Catherine Helen Spence

Catherine Helen Spence

Catherine Helen Spence was a Scottish-born Australian writer, preacher, and social reformer. Spence began her career as a writer of fiction, and later used her journalism and public speaking to become an influential public figure in the colony of South Australia. By the time of her death, she was widely eulogised as the "Grand Old Woman of Australia". She advocated for a range of causes, including electoral reform, women's suffrage, poverty relief, and girls' education. She was also a regular lay preacher at the Adelaide Unitarian Christian Church.