Clara Seekamp

She became an actress at a tent theatre set up in an area known as the Gravel Pits in the gold mining town of Ballarat, and conducted a theatrical company there.

[4] By 1854, Clara had become the de facto wife of Henry Seekamp, editor and publisher of The Ballarat Times, and 10 years her junior.

[5] Her husband was a supporter of the Ballarat Reform League, and the newspaper's fiery editorials on behalf of the miners eventually drew government attention.

[7] Certainly while Henry was in gaol, Clara took over the running of the Ballarat Times, becoming the first female editor of an Australian newspaper, and her editorials proved equally, if not more outspoken than her husband's.

After Governor Hotham accused unnamed 'foreigners' of stirring up the rebellion, Clara responded with the New Year's Day editorial of 1855, writing: What is it that constitutes a foreigner? ...

The latest immigrant is the youngest Australian[8]The Geelong Advertiser commented that "The Ballarat Times contains ... a manifesto from Mrs Seekamp ... startling in its tone ... and the free use of the words sedition, liberty and oppression" and hoped for a "lenient sentence upon Mr Seekamp and a quick return to his editorial duties" to relieve the "dangerous influence of a free press petticoat government"[9] She protested her husband's sentence, amassing 3000 signatures for a petition to have him freed,[10] and due to public outcry Henry was released after only 3 months.

[6] In 1868 her daughter Clara died from diphtheria at the age of 18,[15] and later that year her son Oliver was arrested for stealing building materials from empty houses.

She is reported as appearing in court "much grieved with her son's position" and offered that "his name was down for a situation in the General Post Office" in his defence.