The sculpture, dedicated in 1966, commemorates Catherine Spence (1825 – 1910), a social and political reformer. The life-size bronze statue was designed by Ieva Pocius and erected for the 150th anniversary of European settlement in South Australia, unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 10 March 1986. It is located in Light Square.
The statue depicts Spence holding an open book on top of a three-tiered triangular pedestal, with the inscription underneath: “Catherine Helen Spence, 1825-1910, social and political reformer, writer and preacher who worked for children”.
Between 1854 and 1889, Catherine Spence produced seven novellas and a religious allegory. Her first work “Clara Morison: A Tale of South Australia” during the Gold Fever (1854) was the first novel about Australia written by a woman.
In 1872, with Caroline Emily Clark, she established and ran the Boarding-Out Society for orphaned, destitute and reformed delinquent children committed to the Industrial School. She was a member of the East Torrens School Board and in 1880 wrote the first South Australian social studies textbook for schools, The Laws We Live Under. She also participated in the work of the State Children`s Council, established in 1886.
