Rachel Henning

Rachel Biddulph Henning (1826–1914) was born in England. In 1854, she went to Australia but returned to England in 1856 due to homesickness and the hot climate. However, in 1861, she returned to Australia, this time travelling on the SS Great Britain. During this voyage she kept a diary. Highlights included the discovery of a stowaway who became the surgeon’s assistant and a visit to the engine room in her long Victorian dress.[1] Following this trip, she settled in Australia permanently. She first lived with her brother and sister on their property in Queensland, but married in 1866 and later moved to a property near the New South Wales south coast.

Rachel's descriptive letters, mainly addressed to her sister in England, provide a detailed account of nearly 30 years of pioneering life in Australia. The letters were first published by The Bulletin in 1951 and 1952; in 1963, they were collected in book form and published by Angus and Robertson, with a foreword and illustrations by Norman Lindsay. Literary critic Debra Adelaide writes that "they are valued for their vivid portrayal of station life in the second half of the nineteenth century and for her own humour and frankness about the life she led".[2]

Rachel Henning's Letters is one of the best examples in English of the way in which letters can overlap with fiction.[3]

Further reading
  • Henning, Rachel (1986). Adams, David (ed.). The Letters of Rachel Henning. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. ISBN 0-207-14981-X.
  • Henning, Rachel. The Letters of Rachel Henning. South Australia 5005: eBooks@Adelaide, The University of Adelaide Library, University of Adelaide.CS1 maint: location (link)
  • Australian Dictionary of Biography entry
  • Full text of her letters at Project Gutenberg Australia
  • Rachel Henning and Deighton Taylor in Illawarra 1853-1896

References
  1. https://globalstories.ssgreatbritain.org/_/traveller/7138/
  2. Adelaide, Debra (1988). Australian women writers: a bibliographic guide. London: Pandora. p. 93. ISBN 0-86358-149-8.
  3. Spender, Dale, (1988) Writing a New World: Two Centuries of Australian Women Writers, Pandora, London, p.27
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