Catherine Helen Spence "Key People"

Catherine Helen Spence


- Catherine was born on the 31st October 1825

- At the age of 13 Catherine decided that when she was an older women she would become a teacher or an author. 


- 1872 Spence helped Caroline Emily Clark to found the Boarding-Out Society, to board orphaned, needy and reformed children in the homes of families that would take each child in, and to visit them as well as to check on their behaviour towards the caretaker and the treatment they are getting.

- Catherine was an official of the society in 1872-86 and worked persistently as a visitor.  

When the State Children's Council was founded in 1886 she became a member, and later became a member of the Destitute Board.

- A lot of Catherine’s work was for education, she supported the foundation of kindergartens and government secondary schools for young and youthful girls.

- Catherine joined the battle for female suffrage in 1891 and became a vice-president of the Women's Suffrage League of South Australia. After South Australian women were enfranchised in 1894, she supported campaigns in New South Wales and Victoria and spoke at meetings of the Women's League, a body formed in Adelaide for the political schooling of women. 

- She urged the establishing of a local association affiliated with the International Council of Women. Her work on this also won her acclaim; she had become a symbol of what Australian women could attempt and look up to as a role model.

- Catherine passed away 3rd April 1910