Leonora Polkinghorne Explained

Leonora Ethel Polkinghorne (née Twiss) (1873 – 11 May 1953) was an Australian women's activist and writer.[1]

Biography

Polkinghorne was born in Ballarat, Victoria, but subsequently moved to South Australia as a child.[2] [3] She was a teacher before her marriage, teaching mathematics and French at the Christ Church Day School in North Adelaide and later becoming co-principal.[4] [5] She became involved in politics around 1909, when she became a founding member of the Women's Non-Party Association of South Australia (later the League of Women Voters) and honorary treasurer of the short-lived Registered Governesses Association.[6] [7] [8] [9] She married Oswald Polkinghorne in December 1910. They had five children.

She served as president of the South Australian division of the Housewives' Association in 1928–29.[10] She was also a vice-president and executive member of the Women's Non-Party Association for a period in the late 1920s and early 1930s, taking over as president from 1938 to 1940.[11] [12] She unsuccessfully contested the 1930 state election as an independent candidate aligned with the Women's Non-Party Association. Her platform consisted of proportional representation, more support for maternal and child welfare, early closing of hotels on Saturdays, "proper control of the feeble-minded", decentralisation, changes to taxation, and "economy of administration in government service".[13] She was touted as an independent candidate for the 1938 election, but did not nominate.[14] During World War II, Polkinghorne, by then a "noted pacifist", spoke out against conscription during that war and dismissed the value of widespread school fundraising to support the war effort.[15]

She wrote several novels as "Cecil Warren", some in collaboration with Kate Margaret Stone ("Sydney Partrige"), not all of which were published, and contributed poetry and prose to several early twentieth century literary magazines.[16] [17] [18]

She died on 11 May 1953 in the Indian Ocean whilst on board the liner en route to Copenhagen, where she had been due to represent the state branch of the Union of Australian Women at the Women's World Congress. She was buried in Colombo, Sri Lanka.[19]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Broadcast to schools . State Library of South Australia . SA Memory . 23 January 2017.
  2. News: Death Of Mrs. L. E. Polkinghorne . . 95 . 29,510 . Adelaide . 13 May 1953 . 23 January 2017 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  3. News: Out Among The People By VOX . . 95 . 29,395 . Adelaide . 29 December 1952 . 23 January 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  4. News: Advertising . . XXXI . 8990 . Adelaide . 29 September 1899 . 23 January 2017 . 1 (ONE O'CLOCK EDITION) . National Library of Australia.
  5. News: Advertising . . XLI . 11204 . Adelaide . 17 January 1907 . 23 January 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  6. News: RIDICULOUS ANTAGONISM BETWEEN SEXES . . LXXXVII . 4,545 . Adelaide . 31 July 1930 . 23 January 2017 . 51 . National Library of Australia.
  7. News: GOVERNESSES' ASSOCIATION. . . LXVI . 5,224 . Adelaide . 17 April 1909 . 23 January 2017 . 43 . National Library of Australia.
  8. News: PROTECTING GOVERNESSES. . . LII . 15,948 . Adelaide . 27 November 1909 . 23 January 2017 . 15 . National Library of Australia.
  9. News: THE GOVERNESSES' ASSOCIATION. . . 19 . 26 . New South Wales, Australia . 30 June 1910 . 23 January 2017 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  10. Web site: Housewives Association (Australia) South Australian Division (1926 –) . The Australian Women's Register . 23 January 2017.
  11. News: Social Gossip . . XXXI . 4,687 . Adelaide . 2 August 1938 . 23 January 2017 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
  12. News: Work Of League Of Women Voters . . Adelaide . 18 July 1940 . 23 January 2017 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
  13. News: MRS. POLKINGHORNE AS IND. CANDIDATE . . XCV . 27,606 . South Australia . 6 February 1930 . 23 January 2017 . 24 . National Library of Australia.
  14. News: Surprises In Election Nominations . . XXX . 4,551 . Adelaide . 23 February 1938 . 23 January 2017 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  15. News: No-Conscription Rally . . Adelaide . 13 May 1940 . 23 January 2017 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  16. Web site: Leonora Polkinghorne . AustLit . 23 January 2017.
  17. Web site: Sydney Partrige . AustLit . 23 January 2017.
  18. Literary Journals and Literary Aesthetics in Early Post-Federation Australia . Weaver, Rachel & Gelder, Ken . Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature . 2015 . 14 . 5.
  19. Web site: Leonora Polkinghorne. AustLit. 23 January 2017.

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