What was dame mary gilmore famous for

She wrote both prose and poetry. Gilmore was born in rural New South Wales, and spent her childhood in and around the Riverina, living both in small bush settlements and in larger country towns like Wagga Wagga. Gilmore qualified as a schoolteacher at the age of 16, and after a period in the country was posted to Sydney.

She involved herself with the burgeoning labour movement, and also became a devotee of the utopian socialism views of William Lane. She started a family there, but the colony did not live up to expectations and they returned to Australia in Drawing on her connections in Sydney, Gilmore found work with The Australian Worker as the editor of its women's section, a position she held from to She also wrote for a variety of other publications, including The Bulletin and The Sydney Morning Herald, becoming known as a campaigner for the welfare of the disadvantaged.

Gilmore's first volume of poetry was brought out in ; she published prolifically for the rest of her life, mainly poetry but also memoirs and collections of essays. She wrote on a variety of themes, although the public imagination was particularly captured by her evocative views of country life. Gilmore's greatest recognition came in later life.

She was the doyenne of the Sydney literary world, and became something of a national icon, making frequent appearances in the new media of radio and television. Gilmore maintained her prodigious output into old age, publishing her last book of verse in , aged Two years earlier she had begun writing a new column for the Tribune the official newspaper of the Communist Party , which she continued for almost a decade.

Gilmore died at the age of 97 and was accorded a state funeral, a rare honour for a writer. She has featured on the reverse of the Australian ten-dollar note since Update this biography » Complete biography of Dame Mary Gilmore ».

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Sensitive to the conventions of the day, Gilmore protected her teaching career during this time by writing under pen-names, including Em Jaycey, Sister Jaycey and Rudione Calvert. While there she edited the daily journal, Cosme Evening Notes. The column was very popular, with Gilmore remaining editor of the Women's page until Through the column, Gilmore campaigned for a wide range of social and economic reforms, such as voting rights for the women, old age and invalid pensions, child endowment, the relief of the poor and the just treatment of Aboriginal people.

Now Gilmore could devote more time to her literary activities and it produced a period of prolific activity that would last for many years. Her view on the horror of the World War was explored in her second collection of poetry, The Passionate Hear t, in , particularly the debacle that was Gallipoli.

In she published her first work of prose in a series of essays under the title Hound of the Road and a third poetry book called The Tilted Cart a few years later. Now approaching her sixties, though, Gilmore began to suffer from poor health which forced her to resign from the Australian Worker.

One of her most important works was published in , The Wild Swan , which drilled into the unfair way aborigines were treated by the white population, particularly in how their old lore was being systematically destroyed. She continued to campaign for rights for all, particularly for aboriginal equality and the poor lot of returning servicemen who had fought in the First World War. Gilmore was a highly vocal and much loved voice in Australia, and her birthdays were often celebrated, not just by the literary community but normal, everyday folk who liked what she said.