according to the National Library, by holding regular meetings which included talks,...
Mabel Forrest, “Frances Floriline” (short story)
by Mable Forrest (1872-1935) writing as “Reca” On Wednesday, Stacey Roberts posted an article on “Female Domestic Servants”, in which she mentioned the following story about a young wife of a station owner whose desire to impress as a bush...
Female Domestic Service
by Stacey Roberts. Oh! The servant girl, the servant girl, she is the bane of life,
She fries the steaks, and steals your clothes, and fills your soul with strife.
Caroline Leakey, The Broad Arrow (fiction extract)
by Caroline Leakey (1827-1881) writing as “Oliné Keese” The Broad Arrow, the tale of a female convict, was reviewed here on Wednesday. The following extract portrays the moment of the lead character Maida’s downfall. At the door of an humble lodging-house,...
Caroline Leakey, The Broad Arrow (review)
I did not expect that prisoners would so mix with us as they do in every-day life, making us afraid to look or speak lest we should hurt their feelings or get them punished
Jeannie Gunn, The black princess (fiction extract)
by Jeannie Gunn (1870-1861) On Wednesday, Stacey Roberts discussed “Aboriginal domestic servants in colonial women’s fiction”, and mentioned the following “washing day” scene from Jeannie Gunn’s The Little Black Princess. Roberts’...
Aboriginal domestic servants in colonial women’s fiction, 1854-1906
Aboriginal women’s domestic labour was vital for white women’s capacity to cultivate the well-ordered, moral home
