Mrs Chisholm

A new play called “Mrs Chisholm and the Female Home” has been written about Caroline Chisholm.
Its first performance was planned in Sydney during July, 2021. Owing to the Covid lockdown, a
November booking for the performance space has been made. For information about the play and
Margaret Fitzgerald, the playwright, go to issue #23 of the Newsletter.  Performance
dates will be confirmed on this News page when they become available.

Important new information about Caroline Chisholm has come to light through Dr Carole Walker’s
recent research. It concerns the young Caroline’s religious convictions and the crucial formative role
of her mother. Carole’s detailed article on these and related topics is in issue #22 of the Newsletter.

A new biography of Caroline Chisholm was published in late 2017 by Harper Collins. It is Sarah Goldman’s Caroline Chisholm: An Irresistible Force. The Friends’ Newsletter #16 for January, 2018 has a penetrating review by Dr Carole Walker. Download the issue now or go to the Newsletter page.

Another review of Caroline Chisholm: An Irresistible Force is by Rodney Stinson. It is called “Historical Gaucherie, Inaccuracy and Error in An Irresistible Force”, and is a work in progress.  Parts 1 and 2 have been done, and other parts will be added progressively . Click here to download his review.

Matthew French’s recent historical research found that private criminal prosecutions were possible in the early 1840s in the Colony and that it was no hollow threat by Mrs Chisholm to say that, if the Government did not prosecute the captain and surgeon of the ship Carthaginian, she was prepared to do so. His research paper,Caroline Chisholm: The Carthaginian Case and Private Prosecutions in Mid-Nineteenth Century New South Wales,may be downloaded here.

The refurbishment of Caroline and Archibald Chisholm’s grave in the Billings Road cemetery in Northampton has been completed. The cost was borne by individuals in the Anglican and Catholic communities in that place, elsewhere in England and in Australia. The blessing ceremony for the refurbished gravestone was conducted by Church leaders from those communities, as reported in issue #10 of the Newsletter.