Catherine Helen Spence

Catherine Helen Spence (31 October 1825 – 3 April 1910) was a Scottish-born Australian writer, preacher, and social reformer. Spence began her career as a writer of fiction, and later used her journalism and public speaking to become an influential public figure in the colony of South Australia. By the time of her death, she was widely eulogised as the "Grand Old Woman of Australia". She advocated for a range of causes, including electoral reform, women's suffrage, poverty relief, and girls' education. She was also a regular lay preacher at the Adelaide Unitarian Christian Church.

In 1897 Spence became Australia's first female political candidate when she ran in the Australasian Federal Convention election. She served on South Australia's State Children's Council and Destitute Board, and co-founded a society to oversee South Australia's first foster care system. She was an activist for proportional representation and electoral reform in the years leading up to the federation of Australia. She also campaigned for women's suffrage and for the improvement of women's opportunities for education and employment.

Spence wrote a substantial body of fiction, non-fiction and journalism. While her novels were not widely read during her lifetime, her fiction has since attracted wider attention as part of a wave of renewed interest in previously ignored works written by women. She has been described as one of the pioneers of Australian feminist and realist fiction. Spence also wrote multiple non-fiction works, including political pamphlets, an unfinished autobiography, and Australia's first civics textbook.