Author(s): Hilarie Lindsay

History | Biography and Memoir

Born in London, Winifred emigrated to Australia in 1891. The land grant that had lured her father to Far North Queensland proved worthless and they battled for many years to keep themselves alive. Later locked into a loveless marriage, Winifred was eventually driven away by her bullying husband and forced to leave her four young children behind. She found work in Outback pubs and fell in love with Ali, an Indian trader whom she married - Winifred was probably the first woman in Australia to convert to Islam. Three children followed, and the family travelled through the Queensland and South Australian Outback with their camels until Ali was summoned to India, where he died from cholera. Winifred's further loves and adventures, including a pilgrimage to Mecca, culminated in an invitation to become a tutor to the king and queen of Afghanistan. She recounted her experiences in a series of lively dispatches for South Australian newspapers until, once again, fate stepped in - civil strife forced the royals to flee and Winifred to return to Australia. A writer all her life, in her later years Winifred became a prolific letter writer and novelist. Hilarie Lindsay has reconstructed Winifred's life through her memoirs, newspaper articles, short stories, letters and 14 unpublished novels. Winifred Steger was a battler, a survivor, a true pioneer and, above all, a woman of indomitable spirit.