author
Catherine Martin
1848–1937
A Scottish-born Australian novelist and poet, she wrote thoughtful fiction that explored women’s lives, education, and the making of an Australian identity. Best known for An Australian Girl, she published much of her work anonymously or under pseudonyms before her name appeared more openly in print.
1 Audiobook
An Australian Girl
by Catherine Martin
About the author
Born on the Isle of Skye in 1848, Catherine Edith Macauley Martin emigrated to South Australia with her family as a child. She grew up in the colony, later worked as a teacher, and developed a strong interest in literature and languages, especially German.
Martin published poems, essays, stories, and novels, often using names such as M.C. and Mrs Alick MacLeod rather than her own. Her fiction is closely linked with late nineteenth-century Australian life, and An Australian Girl became her best-known novel.
She continued writing for decades, with her final novel, The Incredible Journey (1923), appearing under her own name. She died in Adelaide on March 15, 1937, and is remembered as an important early Australian writer whose work combined social observation with intelligence and quiet independence.