Jessie Maria Goldney was born in Gawler, South Australia, to Henry Fontenoy Goldney and Mary Ann Goldney nee Duke. Goldney was one of fourteen children; she had five brothers and eight sisters, and they were all raised on the Gawler River. Her father moved to Gawler River from Wandsworth, England in 1840. He accrued wealth during the gold rush, allowing him to buy land and the provide dowries to his married daughters and support his unmarried daughters. Jessie Goldney never married or had children, instead focusing on her writing and teaching. Goldney was a writer and teacher of the colonial period and published some short stories, novellas and poetry.
Goldney wrote 10 published works from the late 1870s to the late 1890s, and all her works were published via newspapers in South Australia. She started publishing at age 27 and stopped at age 31, publishing once more at the age of 48. Her works centred around women’s lives and topics, such as marriage and love, and some included themes of mourning, loss and the romanticisation of life. She wrote fiction exploring the experiences of young girls and their emotions, providing an account of how young girls were perceived and treated in colonial Australia. Her characters, such as Fanny in A Woman’s Faith, were imbued with womanly behaviours and good Christian values. Her works also mention teachers frequently implying a personal relationship with her writing. Goldney’s writing, which took place alongside her teaching career, reflects a desire to educate young women and discuss topics relevant to that group.
Jessie Maria Goldney appeared to have left behind her short career in writing to begin a life of education. The first record of Goldney in the education sphere is from 1873 when she was teaching girls needlework in Angle Valley. A year later, her formal application for a teacher’s license was submitted, and in 1938 there is mention that she had been the first teacher at the Erith school. The time in which Goldney started teaching coincides with her writing and, considering the nature of her works, it is highly plausible that she was creating works for the girls she was teaching. It can be assumed that the decline of her writing came because of her preoccupation with education. An article about Goldney’s retiring from a position as a sewing mistress in Marrabel is the latest dated article in the Trove database about Goldney’s teaching roles. While that article was published in 1889, it is worth noting that Goldney had to retire from a provisional teaching role in Gawler in 1877 on account of bad health, which could indicate an ongoing condition that impacted her ability to teach. Alternatively, she may have continued to teach and these further positions have not been recorded. While Goldney taught, she did still publish some works and her last work was published in 1897.
Jessie Maria Goldney died 26 years after her last publication on September 28th in 1923, at her sister’s house in Adelaide, South Australia of unspecified causes.
This biography was researched and written by Jessica Devenish.
Sources:
“Board of Education,” South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 – 1900), 22 September, 1874. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/39810003.
“Council of Education,” South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail (Adelaide, SA: 1868 – 1881), 1 December, 1877. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/90944955.
“Diamond Jubilee of Erith School Huge Success.” The Wooroora Producer (Balaklava, SA: 1909 -1940), 29 September, 1938. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207168437.
“Editor’s Notes: Current Topics.” Bunjip (Gawler, SA: 1863-1954), 12 October 1906. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97600174.
“Education Board.” Adelaide Observer (SA: 1843 – 1904), 28 June, 1873. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/159470518.
“Family Notices: Deaths.” Chronicle (Adelaide, SA.: 1895-1954), 6 October 1923. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87536453.
Goldney, Jessie Maria. “A Woman’s Faith,” Bunyip (Gawler, SA: 1863 – 1954), 1876. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/254882157.
“Henry Goldney: A Sober and Prosperous Wheat Farmer.” The Pioneers Association of South Australia Inc,. March 2015. https://www.pioneerssa.org.au/files/Posters%20070_079%20noWM.pdf.
“Jessie Maria Goldney.” AustLit. Accessed 13 October 2024. https://www-austlit-edu-au.ap1.proxy.openathens.net/austlit/page/28198182.
Lhuede, Elizabeth. “writer, teacher, farmer’s daughter: Jessie Maria Goldney.” Australian Women Writers (blog). 5 October 2022. https://australianwomenwriters.com/2022/10/writer-teacher-farmers-daughter-jessie-maria-goldney/.
Reeves, Jim. “Jessie Maria Goldney.” FamilySearch. 8 March 2014. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/LHTL-F9R.
“Teachers’ Appointments and Resignations,” Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA: 1869 – 1912), 23 December, 1879. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197734301.
