Post by Cameronian on Nov 19, 2002 6:55:51 GMT -6
Dame Mary Gilmore nee Cameron
1865 -1962
Mary Cameron, poet and journalist, was born at Mary Vale, Woodhouselee,
near Goulburn, NSW, on 16 August 1865. She was educated at Brucedale, near Wagga Wagga. Between 1877 and 1895 she taught in a variety of schools in New South Wale spending much of her early life in rural NSW, particularly the Riverina region where she describes the Murrumbidgee area as her "native air" Her life spanned almost a century of Australian history.
Mary Gilmore wrote vigorously about the needs of rural communities particularly the need for better health services and increased general aid for the sick, the aged and the poor. She was known for her "insistence on the responsibility of the community and of governments for the welfare of women, children, the old, the helpless and the needy she was a humanist and internationalist. Her poetry, campaigns and views fostered a reputation regionally, nationally and internationally.
.
In 1890 she moved to Sydney where she moved in radical and intellectual circles. She became a close friend of Henry Lawson, and was the first woman member of the Australian Workers' Union
Inspired by William Lane's ideal of utopian socialism, She became involved in the New Australia movement contributing regularly to its journal before she resigned from teaching departing for Cosme on 31 October 1895 and sailed to Paraguay on the Ruapehu.
Cameron remained at the Cosme settlement in Paraguay until 1899. She married fellow colonist and Victorian shearer William Alexander Gilmore (1866-1945) in 1897 and their only child William Dysart Cameron Gilmore (1898-1945) was born at Villarica, near Cosme. Disillusioned with the breakdown of the Cosme community and the departure of William Lane in 1899, the Gilmores left Paraguay, however before returning to Australia in 1902, she taught English in Rio Gallegos in southern Patagonia and wrote for Buenos Aires papers.
The family originally moved back to Casterton in Victoria to her husbands parents property where the Gilmore family remained from 1902 to 1912 when Mary moved to Sydney with her son Billy while William Gilmore established the first of the family properties at Cloncurry in North Queensland
In the years that followed Mary published numerous volumes of prose and poetry
Highly popular and nationally known, in 1937 she became the first person to be appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire for contributions to
literature.
During World War II Mary captured the hearts of Australians with a stirring call to patriotism in the poems 'No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest' and 'Singapore', earning her the unexpected praise of General Douglas MacArthur
At the age of 77, Dame Mary Gilmore continued her work sorting through her personal papers and letters to hand over to the Mitchell Library in Sydney
In her final years, Dame Mary's life was a succession of visitors and housekeepers, sufficient to tax the health of any ninety year old. Dame Mary, however, wouldn't have it any other way - she loved company and found several of her housekeepers tiresome and overbearing - a frequently reciprocated feeling.
On the eve of her ninety-first birthday in 1956, bookman Walter Stone arranged a tribute evening for Dame Mary at Paddington Town Hall, Sydney.
Hilda Lane was among the seven hundred guests. She was a niece of William Lane, leader of the utopian 'New Australia' settlement in Paraguay over sixty years earlier, and the first child born to the self-exiled Australian community.
1961 Australian Trade Unions honoured Mary's contribution to the labour movement, crowning her May Queen for the May Day procession.
Dame Mary Gilmore died on Monday, 3 December 1962. Three days later on Thursday, 6 December 1962 Sydney witnessed her State funeral....
Two of her poems have been included in the Rhyme and Reason segment… however a third poem called Married reflects a different mood altogether and is possibly her most charming..
1865 -1962
Mary Cameron, poet and journalist, was born at Mary Vale, Woodhouselee,
near Goulburn, NSW, on 16 August 1865. She was educated at Brucedale, near Wagga Wagga. Between 1877 and 1895 she taught in a variety of schools in New South Wale spending much of her early life in rural NSW, particularly the Riverina region where she describes the Murrumbidgee area as her "native air" Her life spanned almost a century of Australian history.
Mary Gilmore wrote vigorously about the needs of rural communities particularly the need for better health services and increased general aid for the sick, the aged and the poor. She was known for her "insistence on the responsibility of the community and of governments for the welfare of women, children, the old, the helpless and the needy she was a humanist and internationalist. Her poetry, campaigns and views fostered a reputation regionally, nationally and internationally.
.
In 1890 she moved to Sydney where she moved in radical and intellectual circles. She became a close friend of Henry Lawson, and was the first woman member of the Australian Workers' Union
Inspired by William Lane's ideal of utopian socialism, She became involved in the New Australia movement contributing regularly to its journal before she resigned from teaching departing for Cosme on 31 October 1895 and sailed to Paraguay on the Ruapehu.
Cameron remained at the Cosme settlement in Paraguay until 1899. She married fellow colonist and Victorian shearer William Alexander Gilmore (1866-1945) in 1897 and their only child William Dysart Cameron Gilmore (1898-1945) was born at Villarica, near Cosme. Disillusioned with the breakdown of the Cosme community and the departure of William Lane in 1899, the Gilmores left Paraguay, however before returning to Australia in 1902, she taught English in Rio Gallegos in southern Patagonia and wrote for Buenos Aires papers.
The family originally moved back to Casterton in Victoria to her husbands parents property where the Gilmore family remained from 1902 to 1912 when Mary moved to Sydney with her son Billy while William Gilmore established the first of the family properties at Cloncurry in North Queensland
In the years that followed Mary published numerous volumes of prose and poetry
Highly popular and nationally known, in 1937 she became the first person to be appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire for contributions to
literature.
During World War II Mary captured the hearts of Australians with a stirring call to patriotism in the poems 'No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest' and 'Singapore', earning her the unexpected praise of General Douglas MacArthur
At the age of 77, Dame Mary Gilmore continued her work sorting through her personal papers and letters to hand over to the Mitchell Library in Sydney
In her final years, Dame Mary's life was a succession of visitors and housekeepers, sufficient to tax the health of any ninety year old. Dame Mary, however, wouldn't have it any other way - she loved company and found several of her housekeepers tiresome and overbearing - a frequently reciprocated feeling.
On the eve of her ninety-first birthday in 1956, bookman Walter Stone arranged a tribute evening for Dame Mary at Paddington Town Hall, Sydney.
Hilda Lane was among the seven hundred guests. She was a niece of William Lane, leader of the utopian 'New Australia' settlement in Paraguay over sixty years earlier, and the first child born to the self-exiled Australian community.
1961 Australian Trade Unions honoured Mary's contribution to the labour movement, crowning her May Queen for the May Day procession.
Dame Mary Gilmore died on Monday, 3 December 1962. Three days later on Thursday, 6 December 1962 Sydney witnessed her State funeral....
Two of her poems have been included in the Rhyme and Reason segment… however a third poem called Married reflects a different mood altogether and is possibly her most charming..