Thistle Anderson Thistle Anderson i(A59300 works by) (birth name: Mary Clavering Anderson) (a.k.a. M. C. Fisher; Thistle M. C. Anderson; Thistle Clavering Fisher; Thistle Clavering Shearmur)
Also writes as: Mrs. Herbert Fisher
Born: Established: 12 Oct 1878
c
Scotland,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1885
Heritage: Scottish
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Thistle Anderson arrived in Australia as a young girl, when her father, George Anderson, who came from Glasgow to Melbourne in 1885 to be Deputy Master of the Mint. She 'entered the ballet' (Bulletin, 11 Aug. 1900), joining Nance O'Neil's touring company which J. C. Williamson brought to Adelaide in 1900 and appeared as the baroness in Fedora. Anderson travelled with the company through Australia and to New Zealand and London. In December 1901 she married (in London) Herbert Fisher, an Adelaide stockbroker. She enjoyed a social life in London and was presented at court.

Returning to Adelaide in 1903, the Fishers lived at 'Stramshall' in North Adelaide. Her book Arcadian Adelaide (1905) which she said was 'written merely as a playful skit' (preface to New Edition) infuriated Adelaide society. In mid-1905, the Fishers moved to Melbourne, and from there to San Francisco and later to London. Herbert Fisher died in 1912. The Critic's obituary reported that his widow was 'enjoying life in Paris when last heard of'.

She later remarried, and on her return to Australia in 1932 was mentioned Australian newspapers as Mrs Clavering-Sherwin. By this time, she was working as a racing journalist, with a particular focus on greyhound racing. By this point, she had been working as a professional journalist for French and English newspapers for some eight years. (See 'In Adelaide Again', Mail, 24 September 1932, p.2).

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • 'Barenski: (a Play)' is mentioned in Songs to Dorian as being 'printed in Australia' and is also listed in some of her other published works. No copy has been traced, but a short story with the same title (minus the subtitle) is included in Dives' Wife and Other Fragments (1908).
  • After Anderson published Arcadian Adelaide, a South Australian horse trainer named one of his newest fillies 'Thistle Anderson.

Affiliation Notes

  • Born elsewhere; moved to SA
Last amended 12 Oct 2015 12:19:28
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X