Polly Plum: A Firm and Earnest Woman's Advocate, Mary Ann Colclough 1836-1885

Polly Plum is a biography of one of New Zealand’s earliest feminists, Mary Ann Colclough, whose publicly voiced opinions saw her described in the nineteenth century as ‘our own little stray strap of a modern female fanatic’. A good two decades ahead of the organized women’s movement, ‘Polly Plum’ began politicizing women by writing about the realities of their daily lives, what needed to change and how. Coleman here reclaims Mary Ann Colclough’s place in New Zealand’s feminist history by bringing her life and contributions to a wider audience.