Clara Southern was an active member of the Heidelberg School, painting en plein air in Heidelberg and Eaglemont and is particularly known for paintings of the area local to her home in Warrandyte where the influence of her teacher Walter Withers is often in evidence, as well as the influence of Frederick McCubbin, one of her teachers at the National Gallery School (1883 – 1887). She was an advocate for women’s equality in the arts profession, being the first woman member in various associations including the Buonarotti Society in 1886 and the Australian Artists’ Association and was elected to the Council of the Victorian Artists’ Society.