Rebecca Ross was a teacher, journalist and editor of a monthly journal The Australian Woman. In June 1904, she was charged and arrested for swearing falsely at the trial of her brother Norman Manly Ross. Rebecca was given a sentence of one year and eleven months which she served at Darlinghurst and Bathurst gaols. After her release from gaol, she released a tract criticising the oppressiveness and monotony of gaol routines, as well as the use of solitary confinement in the prison system in NSW.