- Caroline Dexter
Caroline Dexter (
January 6 1819 —August 19 1884 ) was an English-Australian writer and feminist.Dexter was born
Nottingham , England; she was educated privately in England and Paris. In 1843 she married the painter,William Dexter , be migrated to Australia aboard the "Bank of England" arriving in Sydney in 1852, and she arrived in the "Marie Gabrielle" in 1855. In Sydney they opened and ran a Gallery of Arts and School of Design.The moved on to
Gippsland in 1856. While in Gippsland Caroline wrote her "Ladies Almanack: The Southern Cross or Australian Album and New Years Gift". When it was published in 1858 it was 'The First Ladies' Almanack Published in the Colonies'. Soon after the book was complete the Dexters separated and Caroline moved toMelbourne .In Melbourne she ran an Institute of Hygiene and promoted divided skirts for women and the abolition of
corset s. She also metHarriet Clisby and together they produced the first all-women publication in 1861. The "Interpreter" ran for two issues. In 1861 Caroline married William Lynch, together they held a salon and acquired an important collection of Australian art.A street in the
Canberra suburb Cook is named in her honour. A book about William and Caroline, "Folie A Deux: William and Caroline Dexter in Colonial Australia", was written by Patrick Morgan in 1999.References
*Ryan, J. S. [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040062b.htm?hilite=Caroline%3BDexter Dexter, Caroline (1819 - 1884)] , Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, Melbourne University Press, 1972, pp 64-65.
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