Two women stepped from the steamship Orient onto Australian soil on a hot December day in 1879. Beatrice Beauchamp epitomises the younger middle-class English woman settler unused to the unpleasant. Yet, she combats tragedy, and meets challenge and difference with a level of equanimity not commonly expected from one with a genteel upbringing. We share her despair and her fears as from the first day she must call on a personal strength and resolve previously untested. In that, she finds a staunch supporter in Mary Lee. Mrs. Mary Lee has been written into many history books. Her political conviction, dedication and determination in campaigning for women's rights led to her being acknowledged by Premier Kingston as most influential in gaining South Australian women the right to vote and not only that, to take a seat in Parliament. Other states followed suit. Yet, despite all her achievements, little has been known of her personal life...
