AustLit

Louisa Wells grew up in Geelong and later Creswick, Victoria, and at the age of sixteen married Henry Ash. They had four children, one of whom died as an infant. Wells was apparently widowed in 1876. She had four more children with John Wells about whom little is known. One child died in infancy and John Wells may also have died.

Wells and three of her girls moved to South Australia in 1883. Here she worked as a dressmaker but also supported her family by prostitution, and following accusations of running a 'disorderly house' her children were taken from her and she spent time in Adelaide Gaol and the Lunatic Asylum. Her appeals to the State Children's Council for the return of her children were unsuccessful although she was a vigilant campaigner on the topic. She married Thomas Goodland in Victoria in 1898.

Wells tells her story in her two publications, The Cause and Suffering of Fallen Women (1887) and The Red Pen: A Story for the Young (1887). In the latter the story is set in a farmyard with animals as characters, but is a representation of her own situation. She also published a monthly paper, The Social Reformer from July 1887 to at least August 1888, in which she described her circumstances and describes herself as the victim of unjust treatment.