Cirrus@Austlit

Henrietta Drake-Brockman spent many years in the Western Australian outback with her husband, Geoffrey Drake-Brockman. She played a major role in the WA literary scene and was a Foundation Member (1938), and later President of the WA Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers. She served as a long-term committee member of Westerly magazine.

A prolific author of novels, short stories and drama, Drake-Brockman also edited several collections of fiction, and wrote in the field of literary criticism.

Her fiction had a historical focus, and explored such subjects as the pearling industry in Broome, the struggles of colonial development, the effects of World War II on Australian society, the nature of the Australian landscape and the challenges of living in the outback