Katharine Susannah Prichard (4 December 18832 October 1969) was an Australian author and co-founding member of the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...

Early life

Prichard was born in

Levuka Levuka () is a Local government in Fiji, town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau (Fiji), Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division, Fiji, Eastern Division of Fiji. Prior to 1877, it was the capital of Fiji. At the ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

in 1883 to Australian parents. She spent her childhood in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

, then moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, where she earned a scholarship to

South Melbourne College South Melbourne College was a co-education boarding school in South Melbourne, Victoria, South Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The school was founded by Thomas Palmer in 1883. John Bernard O'Hara became a partner in 1889 a ...

. Her father, Tom Prichard, was editor of the Melbourne ''

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

'' newspaper. She was a governess and journalist in Victoria, then travelled to England in 1908. Her first novel, ''The Pioneers'' (1915), won the

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

All Empire Literature Prize.Throssel, Ric "Katharine Susannah Prichard 1883–1969", The Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre (website)
After her return to Australia, the romance ''Windlestraws'' and her first novel of a mining community, ''Black Opal'', were published.

Political life and marriage

Prichard moved with her husband, war hero Hugo "Jim" Throssell, VC, to

Greenmount, Western Australia Greenmount is a locality and a geographical feature in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia, on the edge of the Darling Scarp. It is a vital point in the transport routes from the Swan Coastal Plain into the hinterland of Western Austra ...

, in 1920 where she lived for much of the rest of her life. She wrote some of her later novels and stories in a weatherboard workroom near the house. In her personal life she usually referred to herself as Mrs Hugo Throssell. Her friends called her Kattie. They had a son,

Ric Throssell Ric Prichard Throssell (10 May 192220 April 1999) was an Australian diplomat and author whose writings included novels, plays, film and television scripts, and memoirs. For most of his professional life as a diplomat his career was dogged by un ...

, later a diplomat and writer. Prichard was a founding member of the

in 1921 and remained a member for the rest of her life. She worked to organise unemployed workers and founded left-wing women's groups. She campaigned in the 1930s in support of the

Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissol ...

and other left-wing causes. Although she had frequent arguments with other Communist writers such as

Frank Hardy Francis Joseph Hardy (21 March 1917 – 28 January 1994), published as Frank J. Hardy and also under the pseudonym Ross Franklyn, was an Australian novelist and writer. He is best known for his 1950 novel ''Power Without Glory'', and for his ...

and

Judah Waten Judah Leon Waten AM (29 July 191129 July 1985) was an Australian novelist who was at one time seen as the voice of Australian migrant writing. Life and career Born in Odessa to a Russian-Jewish family, after a brief sojourn in Palestine, Jud ...

over the correct application of the doctrine of socialist realism to Australian fiction, she remained supportive of the Soviet Union and its cultural policies when many other intellectuals, such as Eric Lambert and

Stephen Murray-Smith Stephen Murray-Smith AM (9 September 1922 – 31 July 1988) was an Australian writer, editor and educator. Early life and education Murray-Smith's father ran a lucrative business shipping Australian horses to India for the armed forces. It ena ...

, left the party in the 1950s. Her public position as a communist and a female writer saw her harassed by Western Australian police and the federal government throughout her life. The official surveillance files opened on Prichard in 1919 were not closed until her death in 1969. Prichard's commitment to her politics and her position as a woman in the public sphere also saw her socially isolated by the conservative social groups which dominated Perth in this period. She was the subject of constant rumours and frequent anonymous tip offs to Western Australian police of any communist activity. She was also part of a new community of free thinking public intellectuals who, among other things, challenged notions of acceptable sexuality. Her two major novels, which were to give her national and international prominence, written in Western Australia in the early years of her marriage, were ''Working Bullocks'' (1926) which dramatised the physical and emotional traumas of timber workers in the

karri ''Eucalyptus diversicolor'', commonly known as karri, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is Endemism, endemic to the Southwest Australia, south-west of Western Australia. It is a tall tree with smooth light grey to cre ...

country of Australia's south-west, and ''

Coonardoo ''Coonardoo: The Well in the Shadow'' is a novel written by the Australian author Katharine Susannah Prichard. The novel evocatively depicts the Australian landscape as it was in the late 1920s, in an age when white settlers tried to control more ...

'' (1929), a novel which became notorious for its candid portrayal of relationships between white men and Australian Aboriginal women in the north-west. The far north-west of Australia provided inspiration and setting for her daring play ''Brumby Innes''. Most of the short stories in the first of her four collections, ''Kiss on the Lips'' (1932), were also from the 1920s, her decade of great creative activity. During this time she wrote her most adventurous novels, stories and plays.

