AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 1644739679133136709.jpg
Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland
Mary Eva O'Doherty Mary Eva O'Doherty i(A20928 works by) (birth name: Mary Eva Kelly) (a.k.a. Mrs Kevin I. O'Doherty)
Also writes as: 'Eva' of the 'Nation' ; Eva
Born: Established: 15 Feb 1830 Galway (County),
c
Ireland,
c
Western Europe, Europe,
; Died: Ceased: 21 May 1910 Brisbane, Queensland,
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1865
Heritage: Irish
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Mary O'Doherty was taught at home, under the direction of her mother, by hired governesses, one of whom 'was a rara avis at that time when there was little thought about the higher education of women' (O'Doherty quoted by Justin M'Carthy in a Biographical Sketch). O'Doherty has said that she owed the development of any literary ability to that governess. As Mary Eva Kelly she was an early contributor of nationalistic essays, ballads and poems to Charles Gavan Duffy's magazine Nation, using various pseudonyms but becoming known as 'Eva' of the 'Nation'.

'Eva' was connected with the Young Ireland Movement of 1848. Kevin Izod O'Doherty (q.v.) was one of the young men in that national movement who admired 'Eva'. He was a medical practitioner and political activist, sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen's Land in 1848 on a charge of 'treason felony'. After O'Doherty was set free in 1854, he married 'Eva' in 1855 in London, and after living for a time in Paris and Dublin they finally settled in Brisbane in 1865, where O'Doherty practised medicine. In 1886 they returned to Ireland, where Kevin O'Doherty joined the Irish National Party and was briefly a member of the House of Commons, before returning to Queensland.

Most Referenced Works

Last amended 15 Feb 2017 08:57:44
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X