Mary Gaunt | |
|---|---|
 Mary Gaunt. Image from her book,Alone in West Africa, published in 1912 | |
| Born | Mary Eliza Bakewell Gaunt (1861-02-20)20 February 1861 Chiltern, Victoria |
| Died | 19 January 1942(1942-01-19) (aged 80) Cannes, France |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Years active | 1887–1938 |
Mary Eliza Bakewell Gaunt (20 February 1861 – 19 January 1942) was anAustralian novelist, born inChiltern, Victoria. She also wrotecollections of short stories,novellas,autobiographies, andnon-fiction. She published her first novelDave's Sweetheart in 1894. Gaunt visited many countries in her life and she wrote about her experiences in fivetravel books.
Mary was the elder daughter of William Henry Gaunt, aVictorian county court judge and Elizabeth Gaunt, née Palmer (c. 1835–1922),[1] and was born inChiltern, Victoria. She was educated atGrenville College, Ballarat[a] and theUniversity of Melbourne, being one of the first two women students to be admitted there.
She began writing for the press and in 1894 published her first novelDave's Sweetheart. In the same year she married Dr Hubert Lindsay Miller (a widower) ofWarrnambool, Victoria. He died in 1900, and, with only a small income, Gaunt (now also known as Mrs Mary Miller) went to London intending to earn a living by her writing. Gaunt leftMelbourne on 15 March 1901 and never returned.
Gaunt had difficulties at first but eventually established herself, and was able to travel in theWest Indies, inWest Africa, and in China and other parts of theEast. Her experiences were recorded in five pleasantly written travel books:Alone in West Africa (1912),A Woman in China (1914),A Broken Journey (1919),Where the Twain Meet (1922),Reflection - in Jamaica (1932). In 1929 she also publishedGeorge Washington and the Men Who Made the American Revolution. Between 1895 and 1934, 16 novels or collections of short stories were published, mostly with love and adventure interests. Three other novels were written in collaboration with John Ridgwell Essex. A collection of interviews with Mary were published in the 1925Girls' Own Annual under the headings "Pioneering for Women" parts I, II, and III, and "Strange Journeys I Have Made".
From the early 1920s, Gaunt lived mostly atBordighera, Italy. In 1940 she fled Italy and died atCannes in 1942. She had no children.
She had a sister Lucy, and brothers Cecil, Clive, Lancelot, Guy and Ernest;Guy andErnest were bothadmirals of theRoyal Navy, and Guy later became aConservativeMember of Parliament. All five brothers served in The Great War.
Gaunt was posthumously inducted onto theVictorian Honour Roll of Women in 2002.[3]
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