Nettie Palmer
| Janet Gertrude "Nettie" Palmer | |
|---|---|
in 1943
|
|
| Born | Janet Gertrude Higgins 18 August 1885 Bendigo, Victoria |
| Died | 16 October 1964 (aged 79) Hawthorn, Victoria |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Period | 1914-63 |
| Spouse | Vance Palmer |
Janet Gertrude "Nettie" Palmer (née Higgins) (18 August 1885 – 19 October 1964) was an Australian poet, essayist and Australia's leading literary critic of her day.
Nettie Higgins was born in Bendigo, Victoria, the niece of both H.B. Higgins, a leading Victorian radical political figure and later a federal minister and justice of the High Court of Australia, and of H.B. Higgins' sister, Ina Higgins, the first female landscape architect in Victoria. A brilliant scholar and linguist, Nettie was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne, the University of Melbourne and studied phonetics in Germany and France for the International Diploma of Phonetics. She was active in literary and socialist circles on her return to Melbourne and formed a deep and long term relationship with the visionary poet Bernard O'Dowd. While her brother Esmonde Higgins was a prominent early Australian Communist, Nettie never joined any political party: she was much more interested in broad social change.
Higgins met Vance Palmer in the Public Library in Melbourne in 1909. Over the next few years, both spent time in Europe: Higgins studying for her diploma, Palmer in trying to establish a career in journalism in London. They married in London in April 1914, intending to work there for a couple of years. But after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, work became increasingly difficult to get. A daughter, Aileen, was born in London in April 1915. The Palmers returned to Melbourne later that year. Another daughter, Helen, was born in May 1917. Vance and Nettie campaigned against the Hughes government's attempt to introduce conscription into Australia. Nevertheless, in 1918, Vance volunteered to join the Australian Army, but the war ended before he saw active service.
...
Wikipedia