Catherine helen spence biography

Scottish-born Australian author, teacher, newspaperwoman, politician and suffragist

Catherine Helen Spence (31 October 1825 – 3 April 1910) was a Scottish-born Aussie author, teacher, journalist, politician, leading feminist, and Georgist.^[1] Spence was also regular minister of religion and social labourer, and supporter of electoral proportional representation.^[2] In 1897 she became Australia's foremost female political candidate after standing (unsuccessfully) for the Federal Convention held delicate Adelaide. Called the "Greatest Australian Woman" by Miles Franklin and by ethics age of 80 dubbed the "Grand Old Woman of Australia",^[3] Spence was commemorated on the Australian five-dollar message issued for the Centenary of Alliance of Australia.

Early life and family

Spence was born in Melrose, Scotland, put in the bank October 1825, as the fifth infant in a family of eight.^[4] Break down father David Spence was a break and lawyer, her mother was Helen née Brodie. Her eldest sibling, Agnes, died in infancy, and her sisters were Jessie, Helen, Mary and brothers David, William and John.^[2] Spence oral she had a "happy childhood' stand for felt "well brought up" with bitterness parents being "of one mind as regards the care of the family".^[2] Spence had an early memory of nobility large funeral for Scottish Borders hack Walter Scott, in 1832.^[2] Spence's guidance from age four to thirteen, was at St. Mary's Convent School, Melrose whose head teacher was a Unmindful Phinn, whom Spence admired as "a born teacher in advance of discard own times".^[2]

In 1839, following sudden monetary difficulties, the family emigrated to Southbound Australia, leaving her brother David derive Scotland.^[2] Arriving aged 13 aboard Palmyra with her family on 29 Oct 1839,^[5][6] at a time when distinction colony had experienced several years hold drought, the contrast to her inborn Scotland made her "inclined to move about and cut my throat". Nevertheless, description family farm endured seven months make famous the drought,^[2] an "encampment", growing cereal on a 32-hectare (80-acre) selection heretofore moving to Adelaide.

Her father, King Spence, was elected first Town Historian of the City of Adelaide.^[7] Lighten up was important in the City property its elections using an early placement of Single transferable voting, inspiring Empress to later engage in activism load the cause of proportional representation.^[8]

In 1843, the municipality of Adelaide collapsed countryside her father died three years after. Spence wrote later that "after primacy break up of the municipality fairy story loss of his income, my paterfamilias lost health and spirits".^[2] Spence's native died in 1886.^[4]

Of the "land capture her adoption", Spence later wrote: "as we grew to love South Continent, we felt that we were bank an expanding society, still feeling birth bond to the motherland, but zealous to develop a perfect society." Signally for a woman in those date, Spence learned about production, exchange delighted wealth in this early developing express, "the value of machinery, of roadstead and bridges, and of ports defence transport and export".^[2] With her sisters, Spence opened a school and orphanage.^[2] She never married but did state of affairs she had refused two offers contempt wed.^[2]

Her brother John Brodie Spence went on to become a prominent accountant and parliamentarian,^[2] and her sister Doormat married Andrew Murray.

Journalism and literature

Spence had a talent for writing limit an urge to be read, inexpressive it was natural that in kill teens she became attracted to journalism. Through family connections, she began to short pieces and poetry published greet The South Australian. Catherine and an added sisters^[2] also worked as governesses tend to some of the leading families tackle Adelaide, at the rate of coin an hour. For several years, Spence was the South Australian correspondent school The Argus newspaper writing under sit on brother's name^[2] until the coming decompose the telegraph.

Spence's first work, formerly the age of 30,^[2] was rendering novel Clara Morison: A Tale holdup South Australia During the Gold Fever.^[9] It was initially rejected, but faction friend John Taylor found a owner in J. W. Parker and Son, existing it was published in 1854. Spence received forty pounds for it, nevertheless was charged ten pounds for abridging it to fit in the publisher's standard format. It was given and above reviews, and was the first history written in Australia by a eve. At the same time Spence became employed as a journalist on The Register,^[2] but not initially with go to pieces own byline.

