She began her career in journalism in 1886, writing for the "Pall Mall Gazette" and the "Manchester Guardian". She was sent by the "Manchester Guardian" newspaper and was the only woman reporter to cover the Anti-Slavery Conference in Brussels. She became Colonial Editor for "The Times", which made her the highest paid woman journalist of the time. In that connection, she was sent as a special correspondent to Southern Africa in 1892 and in 1901 and to Australia and New Zealand in 1892, partly to study the question of Kanaka labour in the sugar plantations of Queensland. Penneshaw, South Australia is partly named after her.