PRAED, Rosa Caroline (1851-1935)

generally known as Mrs Campbell Praed

novelist

was born at Bromelton, Queensland, on 27 March 1851. Her father, Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior (1819-1892), was born in England and came to Sydney in May 1839. He afterwards took up grazing country in Queensland and became a member of the legislative council. He was postmaster-general in the second Herbert (q.v.) ministry in 1866, in the Mackenzie (q.v.) ministry, 1867-8, and the Palmer (q.v.) ministry, 1870-4, and was elected chairman of committees in the council in July 1889. He married (1) Matilda Harpur in 1846 who died in 1868 and (2) Nora C. Barton. Rosa Caroline was the eldest daughter of his first wife and was educated at Brisbane, where she gathered the materials for the political and social life of her early books. She married on 29 August 1872 Arthur Campbell Bulkley Mackworth Praed, a nephew of Winthrop Mackworth Praed the poet. Mrs Praed spent about four years on the land and in 1876 went to London. Except for a visit to Australia made some 18 years later, England was henceforth her home. In 1880 she published her first book, An Australian Heroine, which had been twice returned to her for revision by Chapman and Hall's reader, George Meredith; he probably gave her advice of great value. This book was followed by Policy and Passion (1881), one of the best of her earlier books, which went into at least three editions. An Australian reprint was issued in 1887 under the title of Longleat of Kooralbyn. Nadine; the Study of a Woman, was published in 1882, Moloch; a Story of Sacrifice, in 1883, and Zero; a story of Monte Carlo, in 1884. In that year began her friendship with Justin McCarthy which continued for the rest of his life. He was 20 years her senior, with an established reputation as a literary man. They collaborated in three novels, The Right Honourable (1886, 4th ed. 1891), The Rebel Rose (issued anonymously in 1888 but two later editions under the title, The Rival Princess, appeared in their joint names), and The Ladies' Gallery (1888). Another joint work was The Grey River, a book on the Thames, illustrated with etchings by Mortimer Menpes (q.v.). Mrs Praed continued to write a novel a year for a long period. Of these the following appeared before the end of the century: Australian Life (1885), The Head Station (1885), Affinities (1886), The Brother of a Shadow (1886), Miss Jacobsen's Chance (1886), The Bond of Wedlock (1887), The Romance of a Station (1889), The Soul of Countess Adrian (1891), The Romance of a Chalet (1891), Outlaw and Lawmaker (1893), December Roses (1893), Christina Chard (1894), Mrs Tregaskis (1895), Nulma (1897), The Scourge Stick (1898), Madam Izan (1899), and As a Watch in the Night (1900). Mrs Praed's husband died in 1901, and in 1902 she published My Australian Girlhood, an account of her life in the country before her marriage. It contains many interesting memories, especially those relating to the aborigines. She then resumed novel-writing and published The Insane Root (1902), Dwellers by the River (1902), Fugitive Anne (1903), The Ghost (1903), The Other Mrs Jacobs (1903), Nyria (1904), Some Loves and a Life (1904), The Maid of the River (1905), The Lost Earl of Ellan (1906), The Luck of the Leura (1907), Stubble before the Wind (1908), By Their Fruits (1908), A Summer Wreath (Short Stories), (1909), The Romance of Mademoiselle Aissé (1910), Opal Fire (1910), The Body of His Desire (1912), The Mystery Woman (1913), Lady Bridget in the Never Never Land (1915), and Sister Sorrow (1916). After a friendship of nearly 30 years Justin McCarthy died in April 1912. Towards the end of that year Mrs Praed published Our Book of Memories; Letters of Justin McCarthy to Mrs Campbell Praed, with connecting explanations. Mrs Praed's last years were spent at Torquay. In 1931 she published The Soul of Nyria, which purports to be an intimate account of life in Rome over 1800 years ago as set down by a modern woman in a mediumistic state. This record was written down by Mrs Praed between 1899 and 1903, but was not published until nearly 30 years later. Her novel, Nyria, was based on these experiences. She died at Torquay on 10 April 1935 and was survived by a daughter.

Mrs Campbell Praed never lost her interest in her native country and though most of her life was passed in England, a large proportion of her novels were based on her Australian experiences. Others dealt with the occult, with spiritualism, or with abnormal states of mind. Mrs Praed was much interested in psychological problems, her character-drawing is good although her women are better than her men, she had some sense of humour, and she could tell a story. She is entitled to a leading place among the Australian novelists who developed in the nineteenth century.

Burke's Colonial Gentry, 1891; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; E. Morris Miller, Australian Literature; The Times 15 April 1935; The Argus, Melbourne, 16 April 1935; Who's Who, 1935.