Louise Mack

Marie Louise Hamilton Mack (10 October 1870 – 23 November 1935) was an Australian poet, journalist and novelist. She is most known for her writings and her involvement in World War I in 1914 as the first woman war correspondent in Belgium.

Early life and education Mack was born in Hobart, Tasmania. She was the seventh of thirteen children. Her father, Hans Hamilton Mack, was a Wesleyan minister who moved the family from state to state on account of his work. By the time she was ready for secondary school, the family had taken up residence in Sydney. Mack attended Sydney Girls High School where she met Ethel Turner.

War correspondent In 1914, when war broke out Louise Mack was in Belgium where she continued to work as the first woman war correspondent for the Evening News and the London Daily Mail. Her eye-witness account of the German invasion of Antwerp and her adventures—A Woman's Experiences in the Great War—was published in 1915.

She was not only the first woman to be a war correspondent but she was also the first Australian to study the Germans this closely during this time. She was under shell-fire for thirty-six hours in Antwerp, and at one point went right through German lines to the city of Brussels.

Returning to Australia Returning to Australia in 1916, Mack gave a series of lectures about her war experiences. She frequently wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald, the Bulletin and other newspapers and magazines.

In the 1930s, she wrote a series of humorous but helpful articles for the Australian Women's Weekly, titled "Louise Mack advises".

Personal On 8 January 1896, Mack married Dublin barrister John Percy Creed, who died in 1914.

Mack died in Mosman, New South Wales on 23 November 1935.