Louisa Anne Meredith emigrated to Tasmania from England in 1840. She was described as a ‘shrewd and cultivated’ observer of colonial life and her works have become valuable sources for social historians.
Throughout her life she published 19 books, fiction, non-fiction and poetry including My Home in Tasmania (1852), During a Residence of Nine Years (1850) and Over the Straits: A Visit to Victoria (1861). Phoebe’s Mother (1869) was first serialised as Ebba in The Australasian in 1866–67. Tasmanian Friends and Foes, Feathered, Furred and Finned: A Family Chronicle of Country Life (1880) featured coloured plates of her illustrations.
Meredith’s first poetry collection was published in 1835 before she moved to Australia. She later produced seven books of poems between 1842 and 1891 culminating in Bush Friends in Tasmania: Last Series. Meredith received a pension from the Tasmanian Government in 1884 for distinguished literary and artistic services to the colony, the first such acknowledgement for an Australian writer.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: AG5623