Marion Knowles
Australian journalist, poet, writer and Catholic charity worker
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Marion Miller Knowles MBE (1865–1949) was an Australian journalist, poet, writer and Catholic charity worker.
8 August 1865
Marion Knowles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Marion Miller 8 August 1865 Woods Point, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 16 September 1949 (aged 84) Camberwell, Victoria, Australia |
| Resting place | Brighton Cemetery |
| Pen name | John Desmond, Aunt Patsy |
| Occupation | Novelist, poet, journalist |
| Children | 2 sons |
Early life and education
Career
She was a journalist for the Melbourne Advocate for 30 years and conducted the Women’s and Children’s pages until her retirement in 1927. She also was a charity worker for the Melbourne Catholic Orphanage and the Wattle Day appeals.[3]
In 1893 her first poems appeared in The Australasian under the name "John Desmond".
In 1931 she received a pension from the Commonwealth Literary Fund.[4]
Knowles was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1938 Birthday Honours, being recognised as "a well-known Australian writer of books for girls".[5]
Works
Novels
- Barbara Halliday: A story of the hill country of Victoria (1896)
- Corinne of Corall's Bluff (1912)
- The Little Doctor (1919)
- The House of Garden of Roses (1923)
- Meg of Minadong (1926)
- Pierce O'Grady's Daughter (1928)
- Pretty Nan Hartigan (1928)
Poetry
- Songs from the Hills (1898)
- Fronds from the Black's Spur (1911)
- Roses on the Window Sill (1913)
- A Christmas Bouquet (1915)
- Shamrock Sprays (1916)
- Songs from the Land of the Wattle (1916)
- Love, Luck and Lavender (1919)
- Christmas Bells (1919)
- Ferns and Fancies (1923)
- Selected Poems (1935), republished in two volumes:
- The Harp of the Hills (1937)
- Lyrics of Wind and Wave (1937)
Short stories
- Shamrock and Wattle Bloom: A series of short tales and sketches (1900)
Personal
Knowles married Joseph Knowles at St Patrick’s Cathedral on 19 September 1901.[6] Her husband died on 18 June 1918 at a private hospital in Melbourne, aged 60.[7]
Knowles died on 16 September 1949 and was survived by her two sons, Adrian and William. Following a requiem mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Kew, she was buried in Brighton Cemetery.[8]