Ada Cambridge

Born in Norfolk, England, in 1844, Ada Cambridge became an important voice in Australian literature after moving to Australia in 1870 with her husband, the Anglican clergyman George Frederick Cross. She had begun writing young, first contributing hymns, poems, and short pieces, and went on to build a substantial career as a novelist, poet, and memoirist.

Cambridge wrote more than twenty-five works of fiction as well as poetry and autobiographical books. Much of her writing drew on domestic life, religion, marriage, and the social pressures faced by women, and readers have continued to value her for the lively, thoughtful way she portrayed life in colonial Australia.

She died in Melbourne in 1926. Today she is often remembered as an English-born Australian writer whose novels and memoirs preserve both the everyday details and the emotional tensions of her time.