Background
Born at Parkville, Melbourne, daughter of Scottish-born Thomas Jollie Smith and his Victorian wife Jessie Ochiltree. Brought up at Naracoorte, South Australia, where her father was Presbyterian minister.
Presbyterian minister socialist lawyer
Born at Parkville, Melbourne, daughter of Scottish-born Thomas Jollie Smith and his Victorian wife Jessie Ochiltree. Brought up at Naracoorte, South Australia, where her father was Presbyterian minister.
She was educated in Adelaide, and at Presbyterian Ladies" College, Melbourne, in 1904.
Early in 1918 Jollie Smith was the first woman taxi-driver in Melbourne, under the trade name "Pamela Brown". In 1919 she taught English literature at Melbourne High, Brighton Grammar schools and the Labor College of New South Wales, Sydney. Christian Jollie Smith became the second woman to be admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales on 30 October 1924.
She established her own practice dealing chiefly with political and industrial cases.
In 1951 Jollie Smith briefed Herbert Evatt who successfully challenged the validity of the Acting outlawing the Communist Party. Jollie Smith never married.
The Australian Communist Newspaper Tribune acknowledged her as one of the "most devoted fighters in the intellectual and professional fields" on behalf of the working class.
Christian studied law at the University of Melbourne (Bachelor of Laws, 1911) and was introduced to socialism by her friend Guido Baracchi. Jollie Smith worked as a solicitor, from 1914 onwards but chose a number of diverse career paths including journalism for her socialist political cause and teaching.