Anderson, Maybanke Susannah (1845 - 1927)

Author and committee member Maybanke Anderson was a vociferous advocate for women. She founded and edited the fortnightly paper, Woman's Voice.

• Lois (pen name)
• Selfe, Maybanke (maiden name)
• Wolstenholme, Maybanke (former married name)

Maybanke Susannah Selfe, as she was born, married Edmund Kay Wolstenholme in 1867. They lived in Balmain, then Marrickville, before Wolstenholme deserted his wife in 1884. Maybanke established her own school, Maybanke College, and built up a solid reputation based upon the success of her pupils. She formally divorced Wolstenholme in 1892.

From 1891, Maybanke Wolstenholme was a foundation vice-president of the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales, becoming president in 1893. She was also a member of the Women's Literary Society. From 1894 she began publishing and editing her own fortnightly paper, Woman's Voice. She was connected with both the Playgrounds Association and the Kindergarten Union of New South Wales.

In March 1899, Maybanke Wolstenholme married (Sir) Francis Anderson, professor of philosophy at the University of Sydney. She became active in the National Council of Women of New South Wales, and heavily involved with the activities of the University Women's Society.

Maybanke Anderson published Mother Lore in 1919, a handbook on the education of young children. The following year she wrote a chapter on the position of women for M. Atkinson's book, Australia: Econonic and Political Studies. From her travels in Europe, accompanied by her husband, Maybanke sent a series of articles to the Sydney Morning Herald. She died in Paris, predeceased by four children, but survived by two sons from her first marriage.

Related Corporate Bodies

• Women's Literary Society (1889 - 1929?)

  Maybanke Wolstenholme was a member of the Society from 1892.

Australian Women Exhibitions

• The Women's Pages: Australian Women and Journalism since 1850, Australian Women's Archives Project, 2008, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/cal/cal-home.html. [ Details... ]

Books

• Anderson, Maybanke, Mother Lore, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1919, 109 pp. [ Details... ]
• Anderson, Maybanke, Maybanke, a Woman's Voice: The Collected Work of Maybanke Selfe-Wolstenholme-Anderson, 1845-1927, Jan Roberts and Beverley Kingston, Ruskin Rowe Press, Avalon, NSW, 2001. [ Details... ]
• Atkinson, Meredith, Australia: Economic and Political Studies, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1920, 518 pp. [ Details... ]

Pamphlets

• Anderson, Maybanke, The Root of the Matter: Social and Economic Aspects of the Sex Problem, Workers' Educational Association of New South Wales, Sydney, 1917, 16 pp. [ Details... ]

See also

• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au. [ Details... ]
• Radi, Heather (ed.), 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Women's Redress Press, Sydney, 1988, 258 pp. (Also available at http://www.200australianwomen.com/) [ Details... ]