Mary Anne Barker – författare

Written by the adventurous and widely travelled Lady Mary Anne Barker (1831-1911), this 1870 publication records 'the expeditions, adventures, and emergencies diversifying the daily life of the wife of a New Zealand sheep farmer'. Born in Jamaica and educated in England and France, Barker married her second husband in 1865 and spent the next three years living on his sheep station on the South Island. This book is based on letters written to Barker's younger sister, beginning with an account of her two-month voyage to Melbourne and her onward journey via Nelson and Wellington to Christchurch. Barker vividly describes her domestic surroundings, friends, neighbours, servants, her first (and last) experience of camping, the Canterbury landscape and vegetation, and the 7,000 sheep on the farm. Her enthusiastic personal account of Victorian colonial expansion captures the 'delight and freedom of an existence so far from our own highly-wrought civilization'.

First published in 1877, this book is one of several colonial memoirs by the successful writer and journalist Lady Mary Anne Barker (1831-1911). Born in Jamaica and educated in England and France, Lady Barker spent periods living in New Zealand, South Africa, Mauritius, Trinidad, and Western Australia following the career and colonial service appointments of her second husband, Frederick Broome. She arrived in Natal in 1875 and lived there for three years while Broome was Colonial Secretary. This book, presented in the form of letters, vividly describes the family's experiences and domestic life. It begins with Barker's early impressions of Cape Town and Natal, mentioning particularly the 'forlorn and discouraging' Robben Island. Barker's detailed observations on African weather and scenery, Zulu customs and beliefs, and the interactions between indigenous people and the European colonists are still an invaluable resource for those interested in nineteenth-century colonial Africa.

First published in 1904, this book is the last of Lady Mary Anne Barker's memoirs of her life in several of Britain's colonies in the nineteenth century. Barker (1831-1911) was born in Jamaica and educated in England and France. In 1865, she moved to New Zealand with her second husband, Sir Frederick Broome, and spent three years living on a sheep station. She then lived in South Africa, Mauritius, Trinidad, and Western Australia following the various political appointments of her husband. During her travels she began her successful writing career and published several memoirs and housekeeping guides. In Colonial Memories, she recounts her life as a colonial wife, detailing her experiences in far-flung locales. The book also includes chapters on birds, interviews, General Charles Gordon (whom she met in Mauritius), and her servants. Several of the chapters were initially published as articles in London magazines.