Matilda Hissey was the daughter of Thomas Hissey and his wife Caroline (Wilkes), the third of seven children. She was baptised in the Church of England and educated at Barossa School. Her mother died at the age of 41 and Matilda and her older sisters brought up their four younger brothers. Matilda loved reading and writing poetry from an early age. She joined one of Gawler's Literary Societies, possibly the Institute, and the family believes that she was awarded life membership of the Gawler Institute for her writings. Certainly, her poems were published in the Gawler Bunyip in the late 1890s. She left SA in 1900 at the age of 23, following a broken romance, and lived in Sydney for about 50 years, running a shop that sold books, stationery, tobacco etc. During the two World Wars she did voluntary work, and during World War II she sent parcels overseas to her nephews and friends. In 1947 she visited SA for six weeks, and in late 1949 she returned to live in SA. She died in Gawler and was buried in St George's Cemetery in Gawler.
