Laura Bogue Luffmann was the third child of John Edward Lane, a naval lieutenant and one of Nelson's officers. Her mother was Lauretta Maude Lane, nee Bluett. Educated in France and widely travelled, Luffmann wrote several books for children, a novel, Gentleman Verschoyle (1875), and The Life and Writings of a Alexander Vinet, a biography of the Swiss critic and theologian (1890), all under her maiden name. In 1895 she married Carl Bogue Luffmann, a Melbourne horticulturalist, but the marriage ended suddenly in 1902 and she moved to Sydney.
Luffmann was prominent in women's movements, becoming a close friend of Hilma Molyneux Parkes, founder of the Women's Liberal League of New South Wales. She also wrote numerous articles for the South African, American and Australian press, edited the At Home and Women's Voice magazines and, as 'Una', contributed to the Sydney Daily Telegraph. She wrote an unpublished autobiography, Impressions of Life by a Contented Woman. Mary Gilmore (q.v.) established the Laura Bogue Luffmann literary competition in memory of Luffmann.
