Doris Egerton Jones

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Doris Egerton Jones (23 December 1889 – 30 September 1973), also known as Doris Callaghan and Doris Callahan, was an Australian writer of novels and plays.

Early life

Egerton Jones was born in Mitcham, Adelaide, in 1889. She attended the Advanced School for Girls in Adelaide from 1901 to 1905. From 1909 to 1911 she studied at the University of Adelaide. She began to study law at a time when women could not practise law in South Australia. Although she did not complete her studies, she was instrumental in lobbying for a law change in 1911 allowing women to practise. She wrote her first play at age 14 and her first novel at 15.{{Citation|last=Edgar|first=Suzanne|title=Jones, Doris Egerton (1889–1973)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jones-doris-egerton-6870|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=26 May 2020|archive-date=29 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329212940/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jones-doris-egerton-6870|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|date=11 September 1938|title=The Author of Governor Bligh|page=14|work=The Age|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page18962052|access-date=27 May 2020|archive-date=12 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312014950/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/18962052|url-status=live}}

Career

In 1918 she travelled to London where she wrote the play Uncle Tibbett's Twins, which had Australian and cross-dressing themes.{{Cite web|title=Uncle Tibbett's Twins|url=https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/script/2836/|website=Great War Theatre|access-date=27 May 2020|archive-date=9 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809000315/https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/script/2836/|url-status=live}} The Year Between, classed as romantic fiction, was her last novel and dealt with the mistreatment of Aboriginal people and the ANZAC landing in Gallipoli.

Her detective drama, The Flaw, written with the English actress Emélie Polini, was a melodrama. Her last play, Governor Bligh, a historical comedy about William Bligh, was produced by Allan Wilkie.{{Cite book|last=Webby|first=Elizabeth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44039801|title=The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature|year=2000|isbn=0-521-65843-8|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|pages=151|oclc=44039801}}

Personal life

Egerton Jones married her husband Reginald Callaghan in 1918 in London; they later changed their name to Callahan. They returned to Sydney in 1922. They had one daughter and two sons.

She died on 30 September 1973 at Wahroonga, Sydney.