Harriet Elphinstone-Dick and Alice Moon

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(1852–1902,  1855 - 1894)

Harriet Elphinstone-Dick, born Harriet Elizabeth Rowell, lived a life of fitness and wellness. Starting life in Brighton, England she was a swimming instructor and a locally famous swimming competitor who took a particular delight in beating men in competition. It is this drive and delight to beat men that drove her to change her name from Harriet Rowell to Harriet Elphinstone-Dick. Although this change, and the reason for the change, is documented it is unclear when this change occurred. 

Alice Caroline Moon was born in Steyne, England where she was raised in London by her mother and father who was a well-respected doctor. Moon began her career as a journalist whilst still in London.

Little is known as to how these two women met. However, Elphinstone-Dick and Moon moved to Australia together in 1875 and settled in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton where they lived together. It can be suspected that they moved to Australia to live together more openly away from the prying eyes and opinions of their respective families. Moon continued her journalism and wrote for both local and national newspapers while Elphinstone-Dick continued swimming and competing. Together, with their shared passion for health and fitness, they taught swimming at St Kilda Sea Baths to women, girls, and children of influential people in Melbourne at the time. Elphinstone-Dick continued to compete in swimming competitions in Port Philip Bay, Melbourne.

Their passion furthered them into opening Australia’s first Women’s Only Gymnasium together in 1879. The gym was located in Mutual Provident Buildings on Collins Street in the heart of Melbourne. The pair advertised the gym in the newspaper and after an open invitation day to view the space they had many female entrants who used the space and provided classes regularly. This was due in part to the rising trend of physical fitness for women which particularly interested independent career women of Melbourne. 

Elphinstone-Dick wrote to the local papers where she spoke about some unfortunate drownings of children which resulted in death in 1882 and raised awareness for the ongoing necessity of swimming lessons and safety in water, especially for children. The pair would also go on to give safety talks about fitness and about the dangers of women’s clothes, which was a hazard in their time in terms of corsets and high heels. This highlighted Elphinstone-Dick’s seeming distaste for traditionally women’s clothes such as stays (corsets) and high heels for the way they physically disabled a woman’s body. The talk also consisted of concern for children’s clothes in which they were too restrictive and needed to be loose enough to accommodate proper fitness and play to encourage healthy growth.

In 1884 the coupled moved into a property they called Steyne presumably named after where Moon was born. The only time they left the area, other than work at the gym, competitions, and journalism, was to travel to Ballarat on Wednesdays where they would teach gymnastics. This was a long journey for the pair as they would route through Werribee to get there. 

The couple seems to have split around 1887-1888, for in 1887 Moon sold her portion of the gymnasium to Elphinstone-Dick, at the same time the cottage Steyne was sold. In 1888, Moon moved to Sydney with another woman named W.L. Mereweather where she continued to write for newspapers and gained acclaim for her frequent contributions to the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Morning Herald, the Freeman’s Journal and the Medical Gazette. Elphinstone-Dick remained in Melbourne where she continued to run the gymnasium. 

In 1894 Moon died peacefully at home age 39 after going to her room to retire in the afternoon to read. She passed away without pain with a medical report stating natural causes. Her subsequent funeral was attended by many friends and found family, including Elphinstone-Dick. Her lasting legacy included her time with Elphinstone-Dick, the creation of the women’s only gymnasium, her journalism, and two stories titled ‘The Red-Haired Boy’ and ‘Unlucky George.’

In 1902 Elphinstone-Dick died comfortably at home age 50 also from natural causes. Her funeral was attended by many friends when she was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery. Her legacy includes her time with Moon, the opening of the women’s only gymnasium, and her profound love of fitness and swimming. 

In 2019 their love story inspired a fictional and exciting retelling of their relationship and life titled Making Trouble: Tongued with Fire: An Imagined History of Harriet Elphinstone-Dick and Alice C. Moon by Sue Ingleton. 

Biography by Meghan Aponte 

Relevant Links

Harriet Elphinstone-Dick Letter to the Editor:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11531200?searchTerm=Harriet%20Elphinstone-Dick 

Opening of Harriet Elphinstone-Dick and Alice C. Moon’s Gym: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246225273?searchTerm=Harriet%20Elphinstone-Dick 

Harriet Elphinstone-Dick and Alice C. Moon’s Health Meeting: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8542544?searchTerm=Harriet%20Elphinstone-Dick

Alice C. Moon’s Death Notice: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/115549080, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/196856067

Harriet Elphinstone-Dick other information: https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/discovery/history-stories/harriet-elphinstone-dick/ 

Wikipedia Article on Harriet Elphinstone-Dick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Elphinstone-Dick 

Sunday Morning Herald legacy article: https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/harriet-the-swimmer-beat-a-man-and-taught-women-with-her-alice-20230504-p5d5pj.html 

Gym image is from Sue Ingleton's book, Making Trouble: Tongued with fire: An Imagined History of Harriet Elphinstone Dick and Alice C. Moon, published by Spinifex Press in 2019:  https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781925581713