Rachel Henning

Rachel Henning (29 April 1826 – 23 August 1914) was an English-born Australian woman who achieved posthumous fame for her letters. Born in England in 1826, Henning moved to Australia in 1854 to join her siblings on a farm in Appin. After struggling to adjust to life in Australia, she returned to England in 1856, before rejoining her siblings in Australia. She lived on her brother's sheep station in rural Queensland and eventually found greater satisfaction in Australian life. She left the station to marry in 1866 and settled with her husband on a farm near Wollongong. After the death of their respective spouses, she moved into her brother's home in Sydney, where she died in 1914.

During Henning's life she wrote a large body of letters, primarily to her siblings. In these letters she describes her life in Australia, focusing on ordinary domestic matters like gardening and the management of her household. Her collected letters were acquired by the editor of The Bulletin, David Adams, and were published in the periodical as a serial between August 1951 and January 1952. At least nine editions of the letters have since been published in book form. While Adams' editing of the letters has been criticised by modern scholars, Henning's letters have been described as a valuable historical document that reflects the lives of ordinary nineteenth-century women in the Australian bush.

Biography Henning was born on 29 April 1826 in Bristol, England, to Charles Wansbrough Henning, a clergyman, and his wife Rachel Lydia . She had four siblings who survived to adulthood: a brother named Biddulph, and sisters Annie, Amy, and Etta. Their youngest siblings, Henry and Constance, died of scarlet fever in 1841. As the eldest child, Rachel was left as the de facto head of household at the age of nineteen after her father and mother died of tuberculosis in 1840 and 1845 respectively.