Sumner Locke

Helena Sumner Locke (4 July 1881 – 18 October 1917) was an Australian novelist, dramatist/playwright, poet and short story writer. Her sister was the socialist Lilian Locke. Early life Born in 1881, she was the sixth daughter of Anglican clergyman Rev. William Locke and Annie (née Seddon), both born in England. She spent the early years of her childhood in Queensland before moving with her family to Melbourne in 1888. Career Locke began publishing short stories in such publications as The Bulletin and the Native Companion before her first play, The Vicissitudes of Vivienne, was produced in Melbourne in 1908. This was followed the next year by a Sydney production of A Martyr to Principle, a production she wrote in collaboration with Stanley McKay. She was later described by a Sydney newspaper as being "the first woman dramatist to have a play produced in Australia by a commercial theatrical management". A stage version was also produced in 1917 by Bert Bailey. The writer's reputation was enhanced by the publication in 1911 of Mum Dawson, 'Boss' , a series of inter-connected comic stories about a back-blocks country woman struggling to maintain her farm and her family, in the vein of Steele Rudd's iconic "Dad Rudd" from Dad and Dave. A stage production was created in 1917 by Bert Bailey. The Examiner described it as having "a strong vein of genuine humour". This was followed a year later by its sequel The Dawsons' Uncle George.