She began writing for the press and in 1894 published her first novel Dave's Sweetheart. In the same year she married Dr Hubert Lindsay Miller (a widower) of Warrnambool, Victoria. He died in 1900, and, with only a small income, Gaunt (now also known as Mrs Mary Miller) went to London intending to earn a living by her writing. Gaunt left Melbourne on 15 March 1901 and never returned.
Gaunt had difficulties at first but eventually established herself, and was able to travel in the West Indies, in West Africa, and in China and other parts of the East. Her experiences were recorded in five pleasantly written travel books: Alone in West Africa (1912), A Woman in China (1914), A Broken Journey (1919), Where the Twain Meet (1922), Reflection - in Jamaica (1932). In 1929 she also published George Washington and the Men Who Made the American Revolution. Between 1895 and 1934, 16 novels or collections of short stories were published, mostly with love and adventure interests. Three other novels were written in collaboration with John Ridgwell Essex. A collection of interviews with Mary were published in the 1925 Girls' Own Annual under the headings "Pioneering for Women" parts I, II, and III, and "Strange Journeys I Have Made".
From the early 1920s, Gaunt lived mostly at Bordighera, Italy. In 1940 she fled Italy and died at Cannes in 1942. She had no children.
Life at Deadman's : Stories of Colonial Victoria (2001)
Autobiography
Alone in West Africa (1912)
A Woman in China (1914)
A Broken Journey: Wanderings from the Hoang-Ho to Saghalien (1919)
Non-fiction
Where the Twain Meet (1922) - travel
Peeps at Great Men : George Washington and the Men Who Made the American Revolution (1929) - children's
Reflection in Jamaica (1932) - travel
Notes and references
^Her inclusion in what was a private school for boys may be explained by the fact that her brother Ernest Gaunt (later a vice-admiral) was a student there.[2]
^"Personal". The Ballarat Star. No. 20301. Victoria, Australia. 15 September 1922. p. 1. Retrieved 19 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"The Passing Show". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 28, 492. Victoria, Australia. 15 December 1937. p. 12. Retrieved 20 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
