AustLit

Margaret Thomas arrived in Melbourne with her parents in 1852. Considered by D. B. W. Sladen as the first woman to study sculpture in Victoria, she enjoyed a high reputation as a sculptress and portrait painter. She left for England in 1867 and continued her studies in Rome before accepting a studentship at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1871. Thomas made a very good living from her skills as a portrait artist, allowing her to travel widely, accounts of which were published at intervals. She also wrote books on art appreciation, How to Judge Pictures (1906) and How to Understand Sculpture (1911). Beginning in Australia, Thomas published verse in Australian and English periodicals. She also contributed to Coo-ee: Tales of Australian Life by Australian Ladies (1891) and By Creek and Gully (1899). In 1908 she published a small volume of poems entitled A Painter's Pastime. Another volume of poems, Friendship, Poems in Memoriam is noted in the annual English Who's Who (1929), the Dictionary of Australian Biography, the Australian Dictionary of Biography, and the Bibliography of Australian Women's Writing, but it has not been traced.