Gilmore, [Dame] Mary Jean (1865 - 1962)

Dame Mary Jean Gilmore was a noted writer, teacher and social activist. Early in her career she had a relationship with Henry Lawson which was influential in the future style of her poetry and writing.

She was leftward leaning politically and this often came out in her work.

Late in her career Dame Mary enjoyed increasing public esteem. Her more famous works such as ‘Nationality’, ‘Eve-Song’, ‘The Tenancy’, ‘Never Admit the Pain’, ‘Gallipoli’, ‘The Flight of the Swans’ — are among the permanent gems of Australian poetry.

Dame Mary, as a patriot, feminist, social crusader and folklorist she has now passed into Australian legend.

• National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection, Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore, http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/1662.html. [ Details... ]