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Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore
MSS 062

Collection Title

Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore

Collection Identifier

MSS 062

Inclusive date(s)

1909 to 1953

Extent and Medium

3 folders

Category

Literature

Subject: Terms(s)

Collection Description

This collection comprises a volume of manuscript drafts of Gilmore's poems and two volumes of correspondence.

Administrative / Biographical history

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gilmore

Mary Gilmore, nee Cameron, was born near Goulburn, New South Wales, on 16 August 1865. She was educated at Brucedale, near Wagga Wagga, and later at Wagga Wagga Public School. Between 1877 and 1895 Gilmore taught in a number of schools in New South Wales. In 1896 she joined William Lane's 'New Australia' movement in Paraguay. 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 the Cosme settlement. Before returning to Australia in 1902, Gilmore taught English in Rio Gallegos in southern Patagonia and wrote for Buenos Aires newspapers.

In 1903, A. G. Stephens featured Gilmore's poetry in the Red Page of the Bulletin, and in 1908 she became the first editor of the women's page of the Sydney Worker. Gilmore's first volume of poems, Marri'd and other verses, appeared in 1910. Other publications include The passionate heart (1918), Hound of the road (1922), The tilted cart (1925), The wild swan (1930), The rue tree (1931), Under the wilgas (1932), Old days, old ways (1934), Battlefields (1939), The disinherited (1941) and Fourteen men (1954).

In 1937, Gilmore was made a Dame of the British Empire in recognition of her contribution to Australian literature. She was the first woman to receive this award for services to literature. Gilmore was a founder of the Lyceum Club, Sydney, a founder and vice-president in 1928 of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, an early member of the New South Wales Institute of Journalists and a life member of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Dame Mary Gilmore died on 3 December 1962.

Acquisition Details

The collection was acquired from Tim McCormick in 1986.

Scope and Content

The Dame Mary Gilmore Papers feature a volume of annotated manuscript drafts of Gilmore's poems. Most of the poems in this volume were published in her first book Marri'd and other verses (1910). There are also two volumes of correspondence, including letters to John Le Gay Brereton (1909-1933) and correspondence with Hugh McCrae (1930-1951).

Access Restrictions

Other

Access: Check with Curator

This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.

Copying: Check with Curator

Existence and Location of Orginals

Special Collections, UNSW Canberra

Related and Separated Materials

Separated Material

Further papers relating to Dame Mary Gilmore are held by the National Library, the State Library of New South Wales, the Charles Sturt University Regional Archives, the Fryer Library, University of Queensland, and the University of Sydney Library, University of Sydney.

Disclaimer

This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed above. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.

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Items in Collection

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