Patricia Clarke, journalist and historian, is the author of A Colonial Woman, the biography of the pioneering Mary Braidwood Mowle 1827-1857, and The Governesses, a rich insight into daily life in the Australian colonies in the mid-nineteenth century as seen through the eyes of governesses who travelled from England to take up posts with local families. She has also just completed Her Brief, Bright Day (forthcoming), the story of Louisa Atkinson, the first Australian-born woman novelist and a noted naturalist, and is compiling, with Dale Spender, a collection of letters and diaries written by women during Australia's first half-century.
Actively involved in heritage issues and in local and family history, Patricia Clarke is the editor of the Canberra Historical Journal.
