What is a Visiting Scholar anyway?
A private, shared room to work in at the State Library of NSW (SLNSW). VIP treatment by the specialist librarians. Staff discount at the SLNSW’s café and bookshop. Plus that quiet sense of smug satisfaction that comes from having a little something on your CV that’s highly competitive and hard to get. Oh, hang on,…
The Lost ‘Dawns’
Earlier this year, as a visiting researcher at Sydney’s Mitchell Library, I noticed something was missing from its collection. A series of somethings, in fact. I didn’t quite believe it. According to the astonishing cabinet of wonders that is the library’s online catalogue, they were all there. But when the librarians brought out the relevant…
Louisa Lawson
Louisa Lawson (1848-1920) was a farmer, poet, writer, and a successful newspaper owner. She established Dawn, Australia’s first journal for women readers and lobbied publicly and successfully for women’s rights – including the right to vote. Yet today she is best known, if at all, for being Henry Lawson’s mother. Outspoken, uncompromising, opinionated – Louisa Lawson…