To mark International Women's Day in 2025 we explore the life of Ballarat-raised actress, travel writer and author, Gwen Richardson. A woman of many talents, she is today best remembered for her 1925 travel memoir, ‘On the Diamond Trail in British Guiana’. (1)
Gwendoline ‘Gwen’ Whyte Richardson was born in Kew, Victoria, Australia on 5 June 1894 to parents Margaret and Laurence, an organist and music teacher. (2) The family moved to Ballarat when Gwen was a small child, residing at 1401 Sturt Street, Ballarat (3). Gwen attended Ballarat College, which was a short walk from her home. (4)
Before and during World War I, Gwen appeared on stage in numerous plays in Ballarat which raised funds for soldiers' relief funds. (5) She then moved to England in 1916 to continue her acting career. (6)
Arriving in England, Gwen, “…was on land in Kent for some time.” (7) During her first summer in Kent, she had her first experience of living in a tent, writing, “This increased my love for outdoor life and the wish I had always had to travel in wild uninhabited countries was intensified.” (8)
Gwen acted in Shakespearian plays in Stratford-on-Avon, and entertained troops in England during World War I. (9) She was also reported as presenting a lecture at a British Drama League meeting in 1919 and touring in South America with a British theatrical company. (10) Ballarat newspapers reported on her overseas travails and successes with enthusiasm on several occasions.
In 1922, Richardson travelled to British Guiana (now known as Guyana), hiring a boat and engaging a crew to travel with her along the Mazaruni and Essequlbo Rivers. (11). She wrote about her journey in the book, ‘On the Diamond Trail in British Guiana’, which was published in 1925. In reviewing Gwen’s book for the New York literary journal, ‘The Bookman’, Coulson Kernahan wrote, “Miss Richardson tells her story with modest reticence and with entire absence of exaggeration. She tells it with vividness and in simple English, in the writing of which she often attains distinction and beauty.” (12)
Gwen’s book begins with a reflection on her family history and upbringing in Ballarat, linking this to her intrepid nature and desire for adventure: “I think I must have inherited taste for travelling and mining from my grandfather…He was in South America when the Australian gold rush commenced. He immediately set out for the goldfields of Victoria, and before he had passed middle age had made a substantial fortune”. (13) She continued writing, “My home was in Ballarat, and although gold mining had ceased before I was born, the great waste heaps of clay that lay around the city spoke eloquently of the exciting days of the rush”. (14)
Gwen met her husband, the British barrister and pilot Maurice Bernal Blake, when he accompanied her of her first expedition to British Guiana. they married at the British Consulate on the French Island of Corsica in 1925. T. (15) Gwen made further trips to British Guiana with her husband in 1930, (16) and in 1939, spoke about British Guiana on BBC radio. (17)
In her later years, Gwen lived in the Northern Italian spa town of Sirmione in the Lombary region. (18) Maurice predeceased Gwen when he died in London in August 1934. (19). Gwen passed away In Surrey, England, on 27 November 1944, aged 50. She was cremated at Green Crematorium in Surrey on 30 November 1944. (20)
Gwen Richardson was the inspiration behind the Madison Wright Jones, the main protagonist in Di Morrissey’s 2008 novel, ‘When the Singing Stops', which is set in Guyana. (21)
Simon Jacks
Australiana Research Librarian
Online Sources:
Link to article regarding Laurence Richardson Music School. Ballarat Star 20 December 1902, p.1 20 Dec 1902 - MR. LAURENCE RICHARDSON’S STUDENTS. - Trove
Link to Article on Relief Concert that Gwen performed in. Geelong Advertiser 8 February 1916, p. 3 08 Feb 1916 - BALLARAT PIERROT CONCE[?] FOR TEH RED CROSS - Trove
Report on the Shakesperian Festival in which Gwen performed. Ballarat Star 27 December 1919, p.7 27 Dec 1919 - SHAKESPEARIAN FESTIVAL - Trove
Report in the Melbourne Herald about Gwen's expedition in British Guiana, 7 November 1922, p. 8 02 Nov 1922 - HER WAY OF SECURING A DIAMOND NECKLACE - Trove
Link to online copy of Gwen Richardson’s book ‘On the Diamond Trail in British Guiana’. #1 - On the diamond trail in British Guiana / by Gwen Richardson - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library
Footnotes:
1. Jill Robinson (1991), 'Wayward women: a guide to women Travellers', Oxford University Press, p.74-75
2. Robinson. p.74-75
3. 'Sands & Macdougall Ballarat & District Directory 1906/7', p. 25
4. Phil Roberts (2005), ,Golden heritage: history of College and Clarendon 1864-2004', Mud Group Pty Ltd, Ballarat, Victoria, p.382
5. 'The Geelong Advertiser', 8 February 1916. p.3
6. 'The Evening Echo, 18 February 18, 1916, Ballarat, p.2
7. Gwen Richardson (1925), 'On the diamond trail of British Guiana', New York; Btentano’s Publishers, p.2
8. Richardson, p.2.
9. 'The Ballarat Star, 23 March 1918, p.1
10. 'The Asheville Citizens-Times', 17 December 1922, North Carolina, USA, p.12
11. 'The Melbourne Herald', 2 November 1922, p.8
12. Carlson Kernahan (1925), 'A character out of a book perhaps by Joseph Conrad' in 'The Bookman" 69. December 1925, p.172-175
13. Richardson, p.1
14. Richardson, p.1
15. Kernahan, p. 172-175
16. 'Adventurers return' in 'The Morning Bulletin', Rockhampton Queensland,15 September 1930, p.9
17. 'Keeping house in the jungle' in 'Radio Times', no. 829, 18 August 1939, p. 28
18. Margot Peters (1984), 'Mrs. Potts', Knopf p.500-501
19. 19. Maurice Blake’s Obituary Notice in 'The Daily Telegraph' London, Ancestry Library Edition, Accessed 26 February 2025. UK and Ireland, Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current - AncestryLibrary.com
20. Gwen Richardson Blake's Death Notice in Andrews Index cards, Ancestry Library Edition, Accessed 26 February, 2025. England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976 - AncestryLibrary.com
21. Di Morrissey (2008), ‘When the Singing Stops’, Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney, 2008.
