SOURCE: Ackland, Michael. “Counterbalancing Doubts.” In That Shining Band: A Study of Australian Colonial Verse Tradition, pp. 93-113. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1994.

In the following excerpt, Ackland analyzes the poetry and prose of Catherine Martin, emphasizing the problematic position of female writers in colonial Australia.

The problems faced by a woman who was attracted to the highest forms of poetic endeavour are exemplified by the case of Catherine Martin. In a writing career which spanned over fifty years, verse remained a constant preoccupation. Among her earliest works were original poems and translations, and her subsequent fictional characters refer regularly to poetry and its significant claims. Martin, however, redirected her main creative efforts away from poetry to prose after the appearance of her first published volume, The Explorers and Other Poems (1874). One possible explanation for this shift is provided by a contemporary review of the work, which...