Catherine Hay Thomson
Catherine Hay Thomson (? – 1928) was a Scottish-born Australian undercover journalist, literary agent and educator.
Early life and education[edit]
Catherine Hay Thomson was born in Glasgow, educated in Melbourne and was one of the early female graduates from the University of Melbourne.
Career[edit]
Thomson was principal of Queen's College, Ballarat for some time. In 1881 she opened a boarding and day school for girls in Spring Street, Melbourne.[1]
Thomson began writing investigative articles, being referred to in The Bulletin in 1886 as "the female 'Vagabond' of Melbourne".[2][3] Thomson worked as an undercover journalist, disguising herself as a man to visit brothels and taverns investigating corruption which was exposed in her newspaper articles.[2] She investigated undercover as an attendant at the Kew Asylum, a psychiatric hospital in Melbourne[1] and also as an assistant nurse at the Melbourne Hospital.[4]
Thomson was one of the founders of the Austral Salon in 1890,[1] a women’s club to foster literature, music and the arts.[2] In 1899, Thomson and Evelyn Gough became joint proprietors of The Sun: An Australian Journal for the Home and Society.[5][6][7] After the magazine merged with Arena in 1903 Thomson became a literary agent.[8]
Thomson founded the National Council of Women of Victoria in 1902.[2][9]
Personal life[edit]
Thomson married Thomas Floyd Legge in Melbourne in 1918, aged 72.[1] The wedding was held at the Women Writer’s Club.[1] Thomson died in Cheltenham on 24 July 1928.[10]
Works[edit]
- Thomson, C. Hay (1909), Women writers of Australasia. The Commonwealth of Australia, s.n, retrieved 18 January 2020
- Thomson, Catherine Hay (August 1906) The Austral Salon: women's clubs in Australia. Womanhood. Vol.16 (93), p.[133]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Davies, Kerrie; McDonald, Willa (16 January 2020). "Hidden women of history: Catherine Hay Thomson, the Australian undercover journalist who went inside asylums and hospitals". The Conversation. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d "People of the Rialto | Catherine Hay Thomson". InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- ^ "THE FEMALE SIDE OF KEW ASYLUM". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 26 March 1886. p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- ^ "The Inner Life of Melbourne Hospital". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 12 March 1886. p. 9. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- ^ "Pioneer Reformer". Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954). 9 January 1932. p. 21. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- ^ The Sun : an illustrated journal for the home and society. Sydney : Frank Critchley Parker. 1896.
- ^ "The Sun : An Illustrated Journal for the Home and Society | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". Austlit. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ "PRG 88/7/1-122 Letters by Catherine Helen Spence to Alice Henry 1900-1910" (PDF). State Library of South Australia. 2010.
- ^ "National Council of Women of Victoria". The Argus. 30 July 1904. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ Clarke, Patricia (1988). Pen portraits : women writers and journalists in nineteenth century Australia. Sydney ; London ; New York : Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74269-678-2.