Marie Louise Hamilton Mack (10 October 1870 – 23 November 1935) was an Australian poet, journalist and novelist. She is most known for her writings and her involvement in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1914 as the first woman war correspondent in Belgium.
Biography
Mack was born in
Hobart,
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
. Her father, Hans Hamilton Mack, was a
Wesleyan
Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...
minister who moved the family from state to state on account of his work. By the time she was ready for secondary school, the family had taken up residence in Sydney. Mack attended
Sydney Girls High School
Sydney Girls High School (abbreviated as SGHS or Sydney Girls) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary da ...
where she met
Ethel Turner
Ethel Turner (24 January 1870 – 8 April 1958) was an English-born Australian novelist and children's literature writer.
Life
She was born Ethel Mary Burwell in Doncaster in England. Her father died when she was two, leaving her mother Sarah J ...
.
On 8 January 1896 she married John Percy Creed (d. 1914), a barrister from
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
; there were no children.
Louise Mack had 12 siblings.
Career
From 1898 until 1901, Mack wrote "A Woman's Letter" for ''
The Bulletin''. Her first novel was published in 1896 and her only collection of poetry in 1901. Following this she travelled to England and Europe and did not return to Australia until 1916.
Mack wrote sixteen novels over nearly 40 years. ''The Spectator'' wrote in 1903 about her third novel, ''Girls Together'', a companion piece to ''Teens: A Story of Australian School Girls'', that "the narrative is distinctly interesting. The study of character is excellent".
War correspondent
In 1914 when war broke out Louise Mack was in Belgium where she continued to work as the first woman war correspondent for the ''
Evening News Evening News may refer to:
Television news
*''CBS Evening News'', an American news broadcast
*''ITV Evening News'', a UK news broadcast
*'' JNN Evening News'', a Japanese news broadcast
*''Evening News'', an alternate name for '' News Hour'' in so ...
'' and the London ''
Daily Mail''.
Her eye-witness account of the German invasion of Antwerp and her adventures—''A Woman's Experiences in the Great War''—was published in 1915.
She was not only the first woman to be a war correspondent but she was also the first Australian to study the Germans this closely during this time. She was under shell-fire for thirty-six hours in
Antwerp, and at one point went right through German lines to the
city of Brussels. This fearless pursuit earned her great fame in Australia and gathered many audiences in Australian theaters, streets, and anywhere Mack was willing to tell her courageous story.
Returning to Australia
Returning to Australia in 1916, Mack gave a series of lectures about her war experiences. She frequently wrote for ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'', the ''
Bulletin
Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to:
Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals)
* Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper
* ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008)
** Bulletin Debate, ...
'' and other newspapers and magazines.
[ On a visit to New Zealand in 1920, Mack and two others went missing for three days while mountain climbing in the ]Tararua Range
The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand.
The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of ...
, Otaki. When found, she was suffering from hunger and mountain sickness.
While back in Australia, in 1917–1918 she used her lectures on her war experiences to raise money for the Australian Red Cross Society
The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cro ...
.
On 1 September 1924 Louise married 33-year-old Allen Illingworth Leyland (d. 1932). In the 1930s she wrote a series of humorous but helpful articles for the ''Australian Women's Weekly
''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by th ...
'', titled "Louise Mack advises".
Mack died in Mosman, New South Wales
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local gover ...
in 1935.
Bibliography
Novels
* '' The World is Round'' (1896)
* ''Teens: A Story of Australian School Girls'' (1897)
* ''Girls Together'' (1898)
* '' An Australian Girl in London'' (1902)
* ''Children of the Sun'' (1904)
* ''The Red Rose of a Summer'' (1909)
* ''Theodora's Husband'' (1909)
* ''In a White Palace'' (1910)
* ''The Romance of a Woman of Thirty'' (1911)
* ''Wife to Peter'' (1911)
* ''Attraction'' (1913)
* ''The Marriage of Edward'' (1913)
* ''The House of Daffodils'' (1914)
* ''The Music Makers: the love story of a woman composer'' (1914)
* ''Teens Triumphant'' (1933)
* ''Maiden's Prayer'' (1934)
Poetry collection
* '' Dreams in Flower'' (1901)
Individual poems
* " Manly Lagoon" (1893)
* " Of a Wild White Bird" (1895)
* "An Easter Song" (1897)
* "Before Exile" (1901)
* "To Sydney" (1901)
Autobiography
*''A Woman's Experiences in the Great War'' (1915)
References
External links
* Nancy Phelan
"Mack, Amy Eleanor (1876–1939)" (shared entry with Marie Louise Mack)
in ''Dictionary of Australian Biography''
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, Louise
1870 births
1935 deaths
19th-century Australian novelists
20th-century Australian novelists
Australian poets
Australian women novelists
Australian women poets
Australian women of World War I
War correspondents of World War I
20th-century Australian women writers
19th-century Australian women writers
People from Hobart
People educated at Sydney Girls High School