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In this deeply personal episode, I trace Nellie Stewart’s return to Australia in 1893 - not as the adored “Rose of Australia,” but as a new mother travelling incognito across the world with her six-week-old baby. From triumph and tragedy at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre to a gruelling 45-day voyage aboard the SS Doric, this chapter reveals a woman balancing ambition, secrecy, love and survival.

As I uncover a long-forgotten shipboard journal and search in vain for her daughter’s birth certificate, the distance between performer and private woman narrows. Alone on the high seas, Nellie’s story becomes one of resilience, reinvention and the cost of returning to the stage when everything has changed

Recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Peoples of the Kulin Nation, written and hosted by Ali McGregor. Script editing by Maeve Marsden and musical excerpts by Matthew Floyd Jones.

This podcast was created wth the generosity of The Frank Van Straten Fellowship, supported by ‘The Van Straten and Turley Foundation', with the help and guidance of Claudia Funder at the Australian Performing Arts Collection. Massive thanks also go to Elaine Marriner of Marriner Theatres for the initial and continued inspiration and support.

https://www.alimcgregor.com/nellie