DAISY (O'Dwyer) BATES. .Daisy Bates (Australian author) (1859–1951), Australian journalist, author, amateur anthropologist and lifelong student of Indigenous Australian culture and society
On this the 160th anniversery of her birth . . .at No.2 Main St.,ROSCREA, Co.Tipperary, Ireland . . . it is timely to bring a wonderful new book to your attention. . . worldwide. . a truly remarkable read , especially for the people of Roscrea . . Ireland. . and Australia.
Many books have been written and documentaries filmed . . on her life and times. . especially pertaining to her work with the Aboriginal peoples of Australia . . . but this book is remarkably different . . it tells the human struggle of a remarkable woman . . to change the circumstance of her awful family life and of her poverty stricken upbringing and early years . . in and around Roscrea. It is extremely well researched book . . and a 'must read ' for all who would have an insight into early family life in a small town in Ireland . . 10 years after the awful tragedy of the Famine.
The book . . " DESERT QUEEN " The many Lives and Loves of Daisy Bates . . . Author . . Suzanne de Vries.(2008). . .ISBN 978 07322 8243 1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Bates_(Australian_author)
Born Margaret Dwyer (1859),sometimes Daisy May O'Dwyer, and Daisy May Bates, Decorated Australian CBE..
died 1951 . . . having become Australia's famous folk-heroine, journilist, and ground breaker with her work in living. . working and recording the life and language and customs of the then Aboriginal peoples. She went to great lengths to reinvent her wretched childhood . . inventing rich and powerful family connections . . living a lie. . but always striving to improve herself and hoping to find love and fulfillment . . in faraway places. As far away from Roscrea and the sadness of being born at the wrong time and into a man's world. . . where womens worth were on hold for the next sixty years. Always a battler . . she finally found where she could best express her social conscience . . in trying to improve the lot of a very downtrodden people . . .her adopted Aboriginal peoples . . whom maybe she identified with . . .and who in turn came to love her . and who gave her the title of ' Kabbarli ' ( Grandmother ).
It is a remarkable story . . told by a wonderful storyteller . . and truly a great read . . and in the reading . . it somehow gets into the comlex personality . . which was Daisy . . and gives her the respect . . .with which she is now held. . and honoured by her adoptive country . . Australia . . and her beloved Aboriginal peoples.
