Catherine Shepherd (28 October 1901 – 18 February 1976) was a Southern Rhodesian-born Australian writer. She wrote for journals, stage and radio – short stories, plays and serials.[1]
Catherine Shepherd | |
|---|---|
 Shepherd in 1954 | |
| Born | 28 October 1901 Enkeldoorn, Southern Rhodesia (now Chivhu, Zimbabwe) |
| Died | 18 February 1976 (aged 74) Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Alma mater | University College, London |
| Notable works |
|
Early life and education
editBorn in Enkeldoorn, Southern Rhodesia (now Chivhu, Zimbabwe) on 28 October 1901, Catherine Shepherd was the daughter of Margaret and Edgar David Shepherd. Her father, a Church of England minister, died when she was very young, leaving her mother with little to support them. Returning to England, the pair lived with relations in Yorkshire. Shepherd was educated locally and then at Howell's School in Denbigh, Wales before graduating from the University College London with a BA in English in 1923 and then completing a DipEd.[2]
Career
editIn the mid-1930s, Shepherd contributed short stories to The Australian Woman's Mirror[3] and to The Mercury.[4]
In 1938, Shepherd taught English at the Collegiate School in Hobart. She had previously been an assistant teacher in Adelaide, Sydney and Bathurst when she applied to the Tasmanian Teachers and Schools Registration Board for certification.[5]
Her first play, Daybreak, was broadcast on ABC Radio in May 1938 before its stage premiere at the Theatre Royal, Hobart in July of the same year.[6]
In 1946 her radio serial Children of Magpie Gully was broadcast by 2FC, replacing Gwen Meredith's Anderson Place in the time-slot.[7] Also in 1946 she dramatized Ernestine Hill's My Love Must Wait, about Matthew Flinders, for ABC radio.[8]
Death
editShepherd died at St Ann's Rest Home in Hobart on 18 February 1976. Her remains were cremated.[2] She left her AU$58,353 estate to St Ann's.[9]
Selected works
edit- Daybreak
- Jane, My Love
- Delphiniums
- Seapiece
- Lethe Wharf
- My Love Must Wait
- The Hermit Crab
- Sabotage (1940) - radio play
- Conflict in Van Diemen's Land
- The Starlit Valley
- I Saw the New Moon
- The Flying Swan
- Exit Socrates
- A Citizen of the World
- The Heroic Journey
- The Hayfield
- Three Mile Cross
- The Valiant Tinker
- Balzac
- The Golden Cockerel
- Down to Earth
- The Empty Shrine
- The Fated Hour
References
edit- ^ Australian Broadcasting Commission. (1 June 1940), "Plays of the Air— Catherine Shepherd", ABC Weekly, nla.obj-1370701369, retrieved 28 January 2024 – via Trove
- ^ a b Winter, Gillian, "Shepherd, Catherine (1901–1976)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 28 December 2021
- ^ Shepherd, Catherine (22 January 1935), "Town of Dreams", The Australian Woman's Mirror, 11 (9), The Bulletin Newspaper: 6, retrieved 23 June 2023
- ^ Shepherd, Catherine (3 February 1937). "Steps In The Moonlight". The Mercury. Vol. CXLVI, no. 20, 675. Tasmania, Australia. p. 2 (Woman's Realm). Retrieved 23 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Shepherd, Catherine". Libraries Tasmania. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ "Catherine Shepherd". AusStage. Archived from the original on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ "Bush school serial by Catherine Shepherd", ABC Weekly, 8 (32), Australian Broadcasting Commission, 24 August 1946, retrieved 29 December 2021
- ^ "It Strikes Me..." The Herald (Melbourne). No. 21, 478. Victoria, Australia. 21 March 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 6 June 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Shepherd, Catherine (Will)". Libraries Tasmania. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.