Death of husband

While she was visiting the Soviet Union in 1933, her husband Jim Throssell committed suicide when his business failed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In 1934 her membership of the Communist Party of Australia and the

Movement Against War and Fascism The Movement Against War and Fascism (MAWF) was founded in Australia in 1933, as an Australian chapter of the World Movement Against War established in 1932 by the Comintern. The international movement was instigated by Willi Münzenberg the Ge ...

led her to lead the

Egon Kisch Egon Erwin Kisch (29 April 1885 – 31 March 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak writer and journalist, who wrote in German. He styled himself ''Der Rasende Reporter'' (The Racing Reporter) for his countless travels to the far corners ...

welcome committee, which rapidly metamorphosed into a committee to defend Kisch from exclusion from Australia. The novel ''Intimate Strangers'' (1937) was a turning point in her life. She had left the initial draft of the novel with her husband while she travelled to Russia collecting material for a new work. After his suicice, and her return to Australia, she changed a major incident in the novel – the suicide of a main character – as she feared that the novel may have influenced her husband.

Goldfields trilogy

Her extended work ''The Goldfields Trilogy – The Roaring Nineties'' (1946), '' Golden Miles'' (1948), and '' Winged Seeds'' (1950) is a notable reconstruction of social and personal histories in Western Australia's goldfields from the 1890s to 1946. Her autobiography ''Subtle Flame'', published a few years before her death, exhibited the complex legacy she left behind Prichard died at her home in Greenmount in 1969. Her ashes were scattered on the surrounding hills. Her son

committed suicide when his wife Dodie died in 1999. He had fought for many years to clear his name, after being accused of passing classified information to his mother, or actively spying for the Soviet Union. His 1989 book covering this was called ''My Father's Son''. The centenary of Prichard's birth was celebrated by UWA academics in a collection of essays.

Legacy

The home has now become the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre, a foundation promoting humanitarianism, the study of Katharine Susannah Prichard, and encouraging writing in Western Australia, where Prichard spent most of her life."Objectives".
Katharine Susannah Prichard Writing Centre
''. 2006. Retrieved 2 April 2009. The Shire of Mundaring public library branch in Greenmount is named after her as well. The 1996 Australian film '' Shine'' depicts the close correspondence between Prichard and Australian pianist

David Helfgott David Helfgott (born 19 May 1947) is an Australian concert pianist whose life inspired the Academy Award-winning film '' Shine'', in which he was portrayed by actors Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor and Alex Rafalowicz. Biography Early life Helfgott ...

. She was played by

Googie Withers Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers (12 March 191715 July 2011) was an English entertainer. She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some seventy-three years in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress and ...

. Prichard helped to raise money for Helfgott, to enable him to go to London to study music. A house at Abbotsleigh, a private school on Sydney's North Shore, has been named after her.

Works

Novels

*''The Pioneers'' (1915) – filmed in

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

Franklyn Barrett Walter Franklyn Barrett (1873 – 16 July 1964), better known as Franklyn Barrett, was an Australian film director and cinematographer. He worked for a number of years for West's Pictures. It was later written of the filmmaker that "Barrett's vi ...

and

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford; 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer, and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australia ...

*''Windlestraws'' (1916) *''Black Opal'' (1921) *''Working Bullocks'' (1926) *''The Wild Oats of Han'' (1928) – illustrated by Elizabeth Powell *''

'' (1929) *''Haxby's Circus'' (1930) *''Intimate Strangers'' (1939; the basis of a 1981 miniseries) *''Moon of Desire'' (1941) *''The Roaring Nineties'' (1946) *'' Golden Miles'' (1948) *'' Winged Seeds'' (1950) *''Subtle Flame'' (1967)

Short story collections

*''Kiss on the Lips and Other Stories'' (1932) *''Potch and Colour'' (1944) *''N'Goola and other Stories'' (1959) *''Tribute : Selected Stories of Katherine Susannah Prichard'' (1988) edited by Ric Throssell

Drama

*'' Brumby Innes'' (1929) **the basis of a 1973 television film) *''Bid Me to Love'' (1929)

Reportage

*''The Real Russia'' (1934)

Poetry

*''Clovelly Verses'' (1913) *''The Earth Lover and Other Verses'' (1932)

Autobiography

*Child of the hurricane, (1964)

Selection from collected works

*On Strenuous wings (1965)

References

*Throssell, Ric (1975), ''Wild Weeds and Windflowers'' *Macintyre, Stewart (1998) ''The Reds'' *Nathan Hobby, ''The Red Witch: A Biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard'', Melbourne University Press, 2022. . *Denise Faithfull, ''Discovering Katharine'', Dragonfly Publishing, 2023. .

Notes

External links

* * * *
Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prichard, Katharine Susannah 1883 births 1969 deaths Australian women short story writers Fijian emigrants to Australia Australian Marxist writers Writers from Western Australia 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Australian women writers Communist women writers Australian socialist feminists Australian women novelists Australian women dramatists and playwrights Fijian people of British descent People from Launceston, Tasmania Writers from Melbourne 20th-century Australian short story writers Communist Party of Australia members