• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE0221

Spence, Catherine Helen

(1825 – 1910)
  • Born 31 October 1825, Near Melrose, , Scotland
  • Died 3 April 1910, Adelaide, South Australia
  • Occupation Campaigner, Suffragist, Writer

Summary

Spence ran as a South Australian delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in 1897, the first woman political candidate in Australia. She was also active in the Women’s Suffrage League and the South Australian National Council of Women.

Events

  • 2001

    Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women

Archival resources

  • State Library of South Australia
    • Catherine Helen Spence : SUMMARY RECORD
    • Speech re Catherine Helen Spence
    • Wemyss family : SUMMARY RECORD
    • The Grand Old Woman of Australia (literary manuscript)
    • Unitarian Christian Church Adelaide : SUMMARY RECORD
  • National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
    • [Material in archival and other institutions] [microform]
    • Papers, 1856-1909 [microform] Catherine Helen Spence
    • [Papers] [1853-1900] [microform]
  • Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection
    • Catherine Helen Spence - Papers, 1856-1909

Published resources

  • Report
  • Book
    • Catherine Spence, Janet Cooper, 1972
    • An autobiography, Spence, Catherine Helen [edited and introduced by Jeanne F. Young], 1975
    • Catherine Helen Spence : a study and an appreciation, Young, Jeanne F, 1937
    • Tenacious of the past : the recollections of Helen Brodie, Catherine Helen Spence; edited by Judy King and Graham Tulloch., c1994
    • Works of Catherine Helen Spence, Catherine Helen Spence, 197-?
    • Bibliography of Catherine Helen Spence / [compiled in the Research Service of the Public Library of South Australia by Elizabeth Gunton, Gunton, Elizabeth Joan, 1967
    • Unbridling the tongues of women : A Biography of Catherine Helen Spence, Magarey, Susan, c1985
    • First of all, Tony Brooks, 1995
    • In her own name. A history of women in South Australia from 1836, Helen Jones, 1986
    • John's Notable Australians, 1906, Johns, Fred, 1905
    • The Changemakers : Ten Significant Australian Women, Suzane Fabian and Morag Loh, 1983
    • Living in South Australia : a social history, Elizabeth Kwan, 1987
    • Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide, Adelaide, Debra, 1988
    • Uphill all the way: a documentary history of women in Australia, Daniels, Kay and Murnane, Mary, 1980
  • Resource
  • Resource Section
  • Edited Book
    • 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Radi, Heather, 1988
  • Site Exhibition

Related entries


  • Friend and Colleague
    • Henry, Alice (1857 - 1943)
  • Foundation member
    • National Council of Women of South Australia (1902 - )
  • Related Women
    • Colton, Mary (1822 - 1898)
    • Nicholls, Elizabeth Webb (1850 - 1943)
    • Birks, Rosetta Jane (Rose) (1856 - 1911)
    • Lake, Serena Thorne (1842 - 1902)
    • Young, Jeanne Forster (1876 - 1955)
  • Related Organisations
    • League of Women Voters of South Australia (1909 - 1979)
    • Woman's League (1895 - 1970)
    • South Australian Women's Suffrage League (1888 - )
  • Related Concepts
    • Women's Non-party Political Organisations