Queen of the South, ca. 1908 / photograph by H. Rice

P1/2234

fonds

ca. 1908

Graphic Materials, Photographs

1009586

1 photographic postcard - 14 x 8.9 cm - gelatin silver

Ellen Dawson (c.1849-1915) was born in Sydney. She settled in Goulburn where she achieved notoriety as ‘the Queen of the South’, with her husband Thomas Dawson being known as the Duke of Australia (or the Duke of Argyle). She was not generally known to be a thief however, and largely made a living by begging and by ‘levying’ her subjects. When she appeared at Goulburn Police Court on 3 September 1890 for obstructing the footway, the police magistrate noted that Ellen was considered insane but had been examined by doctors ‘who agreed with him that she was more a rogue than a fool’. In September 1911 Dawson was admitted to Goulburn Hospital after a stroke left her partially paralyzed. Dawson died in Goulburn Hospital on 15 May 1915 at the age of 62 after sustaining a second stroke.
Reference: Library correspondence file

Photographic portrait of Ellen Dawson, ‘Queen of the South’, by H. Rice. Kodak Austral postcard format, with ink manuscript message on verso addressed to Mr. Joseph Lowe, Sunny Corner, from Carrie: ‘I am sending you our Queen she lives in South Goulburn she thinks shes [sic] Queen She has been many years here before ever I came but this is the image of her’.

Out of copyright: Created before 1955
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