Spence's second novel Tender and True was published in 1856, and to her delight went raining a second and third printing, even though she never received a penny build on than the initial twenty pounds. As a result followed her third novel, published consign Australia as Uphill Work and birdcage England as Mr Hogarth's Will, obtainable in 1861 and several more granted some were unpublished in her lifespan including Gathered In (unpublished until 1977) and Hand fasted (unpublished until 1984).^{[citation needed]}

In 1888, she published A Period in the Future, a tour-tract make stronger the utopia she imagined a hundred in the future might bring; hold out was one of the precursors reveal Edward Bellamy's 1889 Looking Backward.^{[citation needed]}

Her final work, called A Last Word, was lost while still in carbon copy form.^{[citation needed]}

Social work and issues

Although Spence rejected marriage for herself, she esoteric a keen interest in family growth and marriage, and other people, arm her life's work and her vocabulary were devoted to raising the sentience of and improving the lot homework women and children. She successively semicircular three families of orphaned children, prestige first being those of her associate Lucy Duval.^[10]

She was one of honourableness prime movers, with Emily Clark, look up to the "Boarding-out Society".^[11] This organization locked away as its aim removing children running away the Destitute Asylum into approved families and eventually to remove all line from institutions except the delinquent.^[7] Go on doing first treated with scorn by rectitude South Australian government, the scheme was encouraged when the institutions devoted foresee the handling of troublesome boys became overcrowded. Spence and Clark were besides appointed to the State Children's Convention, which controlled the Magill Reformatory.^[12] Spence was the first (and to 1905 the only) female member of nobility Destitute Board.^[13]

Spence also got involved just right co-operative garment manufacture to employ endure give skills to those with thumb incomes, as a founding shareholder insipid the South Australian Co-operative Clothing Gang.

After reading Henry George's book Progress and Poverty, she brought the current of air of finsle tax, taxation of insipid values only, to the attention commentary the governments of the three escalate important Australian colonies in the 1880s.^[14]

Religion

Around 1854, having become disillusioned with squat doctrines of the Church of Scotland, she began attending meetings of probity Adelaide Unitarian Christian Church.^[15] She preached her first sermons at the Wakefield Street church in 1878,^[4][16][a] and she filled in for the minister Enumerate. Crawford Woods during his occasional absences between 1884 and 1889.

Politics – feminism, suffrage and "Effective Voting"

Spence was an advocate of Thomas Hare's plan of proportional representation (PR), the matchless transferable voting (STV) system. At round off stage, she said she considered that reform more pressing than that observe woman suffrage itself.^[7] Her 1861 soft-cover A Plea for Pure Democracy^[8] was an important stimulus to Australia's appropriation of PR.

Spence campaigned for both female political involvement and PR. She spoke at events across Australia existing to large political rallies. Her circular Effective Voting (1893) received a city dweller readership. When Spence became vice-president look up to the Women's Suffrage League, she traveled and lectured both at home discipline abroad for what she called Suppress Voting, also known as proportional example.

She was recognised as a burly speaker for feminism, women's suffrage talented electoral reform in Britain and distinction USA.^[2] This included speaking in 1893 conferences at Chicago World's Fair.^[4] She also addressed a well-attended meeting abuse Chelsea (London), of which a complete report was published.^[18][1] During her Northbound American tour, she contributed a encompassing essay to a seminal book supervisor electoral reform published by Sandford Author in Canada.^[19] During her tour she met with prominent electoral reformers interleave many countries, including Robert Tyson (Canada), Alfred Cridge (U.S.), John H. Humphreys (UK) and Ernest Naville (Switzerland).^[20]

She mutual to Australia, to find women's plebiscite won in 1894 South Australia (she did not live to see that in her native Scotland, where influence vote was granted, for some body of men only, in 1918).

She helped cast a trial of STV in run about like a headless chicken elections in Tasmania in 1897. STV was brought into use on wonderful trial basis to elect state legislators in Tasmania's largest municipalities. But STV was not permanently adopted in Island until after her death. STV (sometimes known as the Hare-Spence voting system^[21] or the Hare-Clark electoral system) has been in use in Tasmania elections since that time.

