Ellen clacy :a female point of view By mia hessels
Ellen Clacy: a female point of view
Throughout her book A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings in 1852-1853 Ellen Clacy demonstrates what a remarkable woman she is through her detailed and humourous accounts of her adventures in a strange new land. Ellen writes about the Australian wildlife, in particular, the big ants, for the uninitiated English audience. "The largest ones are called by the old colonists, ‘bull dogs’, and formidable creatures they are - luckily not very common, about an inch and a half long, black, or rusty black, with a red tail. They bite like a crab. They don't - like the English ones - run scared away at the sight of a human being- not a bit of it; Australian ants have more pluck, and will turn and face you. Nay, more, should you retreat, they will run after you with all the impudence imaginable. Often when my organ of destructiveness has tempted me slightly to disturb with the end of my parasol one of the many ant-hills on the way from Melbourne to Richmond, I have been obliged, as soon as they discovered the perpetrator of the attack, to take to my heels and runaway as if for my life." Ellen Clacy left London in 1852 with her brother bound for the Victorian gold fields. Although seemingly perturbed by her new surroundings, she was able to quickly adapt and prove what an exceptional woman she was. As her part in the adventure she was required to cook, keep camp and wash for gold, all the while she busily wrote in her diary collecting facts and figures and keeping stories of the adventure for her book. When published in 1853 the book proved to be a huge success, winning critical acclaim and selling out quickly