Place and Identity in the Letters of Rachel Henning

Abstract

When Rachel Henning came to Australia in 1854, the displacement she felt profoundly affected her sense of self. One of the indicators of that displacement, and one of its causes, was the apparent failure of the Australian landscape to provide her with the sense of security her home English landscape had given her. I wish to go further than this and to suggest that the removal of her accustomed physical setting and its attendant activities actually challenged a core part of her identity.