Born

16 May 1860
Woolwich Arsenal, Kent, Australia

Died

24 February 1948
Double Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Occupation

Editor, Journalist and Print Journalist

Alternative Names

• Orr, Ellen Joy (birth name)

Summary

Ellen Todd migrated to Australia with her husband, Robert Henry Todd, in 1887. They eventually settled in Sydney, where Ellen established a solid career in journalism. In a period spanning over thrity years, she contributed to the Echo, Illustrated Sydney News and to Louisa Lawson's Dawn. She supplied book reviews and theatrical and musical critiques to the Australian Town and Country Journal, as well as the obligatory social notes.

From January 1906 until 1923, Todd was foundation editor of the weekly Woman's Budget, a journal which claimed to be 'WRITTEN by WOMEN for WOMEN'. The magazine featured items on cookery, dressmaking and fashion, as well as articles of wider interest and provided an outlet for women writers. Circulation under Todd's editorship was estimated to have reached 150,000 weekly.

From 1933 until 1940 Ellen Todd worked in an honorary capacity for the Empire Gazette, edited by Adela Pankhurst Walsh. Ellen's recollections of social and artistic life in Sydney were published under the title of Looking Back in 1938.