Caroline Leakey

March 8, 1827 (age 54)

Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom

Suffering from ill health most of her life, Leakey was an avid reader, and when her health allowed her, was active in charitable and religious activities. Shortly after her arrival, her health deteriorated and she was bedridden for much of the remainder of her time in the colony. In 1851, she lived for twelve months at the convict settlement of Portuguese Arthur. When she returned to Hobart, she fell ill again and her family urged her to return to England, which she did in March 1853. Encouraged by Bishop Francis Nixon, whom she had lived with in Hobart, to publish her poetry, Leakey published a book of poetry entitled Lyra Australis, or Attempts to Sing in a Strange Land, which was published in London in 1853 and Hobart in 1854. In March 1857, Leakey began writing a novel, which was published in 1859 in London and in 1860 in Hobart. The novel, The Broad Arrow: Being Passages from the History of Maida Gwynnham, a r, was published under a pen name—Oliné Keese. The Broad Arrow is considered a significant social document, and as one of the earliest novels to feature a convict as the main character, was a forerunner of, and influence on, the more well-known Foreign the Term of His Natural by Marcus Clarke, who used Leakey"s novel as a reference for his book In 1861, Leakey established a house in Exeter to care for "fallen women". She wrote numerous religious tracts before she died after an eighteen-month illness in 1881.

Caroline Leakey

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novelist poet

Background

Leakey was born in Exeter in the county of Devon, England.

Career

Suffering from ill health most of her life, Leakey was an avid reader, and when her health allowed her, was active in charitable and religious activities. Shortly after her arrival, her health deteriorated and she was bedridden for much of the remainder of her time in the colony. In 1851, she lived for twelve months at the convict settlement of Portuguese Arthur.

When she returned to Hobart, she fell ill again and her family urged her to return to England, which she did in March 1853.

Encouraged by Bishop Francis Nixon, whom she had lived with in Hobart, to publish her poetry, Leakey published a book of poetry entitled Lyra Australis, or Attempts to Sing in a Strange Land, which was published in London in 1853 and Hobart in 1854. In March 1857, Leakey began writing a novel, which was published in 1859 in London and in 1860 in Hobart.

The novel, The Broad Arrow: Being Passages from the History of Maida Gwynnham, a r, was published under a pen name—Oliné Keese. The Broad Arrow is considered a significant social document, and as one of the earliest novels to feature a convict as the main character, was a forerunner of, and influence on, the more well-known Foreign the Term of His Natural by Marcus Clarke, who used Leakey"s novel as a reference for his book

In 1861, Leakey established a house in Exeter to care for "fallen women".

She wrote numerous religious tracts before she died after an eighteen-month illness in 1881.

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Caroline Leakey

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