Self-representation and Respectability as Instruments of Empire in the Life and Works of Ellen Augusta Chads (E.A.C.)

Abstract

In 1891 a book of romantic short stories was published in Melbourne by George Robertson and Company. Its title was Tracked by Bushrangers and Other Stories, and it was bound together with Work for the Master; a Series o f Papers for Women. The stories comprised a collection of twenty-nine brief floral legends and four romances set in Australia, Mauritius, and England. The papers for women were a series of homilies intended to instruct women and girls on Christian conduct in relation to their duties towards their husbands and homes. The stories have little literary merit and most readers would find the devotional papers tediously didactic. At the end of its 95 pages one of several advertisements encourages readers to purchase books and family Bibles at the lowest prices from A.J Smith in Swanston Street Melbourne.