Cara David and the ‘truths’ of her ‘unscientific' travellers’ tales in Australia and the South Pacific

Abstract

Nineteenth century middle-class female travellers and adventurers are usually presented as amazingly different to their stay-at-home peers or are ignored altogether. This article takes the view that for a realistic portrait of women as independent travellers to be painted, the concepts of travel and adventure need to be re-conceptualised relative to the traditional domestic role Victorian middle class women invariably had to occupy. Through the life of an Australian woman, Cara David, the complexity of both the travelling and how that ‘travellers' tale’ might be told is explored. The study concludes that there is a rich field of inquiry for feminist researchers in the lives of so-called ‘ordinary’ women who do not readily fit the stereotype of the great, the extraordinary, the victimised or the strikingly politically active in some of the yet untold stories about women, travel, adventure, domesticity, and travellers' tales.