Jessie Litchfield

Who was Jessie Litchfield?

Jessie Sinclair Litchfield was an Australian author and Northern Territory pioneer.

Litchfield was born Jessie Sinclair Phillips at Ashfield to contractor John Phillips and Jean Sinclair, née Reid. Jessie was educated at Neutral Bay Public School and was taught by Mary Cameron. She married Valentine Augustus Litchfield, a miner whom she had met on a ship to Darwin, on 21 January 1908 and they moved around the Territory: West Arm, Anson Bay, Brocks Creek, the Ironblow mine, the Union reefs and Pine Creek. In 1909 she wrote to the Messenger, a Victorian church newspaper, describing "Chinese and blacks [as] my nearest neighbours", and her reports may have contributed to the establishment of the Australian Inland Mission.

By the time her husband died in 1931, Jessie was a mother of seven and had published Far North Memories based on her experiences. She wrote five books as well as short stories, articles, and verses, and pursued a career as a journalist, becoming editor of the Northern Territory Times and Government Gazette in 1930. The Times was purchased in 1932 by the union-owned Northern Standard, prompting many battles with the conservative Litchfield. She was Darwin press representative for many papers, including Reuters, for six years.