1. Catherine Baker was an Irish-born Australian teacher best known for championing the work of her friend Joseph Furphy, whose novel Such Is Life had received an indifferent reception upon its initial publication in 1909 but was later embraced by critics and the public.
Kate Baker was appointed an OBE in 1937 for her efforts in promoting Furphy's work and to broader Australian literature.
Kate Baker was made a life member of the Henry Lawson Society, and honoured with a bronze plaque by the society in 1936.
Kate Baker's father died when Baker was only 3 months old, and the family subsequently moved to Williamstown, Victoria, in 1870 to live with Catherine's sister, who was the wife of the then mayor, Edward Crane.
Kate Baker attended Williamstown North State school, and in 1881 she became a teacher at Hyde Street State school in Footscray.
Kate Baker became friends with Joseph's sister Annie, and through this relationship Kate Baker invited Joseph to visit her, which he did around 1887.
Furphy and Kate Baker's remained in frequent correspondence, and at some point he resumed annual visits to Melbourne to see them until the end of 1903 when he moved across the country to Swanbourne, near in Perth.
Kate Baker had been teaching at her old school in North Williamstown from 1887 to 1898, after which she continued as an infants teacher.
Between 1915 and 1918, Kate Baker recommenced teaching at a number of country schools and would occasionally tutor students, despite an accelerated loss of hearing.
Kate Baker's campaign was successful and in 1934 the plaque was unveiled at a ceremony accompanied by Furphy's sister Annie Stewart and a number of dignitaries, including the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, William Hugh Everard.
Kate Baker donated a blackwood cabinet containing Furphy's works and various tributes and messages.
Kate Baker had approved, as literary executor, the abridged version.
Kate Baker found interest from English publisher Jonathan Cape however, and after discussions she agreed to allow Vance Palmer to abridge the novel.
Kate Baker found that the abridgement was not what she had expected.
Kate Baker was highly regarded by many notable figures in Australian literature, and regularly wrote to Australian authors.
Kate Baker counted as her long time friend Robert Samuel Ross, lamenting his death after an unbroken friendship of 30 years in a letter to the Labor Call.
When Kate Baker was young she had frequented the Williamstown Mechanic's Institute, which served as the local library.
Kate Baker often shared this space with Ada Cross, better known as Ada Cambridge.
Kate Baker later agitated for a memorial to Cambridge, and in 1946 a plaque, erected in the foyer of Williamstown Town Hall by the Lindsay Gordon Lover's Society, was unveiled by president of the Bread and Cheese Club, JK Moir.
When Kate Baker wrote a series of biographical notes, which she later donated to the National Library of Australia, she included a history of Cambridge's life.
Kate Baker was held in high esteem by the members and in September 1939 she was presented with life membership for her services to the Society and Australian literature.
Kate Baker eventually agreed to work on the biography with Franklin and in late 1938 she travelled to Sydney to live with Franklin for the duration of their collaboration.
Kate Baker wrote to Victor Kennedy that she felt she had suffered "a touch of purgatory, whose cleansing fires burn out every touch of self-conceit and vanity".
Kate Baker has no idea of literary procedure or construction and one can't yell a notion into her deafness.
When Kate Baker moved back to Melbourne, she wrote of having felt she had been "stabbed" and insufficiently acknowledged by Franklin.
In spite of this, Kate Baker believed it was more important that it furthered Furphy's cause and so swallowed her pride.
When Franklin was given a Commonwealth Literary Fund grant, Kate Baker continued to check primary manuscripts to allow Franklin to write the 1944 biography Joseph Furphy: the Legend of a Man and His Book, the same year as an unabridged version of This is Life was released.
In later life Kate Baker remained active in the Australian literary scene.
Kate Baker died on 7 October 1953 at Camberwell private hospital, aged 92.
Stephens' assertion that Kate Baker "bore Joseph Furphy's standard" and quoting Furphy's compliment that Kate Baker was "a woman who has probably never lost a friend, except by death".
Kate Baker had been a founding member of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, and was appointed vice-president a fortnight before her death.