Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), Thursday 6 November 1913, page 6


AUSTRALIA'S DAUGHTERS.

The daughter of sunshiny Australia has a good deal more to. recommend her than mere beauty of face and figure — though there are those who consider her claims in these directions sufficently strong to make her famous. She has brains as well; and that she knows how to use them is shown by even a cursory glance at the names of the women who have left the level and climbed to eminence through various high ways. She makes a notable addition to that list. In art, literature, music, she has left

a mark conspicuous amongst the work of the women from any part of the world. Amongst our women artists whose work has received prominence and whose names are familiar in all art centres and to all art lov ers, is Bessie Norris (Mrs. Nevin Tait), who excels in miniature portraiture, ' in which style she has presented some of the great men and women of the day. Her work is represented in the Art Galleries 01 Sydney and Melbourne, and has been shown at the Franco-British Exhibition, the Royal Aca demy, a,nd the New Galley, London. Others are Justine Kong Sing, also an adept at miniatures, and now doing excellent work in London and Paris; Alice E.Norton, Mar-garet Fleming, Ethel Stephens, Alice Mus kett, Edith Cusack, Madam Both, the lat-ter well known for her delicate works exe cuted in Sydney. She afterwards visited England and America, and is now settled in South Africa. Mary Stoddard is another whose pictures in our own Art Gallery and elsewhere are well known. Mrs. Ellis Rowan is familiar to the public through her paintings of Australian flora. She is a re markable woman, a Victorian, and ha| trav elled extensively in various countries of the world in the pursuit of the study of native flora, and has written several works on the subject. Miss Meeson (Mrs. George Coates) exhibits in the famous galleries. And there are many others whose names for the moment have escaped memory. Of the writers who have achieved some considerable success at home and abroad is Mrs. Barbara Baynton, -a native of Scone, 1 Hunter Eiver. She has published a number of books, and has met with both financial and literary success. Mrs. Jeanie . Gunn's 'Little Black Princess' is almost a classic, and 'We of the Never Never' is one of the best accounts of Australian station life published. Mary Gaunt (Mrs. II. Lindsay Miller) is the eldest daughter 01 the late Judge Gaunt. She was the first woman stu dent of the Melbourne University, and now lives in Europe, where her novels have been published. Constance Clyde and Louise Mack are journalists, versifiers, and story writers, both now resident in England, the latter (Mrs. Percy Creed), a native of Ho

bart. Mrs. Campbell Praea has perhaps the widest popularity of all the Australian wo men authors. She belongs to Queensland, and has written several novels, some of which deal with life in her native country. Mrs. M. Forest also enjoys a. wide popu larity. Her verses and short stories are fea tures of the English and American maga zines. Australia's contribution to the musicians o ithe world is too numerous to be dwel* upon, beginning with Madame Melba and dropping to Ada Crossley, Lalla Miranda, the three Castles, Amy now appearing in grand opera in Vienna; Dolly, in comic opera in New York; and Eileen still study ing in Europe; Esta D'Argo, Kate Eooney, Madam Amy Sherwin, Frances Saville, Ella Caspers, and so. on, through a lengthy chron icle of famous musical successes. Sculpture has claimed at least three wo men who have become prominent. Dora Olfsen (Bagge) has made a big name with her medallions; Theodora Cowan and Annie Dobson have excelled in sculping figures, and some of their work is exhibited in the National Art Gallery, Sydney.