Lot 4146

Private collection, Victoria

Miss Mabel Cramer was born in the Lake Eyre region to a British Army officer and an Indigenous woman. Following the death of her mother during an epidemic at the age of two, she was placed under the guardianship of a local Aboriginal family, where she received both care and formal schooling. She entered domestic service as a young woman, and secured employment with prominent households, including the Lansell family of Bendigo, and later served as a chef for Dame Nellie Melba.