Kiera Lindsey

I am an historian and biographer whose fascination with the 19th century world is fuelled by my imaginative curiosity for the colonial era and a desire for complex carefully crafted female characters

Photographer: Ethan White.

I specialise in developing imaginative but ethical ways of ‘re-presenting’ those who are under-represented in the historical record who might otherwise be rendered silent by sources made by men and for men.

My first book was a speculative biography entitled The Convict’s Daughter (Allen & Unwin 2016) was concerned with the story of my great, great, great aunt, Mary Ann Gill who became embroiled in a romantic scandal in 1848 when she attempted to elope with the Attorney General’s wayward son. The Convict’s Daughter has been described as a ‘gloriously-unput-downable’, but ‘meticulously researched, broad sweeping book’ with a ‘rip-roaring narrative’ which ‘fearlessly cuts a new path between history and fiction’.

In 2018 I was awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award to investigate the relationship between historical craft and an emerging sub-genre of life writing known as ‘speculative biography’. In addition to co-editing a Routledge collection on Speculative Biography in 2021, I have published articles and book chapters about the methodological challenges and opportunities associated with using fictional techniques to retrieve slippery and shadowy figures from the archives. Both my critical and creative work has been described as cutting-edge and compelling.

My second speculative biography WILD LOVE (Allen & Unwin, October 2023) ‘re-presents’ the life of the exuberant first Australian-born professional female artist, Adelaide Ironside (1831-1867). Adelaide, or ‘AESI’, as she liked to be known, was the granddaughter of a convict forger and a First Fleet marine. In 1855, she left her ‘beloved native land’ of Sydney, with her mother, Martha, determined to ‘train with the masters in Rome’, so she could return home ‘the acknowledged ‘Mistress of Art in the Southern Hemisphere’ and adorn Australia’s public buildings with republican frescos. During their decade abroad, Aesi became acquainted with the most celebrated figures of the age including John Ruskin and the most famous poet of the era, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, for whom she ‘scried’ crystal balls. She also won accolades for her artwork.

In addition to volunteering for several history and biography organisations, I work at the History Trust of SA (HTSA) as South Australia’s  History Advocate. In this role, I am the principal public spokesperson on SA history and ‘go to’ person for media and communities, championing history in all is forms, while also undertaking research and providing policy advice at state and federal level. Please feel free to contact me about my advocacy work on klindsey@history.sa.gov.au

I live in Adelaide with my husband, Brye Marshall, a First Nation archaeologist, and our Red Heeler, Mungo Von Marshall. In my spare time I love to snorkel in the sea, ride my bike, go for road trips, and sniff about old museums and shops.