Catherine Hay Thomson

Catherine Hay Thomson (? - 1928) was a Scottish-born Australian undercover journalist, literary agent and educator.

Early life and education

Catherine Hay Thomson was born in Glasgow, educated in Melbourne and was one of the early female graduates from the University of Melbourne.  

Career

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

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
  • 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
  1. Davies, Kerrie; McDonald, Willa. "Hidden women of history: Catherine Hay Thomson, the Australian undercover journalist who went inside asylums and hospitals". The Conversation. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2. "People of the Rialto | Catherine Hay Thomson". InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  3. "THE FEMALE SIDE OF KEW ASYLUM". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 26 March 1886. p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  4. "The Inner Life of Melbourne Hospital". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 12 March 1886. p. 9. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  5. "Pioneer Reformer". Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954). 9 January 1932. p. 21. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6. The Sun : an illustrated journal for the home and society. Sydney : Frank Critchley Parker. 1896.
  7. "The Sun : An Illustrated Journal for the Home and Society | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". Austlit. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  8. "PRG 88/7/1-122 Letters by Catherine Helen Spence to Alice Henry 1900-1910" (PDF). State Library of South Australia. 2010.
  9. "National Council of Women of Victoria". The Argus. 30 July 1904. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  10. 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.
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