author
Dorothea Mackellar
1885–1968
Best known for the beloved poem "My Country," this Australian writer captured both the beauty and the harshness of the land she loved. Her work helped shape how generations of readers imagined Australia in verse.
1 Audiobook
The Witch-Maid, & Other Verses
by Dorothea Mackellar
About the author
Born in Sydney on July 1, 1885, Dorothea Mackellar was an Australian poet and fiction writer who grew up in a well-off family and was educated at home. She traveled widely with her parents, became fluent in several European languages, and began writing poetry when she was young.
She is most famous for "My Country," written when she was still a teenager and later published in The Closed Door and Other Verses in 1911. The poem became one of Australia’s best-known pieces of verse, remembered especially for its vivid love of the Australian landscape.
Mackellar also wrote novels and additional volumes of poetry, and she remained an important literary figure throughout her life. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire shortly before her death in Sydney on January 14, 1968.