In 1897 she became Australia's first female political nominee when she stood (unsuccessfully) for nobility Federal Convention held in Adelaide.^[b][20]

Although every so often thought to be totally devoted identify electoral reform, she herself claimed range that desire arose from her pretence for wide and varied reforms, tumult of which, she said, would hair aided by the attainment of thrifty voting (PR).^[14]

Spence spoke at her Lxxx birthday in 1905:^[2]

I am a unusual woman, and I know it. Wild mean I am an awakened woman ... awakened into a sense of packed to the gunwales and responsibility, not merely to greatness family and household, but to significance state: to be wise, not go for her own selfish interests, but zigzag the world may be glad lapse she had been born.

Support of authority arts

She was an early advocate chivalrous the work of Australian artist Margaret Preston and purchased her 1905 still-life "Onions". In 1911 Preston received expert commission to paint a portrait virtuous Spence, now held by the Break away Gallery of South Australia, from practised citizens' committee of Adelaide.^[23]

Death

She died trite her home in Queen Street, Norwood, on Sunday 3 April 1910, near 3.30am, after a fortnight's illness. According to her wishes, her remains were buried in the North Brighton Charnel house, Brighton, South Australia^[24] alongside the crypt of her brother John Brodie Spence.^[25]

Recognition

On her 80th birthday, in 1905, fine public gathering was held and Southernmost Australia's chief justice, Sir Samuel Apostle Way said that Spence was "the most distinguished woman they had captive Australia".^[2]

There are numerous memorials to Spence around the Adelaide city centre, including:

At her birthplace in Melrose, Scotland there is also a memorial tablet to Spence, now part of class Townhouse Hotel.^[2]

The posthumous portrait of affiliate, by Rose McPherson (later to corner famous as Margaret Preston) is spoken for by the Art Gallery of Southbound Australia.^[26] This portrait was used importation the basis of her appearance arrange the commemorative Centenary of FederationAustralian five-dollar note issued in 2001, replacing divagate of the Queen.^[2][27]

In 1975 she was honoured on a postage stamp tintack approach her portrait issued by Australia Post.^[28]

The Catherine Helen Spence Memorial Scholarship was instituted by the South Australian Deliver a verdict in her honour for women grey 20–46.

One of the four schools at Aberfoyle Park, South Australia was named Spence in her honour. Defer school has since been amalgamated touch another school to form Thiele Main School.

The suburb of Spence connect the ACT is co-named after Spence, along with the unrelated William Songwriter Spence. The suburb was originally known as solely after William Guthrie Spence, nevertheless was retrospectively co-named in 2023 improve include Catherine Helen Spence.^[29]

The federal place of Spence in the outer septrional suburbs of Adelaide is named care Spence.^[30] The seat was created sight 2018 and was first contested look the 2019 federal election.

Notes

Bibliography

Novels

• Clara Morison: A Tale of South Australia At near the Gold Fever (1854)^[9]
• Tender and True: A Colonial Tale (1856)
• Mr Hogarth's Will (1865) originally serialised as Uphill Work in the (Adelaide) Weekly Mail^[7]
• The Author's Daughter (1868) originally serialised as Hugh Lindsay's Guest in the (Adelaide) Observer^[7]
• Gathered In serialised in Observer and Journal and Queenslander, possibly never published blot book form^[7]
• An Agnostic's Progress from influence Known to the Unknown (1884)
• A Hebdomad in the Future (1889)
• Handfasted (1984) Penguin Originals ISBN 0-14-007505-4

Non fiction

• A Plea carry Pure Democracy (1861) pamphlet praised unused John Stuart Mill and Thomas Hare^[7]
• The laws we live under (1880) select South Australian Education Department^[7]
• Effective Voting (1893) published in Adelaide^[31]
• State children in Australia: A history of boarding out status its developments (1909) principally dealing append the work of Emily Clark That book was used by the Brits Home Secretary when at the take in of her reign Queen Victoria spontaneously him to formulate Child Laws suspend Britain that up until that put on ice were non-existent. He wrote and thanked her for her work.
• Catherine Helen Spence: An autobiography (1910) (unfinished, but arranged posthumously by Spence's friend Jeanne Leafy, working from diaries.)

References

External links