Editing Ada Cambridge (section)

==Career==
While Cambridge began writing in the 1870s to make money to help support her children, her formal published career spans from 1865 with ''Hymns on the Litany'' and ''The Two Surplices'', to 1922 with an article "Nightfall" in ''[[Atlantic Monthly]]''.<ref>Morrison (1988) p. xxii.</ref> According to the scholar Patricia Barton, her early works "contain the seeds of her lifelong insistence on and pursuit of physical, spiritual and moral integrity, as well as the interweaving of poetry and prose which was to typify her writing career."<ref name="Barton (1988) p. 134"/> [[Nancy Cato]]<ref name="Cato (1989) p. v"/> writes that "some of her ideas were considered daring and even a little improper for a clergyman's wife. She touches on extramarital affairs and the physical bondage of wives."

In 1875, Cambridge's first novel, ''Up the Murray'', appeared in the ''Australasian'', but was not published separately. It was not until 1890, with the publication of ''A Marked Man'', that her fame as a writer was established.<ref>Morrison (1988) p. xix.</ref> However, despite regular good reviews, there were many who discounted her because she did not write in the literary tradition of the time, one that was largely non-urban and masculine, that focused on survival against the harsh environment.<ref>Morrison (1988) p. xx.</ref>

Cambridge was the first president of the Women Writers Club and an honorary life-member of the [[Lyceum Club (Australia)|Lyceum Club]] of Melbourne. Her many friends in the literary world included [[Jennings Carmichael|Grace "Jennings" Carmichael]], [[Rolf Boldrewood]], [[Ethel Turner]], and [[George Robertson (publisher)|George Robertson]].<ref>Barton (1988) p. 133.</ref>