Nettie Palmer was the most important nonacademic critic in Australia from the mid 1920s through the 1930s. Essayist, biographer, diarist, linguist, and poet, she was one of the most humane and sensitively perceptive writers of her time. At ease with the whole European tradition, she played a central part in the increasing recognition of literature in Australia and was a tireless worker for Australian readers and writers. Her involvement in Australian cultural life spans five decades. Manning Clark in A History of Australia, volume one (1987) described her as "the great life-affirmer, the giver of the waters of life," and Marjorie Barnard, on 16 May 1938, wrote to Palmer of her "marvellous intellectual energy that is light and joy to all of us."

Palmer received much praise during her lifetime. A. D. Hope lauded her intellectual toughness and ability to get at the essence of things; even Henry Handel Richardson in...