12 August 1920: Louisa Lawson dies

Louisa Lawson, who died on 12 August 1920, was a pioneering figure in Australian public life — a poet, writer, publisher, and advocate for women’s rights. Yet despite her many achievements, if she is remembered at all today, it is as the mother of author Henry Lawson.

Born in 1848, Louisa married Norwegian-born gold prospector Peter Larsen (later Lawson), with whom she had five children. Larsen was frequently absent on long prospecting trips, leaving Louisa to manage the family and farm. After seventeen years of marriage, she separated from him and moved with her children to Sydney in 1883.

In Sydney, Lawson supported her family by taking in washing, sewing, and boarders. In 1888, she founded The Dawn, Australia’s first journal specifically for women. The monthly magazine featured domestic advice, fiction, poetry, fashion, and political commentary. It quickly gained a wide readership, and by 1889 Lawson had expanded her printing operations, employing ten women and accepting commercial printing work.

Lawson used The Dawn as a platform to campaign for women’s suffrage. Her activism, along with that of her colleagues, contributed to the successful lobbying that led to white Australian women gaining the right to vote and stand for parliament in both state and federal elections in the early 20th century.

In 1900, Lawson suffered a serious accident when she fell from a tram, injuring her spine and fracturing her knee. Though she eventually recovered, the injuries had lasting effects. She continued to write, publishing a children’s book, Dert and Do, in 1904, and a volume of poetry, The Lonely Crossing and Other Poems, in 1905. However, her declining health led to the closure of The Dawn later that year.

The final years of Lawson’s life were marked by financial hardship, deteriorating health, and personal distress. She was deeply affected by her son Henry’s struggles with alcoholism. Louisa spent her last years in relative obscurity and died in the Hospital for the Insane at Gladesville in 1920. She was 72. Her contributions to journalism, literature, and the Australian suffrage movement were significant, though long overshadowed by the fame of her son.