K. Langloh (Katie Langloh) Parker

Born Catherine Eliza Somerville Stow on 1 May 1856 in South Australia, she wrote under the name K. Langloh Parker. After marrying pastoralist Langloh Parker, she lived for many years in northern New South Wales, where she became closely interested in the lives, stories, and beliefs of the Yuwaalaraay people and their neighbors.

Her best-known books include Australian Legendary Tales (1896), More Australian Legendary Tales (1898), and The Euahlayi Tribe (1905). These works introduced many readers to Aboriginal stories and culture at a time when very little had been recorded in print, and they are still discussed today for their value as early written accounts.

Parker later remarried and spent her later years in South Australia, where she died on 27 March 1940. Modern readers often approach her work with both appreciation and care: appreciation because she preserved material that might otherwise have been lost, and care because her books were shaped by the attitudes and language of her era.