Mary Hannay Foott (

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

, La Quenouille; 26 September 1846 – 12 October 1918), was a Scottish-born Australian poet and editor. She is well remembered for a bush-ballad poem,"

Where the Pelican Builds ''Where the Pelican Builds'' is a poem by Australian poet Mary Hannay Foott. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 12 March 1881, and later in the poet's collection ''Where the Pelican Builds and Other Poems'' (1885). E. S. Wilk ...

Early life

Mary Hannay Foott was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

to a merchant, James Black, and his wife, ''née'' Grant. The family moved to Australia in 1853 and lived for some years at

Mordialloc Mordialloc is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the . H ...

, near

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, where Mary attended Miss Harper's school. She became one of the first students at Melbourne's

National Gallery of Victoria Art School The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, associated with the National Gallery of Victoria, was a private fine arts college founded in 1867 and was Australia's leading art school of 50 years. It is also referred to as the 'National Gallery ...

. She also studied painting under

Louis Buvelot Louis Buvelot ( Morges 3 March 1814 – Melbourne 30 May 1888), born Abram-Louis Buvelot, was a Swiss landscape painter who lived 17 years in Brazil and following 5 years back in Switzerland stayed 23 years in Australia, where he influenced the H ...

Writings

In 1874, Mary married Thomas Wade Foott, with whom she lived for three years in Bourke, New South Wales. In 1877, her husband took her up-country, to the Paroo River in South West Queensland. Her experiences there are described in one of her poems, "New Country", and her next seven years in that country had a great influence on her writings. Her husband died in 1884 through over-work and exposure during a drought of that year, when their losses of stock were so great that Mrs Foott was faced with selling her interest in the property and moving to

Toowoomba, Queensland Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

. In July 1885, Foott went to

Rocklea Rocklea is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Rocklea had a population of 1,595 people. Geography Rocklea is located 9 kilometres south of the city. The west of the suburb is bordered by the Oxley Creek. The ...

, near

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, where she opened a private school, which supported her family. In the same year she published a first volume, ''Where the Pelican Builds and Other Poems'', and began to do journalistic work for ''

The Queenslander ''The Queenslander'' was the weekly summary and literary edition of the '' Brisbane Courier'', the leading journal in the colony—and later, federal state—of Queensland since the 1850s. ''The Queenslander'' was launched by the Brisbane New ...

'' and the ''

Brisbane Courier ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

''. In 1887, she joined the staff of ''The Queenslander'', where she wrote under the pseudonym "La Quenouille", but several stories also appeared in her own name. These have never been collected. ''Morna Lee and Other Poems'', largely a reprint of her first volume, was published in 1890. Foott continued her literary work for many years at Brisbane, and from 1907 at

Bundaberg, Queensland Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the List of places in Queensland by population, tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's Bundaberg Regional Council, regional area has a population of 70,921, and is ...

, where she died in October 1918. Foott's published verse was small in quantity but usually of good quality. One of her several bush ballads, entitled "Where the Pelican Builds", appears in most Australian anthologies.

Personal life

Foott's younger son, Arthur Patrick Foott, was a journalist, who enlisted in the 1st Australian Pioneer Battalion in 1916. A private, he was killed in action at Passchendaele in September 1917. She was survived by her other son, Brigadier-General

Cecil Henry Foott Brigadier General Cecil Henry Foott (16 January 1876 – 27 June 1942) was a senior Australian Army officer who served as Chief Engineer of the Australian Corps in the First World War. He was educated as an engineer and, serving with distinctio ...

, CB, CMG, who was born on 16 January 1876, educated as an engineer, and served with distinction in the Great War, being mentioned six times in dispatches. He commanded the 4th Division A.M.F. in 1929–1931, and died on 27 June 1942.

Legacy

Foott Street in the Canberra suburb of Garran is named in Mary Hannay Foott's honour.

Selected works

Poetry collections

*''

Where the Pelican Builds and Other Poems ''Where the Pelican Builds and Other Poems'' (1885) was the first, and only major, collection of poems by Australian poet Mary Hannay Foott. It was released in hardback by Gordon and Gotch publishers, Brisbane, in 1885. It features the poet's b ...

'', Gordon & Gotch, Brisbane, 1885 *''Morna Lee and Other Poems'', Gordon & Gotch, London and Brisbane, 2nd edition, 1890

Play

*''Sweep: A comedy for children in three acts'', Gordon & Gotch, Brisbane, 1891

Individual works

" (1881)

References

Bibliography

*Debra Adelaide (1988), ''Australian women writers: a bibliographic guide'', London, Pandora *

External links

* * *Margaret Henry and Cecil Hadgraft,
Foott, Mary Hannay (1846–1918)
,

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 4, Melbourne University Press, 1972, pp. 194–195 *Text of
Where the Pelican Builds and Other Poems
'. {{DEFAULTSORT:Foott, Mary Hannay 1846 births 1918 deaths Australian women poets Australian women dramatists and playwrights People from Bundaberg Pseudonymous women writers 19th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Australian poets 19th-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Australian poets 20th-century Australian women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers People from Mordialloc, Victoria Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni