They cover thirty years of her life in Australia. All this is chronicled in her letters to her sister in England. It was winter, which likely helped! She wrote that she had “forgotten how magnificent the Blue mountains was” and that “I mean to be very happy in Bathurst this time”. However, she returned to Australia in 1861, and this time her response was far more positive. And so, homesick, she returned to England in 1856. She didn’t like Australia – neither the landscape nor the vegetation, and certainly not the weather (writing that she was ”tired of perpetual glare of sunshine”). Rachel Henning was born in England in 1826, and, as Judy told us, first came to Australia with her sister in 1854.
We were intrigued – and said, “yes, please”. However, with over two years having passed since that first plan, Judy suggested a different topic, one she gave to the online Jane Austen in the Pan Pacific conference a few months ago about ‘Rachel Henning’s Austenian Letters.’ As she wrote to us when she proposed it, it’s got an Aussie theme, and it ties in well with JA. This latter was to be the topic of her talk to us when it was first mooted pre-pandemic.
She has written many articles, including for JASA’s Sensibilities, and has published two books on Austen related subjects, her first being, The missing monument murders (Waterside Press, 2016), and her second, a biography of Jane Austen’s friend Anne LeFroy, J ane Austen’s inspiration: Beloved friend Anne Lefroy (Pen and Sword, 2019). Having majored in the Classics, Judy has focused in recent years on writing and researching in 18th and early 19th century literature and thought.
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