Bust of Catherine Helen Spence

Catherine Helen Spence was born in Melrose, Scotland on 31 October 1825. She arrived in South Australia with her mother in November 1839 aboard the Palmyra. She was Australia's first professional woman journalist and first female political candidate. A dedicated social and political reformer Spence's influence on suffrage, culminated in SA being the first Australian colony to give the vote to women, and the first in the world to give women the right to stand for Parliament. She was also a novelist whose work was compared by contemporary South Australian's with the works of Jane Austen. Following her theological doubts, Spence left the Presbyterian Church to become a member of the Unitarian Church as a young woman. In this church she became a preacher. With fellow Unitarian Caroline Emily Clark, Spence established the system which came to be the foster system for at risk children, in 1872. In later years she was dubbed the 'Grand Old Woman of Australia'. In 1905 on her 80th birthday, South Australian Chief Justice, Sir Samuel Way, declared she was 'The most distinguished woman they had had in Australia .... She was a novelist, a critic, an accomplished journalist, a preacher, a lecturer, a philanthropist, and a social and moral reformer'. She died on 3 April 1910.

As an indication of her continuing influence, the Advertiser included Catherine Helen Spence in its list of the ten greatest South Australians of the 20^th century in 1999 - despite the fact that most of her work was done in the 19^th century. Spence's role in Federation was recognised nationally by her placement on one side of Australia's 2001 Federation five dollar note. In 2003 the newly re-furbished State Library building was named in her honour.

The original plaster bust for the life size bronze statue of Catherine Helen Spence by Adelaide sculptor Ieva Pocius, situated in Light Square in the city, is owned by the State Library. Ieva was born in Lithuania in 1923, and has worked in Adelaide as both a teacher of art, and sculptor. She has worked in a variety of mediums and styles.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

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