Carrie Kelly

Caroline Tennant-Kelly (1899–1989) was an Australian theatre producer, Aboriginal rights activist and anthropologist.

Early life Emily Caroline Tennant (Carrie) Watson (who performed under the name Tennant and also went by her married name Kelly) was born on 24 April 1899 in West Didsbury, Manchester, England to Robert Watson and his wife Caroline Tennant. As a child she participated in little theatre productions in Manchester and Birmingham.

Emigration to Australia Kelly's family moved to Australia in the early 1920s, and she finished her schooling at All Hallows School, Brisbane. She took lessons with drama teacher Barbara Sisley in Brisbane, Queensland and performed in plays in Brisbane and Sydney. In Sydney she began a play-reading circle for radio 2KY. She produced two series of one act plays and opened the Community Playhouse in Darlinghurst in 1929. She organised competitions inviting submissions of one act plays which would be performed by her group of players. They eventually took the name the Australian Play Society. After poor reviews for the performances of their third festival of one act plays, which suffered from a lack of rehearsal time and criticism of the quality of some of the scripts by the then Governor’s wife, Lady Game, Kelly disbanded the group.

Anthropological work Kelly took up studies in anthropology at the University of Sydney, beginning in 1931. Under Peter Elkin's supervision her fieldwork involved working within Aboriginal communities at the Burnt Bridge Mission, Kempsey and Wreck Bay, New South Wales and at the Cherbourg mission in Queensland. She corresponded with American anthropologist Margaret Mead, sharing her experiences at Cherbourg. Her research into the kinship, languages, ceremonial practices and heritage of the communities He was a copywriter and later editor and advertising agent. In her later years she lived in near seclusion. She died on 1 September 1989 in Kyogle, New South Wales. Kelly's papers can be accessed from the Fryer Library at The University of Queensland Library.