HARRIET CLISBY Storm-centre of Two Continents SPENT CHILDHOOD HERE Harriet Clisby, whose death is announced, wore ringlets and frilled pantalettes when she arrived in Adelaide in 1837—but she had a brain that made her a storm-centre of two continents! There was nothing early Victorian about the woman, who left a pioneer music shop in Adelaide…
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GOVERNESS OR LADY HELP ? TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS. Sir,–I belong to that unhappy class of persons known as governesses, where every accomplishment is required, and the salary is, with few exceptions, what a good cook would decline to take. If a lady can teach English, music, singing, French, Latin, Italian, German, &c.,…
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Lady detectives seem to have come late to Australia. The concept of them was known throughmost of the Victorian era, as they were subject of some popular novels, including Revelations of a Lady Detective (1864) which was advertised, widely, for many, many, many years in regional Australian newspapers. (It made searching… fun.) Tracing them was also…
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I found this one on the wall of the tea room at Franklin House, a spinster and governess!* Charlotte’s brother ran a boys school at Franklin Village, but she “was forced to gain employment. This she found at the Archer family house of Northbury near Longford” (pictured above). At first she worked as “a governess…
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Cornwall Chronicle, 19 May 1860 Launceston Examiner, 2 June 1959 Launceston Examiner, 9 March 1861
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Miss Mary Newton, employed as Grisette in Mr. Haynes’ pastry establishment, charged with a breach of the Police Act, under the following circumstances:–A Mr. Merton, who has just joined the Police Department in the capacity of district constable, having rather a fashionable exterior, hit upon a novel plan to raise the wind, and thereupon sallied…
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Caption: “Woman [possibly Aboriginal or Chinese?] selling fruit from small barrow” Sydney, ca. 1885-1890, photographed by Arthur K. Syer From a series of Sydney street scenes, (Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)
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Some potential employers have low requirements 🙂 A trawl through the advertisements in the Argus, 14 November 1860 TUTORS, GOVERNESSES, CLERKS etc SERVANTS DOMESTIC SERVANTS. (To the Editor of the Star.) SIR,-Your leader on the above subject demands the serious attention of heads of families. There can be no doubt that all the evils and inconveniences…
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As time passes, most people fade into obscurity. Their names are forgotten, unless something is named after them or someone passes by their headstone. Their existence is forgotten until an ancestor digs them up (not literally, I hope), or a researcher starts poking around in the history of a place or object. Some people though…
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It would be easy to fill these page with hotel keepers, for I come across many of them in my Launceston Hotel project. It was a common occupation for women, and the licensing board, at least in Launceston, preferred married couples, although the case was sometimes argued for a young, single male on the basis…
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