Agnes Macready : Short Biography

Born in 1855 at Rathfriland, County Down, Agnes Macready, age twelve, emigrated to Australia, where she trained as a nurse. She also contributed literary sketches and verse to the Catholic Press under the name ‘Arrah Luen’. When war broke out in South Africa she volunteered as a nurse. Commissioned by The Catholic Press to report on the war, Macready became Australia’s first female war correspondent. In World War I she campaigned against conscription through articles and letters in The Catholic Press. Mercury continued to contribute articles and poems to the newspaper until her death in 1935. She is buried at Rookwood Cemetery.

This Chronicle has been adapted by kind permission of the Aisling Society. The content has been inspired by the Aisling 20/20 Vision project, which forms part of a programme marking the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the Consulate General of Ireland to New South Wales. 

The Aisling Society is an Irish Australian cultural society whose main interests are the study of the history, life, and culture of Ireland, and the effect of Irish heritage on Australian life.