Dorothea Mackellar

Education

She was educated at home and travelled extensively with her parents, becoming fluent in French, Spanish, German and Italian, and also attended some lectures at the University of Sydney.

Dorothea was given special tuition in painting, fencing, and languages. Travelling overseas to countries such as England, Europe, America and the East, with her family was also considered part of her education. Due to this exposure to different cultures, she became fluent in many languages. Visiting theatres, galleries and museums added to her knowledge of the Arts. Later when she travelled overseas with her father she assisted him as interpreter.

Career

H. M. Green describes her as a 'lyrist of colour and light' in love with the Australian landscape. She herself 'never professed to be a poet. I have written—from the heart, from imagination, from experience—some amount of verse'.

Achievements

• A federal electorate covering half of Sydney's Northern Beaches is named in her honour as well as a street in the Canberra suburb of Cook.

Works

• poem

  • The Witch Maid

  • Dreamharbour

  • Fancy Dress

  • My Country

• poetry

  • The Closed Door

Politics

Politics became a long- term interest. After 1902, women could vote in the New South Wales state elections on equal terms with men. Her diaries record her interest and concerns of that period, in particular, the discussion on the need for conscription in the lead up to World War I.

Interests

• Acting, politics

Connections

Father:

Sir Charles Kinnaird Mackellar