Spence, Catherine Helen (1825-1910), was a Scottish-born Australian writer, preacher, reformer, and feminist (promoter of women’s rights). In 1897, she became the first woman in Australia to seek political office.
Spence was born on Oct. 31, 1825, in Melrose, Scotland. Her family immigrated to South Australia in 1839. Spence worked as a governess (private teacher) before becoming a schoolteacher. She joined the Unitarian Christian Church in her late 20’s. Spence became an accomplished preacher and public speaker. She lectured on such social issues as education, taxation, labor, the treatment of criminals and servants, temperance (limiting alcohol use), gambling, prostitution (performance of sexual acts for payment), and the protection of women and children.
In 1854, Spence’s first novel, Clara Morison: A Tale of South Australia During the Gold Fever, was published anonymously in London. It was the first novel about Australia written by a woman. Spence’s second novel, Tender and True: A Colonial Tale (1856), was also published anonymously. Her third novel, Mr. Hogarth’s Will (1865), appeared under her own name, as did all her later work. Her other novels were The Author’s Daughter (1868), An Agnostic’s Progress from the Known to the Unknown (1884), and A Week in the Future (1889). She also wrote a social studies textbook for South Australian schools, The Laws We Live Under (1880), and supported girls’ education and the establishment of kindergartens.
In 1872, Spence cofounded the Boarding-Out Society, a foster program for poor and orphaned children. In 1886, she was appointed to the State Children’s Council and the Destitute Board.
By 1892, Spence was involved in a vigorous public campaign for proportional parliamentary representation. Under this system, the percentage of the vote political parties receive determines the number of seats they are allotted in parliament.
Spence served as vice president of the Women’s Suffrage League from 1891 to 1894. In 1895, South Australia became the first colony in Australia to grant women the right to vote and the first place in the world to allow them to run for office. In 1897, Spence became the first woman in Australia to seek political office. She ran for, but did not win, a seat at the Australasian Federal Convention. At the convention, representatives of the six Australian colonies wrote a constitution under which they might unite.
Spence died on April 3, 1910. Her memoir, An Autobiography, was published later that year.
See also Australia, History of ; Australian literature ; Woman suffrage .
