Dorothy Mendes lived in India for the first twenty-seven years of her life. Her maternal grandfather settled in Melbourne in 1844 and became a police magistrate. One of his sons was appointed to the High Court. Her mother married a tea planter who was visiting Melbourne and they returned to India. He died and she married Edward Hearn in India. He was a great friend of Rudyard Kipling who worked at Simla, the Himalayan hill station where Mendes grew up and married Arthur Mendes in 1923. In the winter months they lived in Delhi. Mendes had two sons while in India. In 1930 the family moved to Australia as Arthur Mendes had been invalided by a heart attack and died soon after their arrival..
Mendes began writing poetry in Australia and became involved in literary groups. Known for quoting Kipling, whom she knew in India, and as a long term member of the Kipling Society, Mendes addressed their 60th anniversary meeting when she was 95. She was also Vice-President of the Shakespeare Society, member of the Henry Lawson Society, member of the Society of Women's Writers (Vic.), member of the Australia India Society, and minutes secretary of the Catholic Women's League. Whilst living in India, she studied Indian philosophy and later lectured on Mogul India to groups in Australia.
(Source: Geoff Maslen, 'The Culture - Remembering Kipling', The Age, 19 December 2002).
