Guide to the Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore, 1865-1962

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 727
Creator:
Gilmore, Mary, Dame, 1865-1962, State Library of New South Wales, Ralfs, Christopher, Mr., and Lawson Menzies Pty Ltd
Extent:
2.34 metres and (13 Archive boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore, National Library of Australia, MS 727, [series/file/item number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers comprise correspondence, manuscripts and typescripts of poems, sheet music, photographs, press cuttings, scrapbook, and printed material.

A description of the Dame Mary Gilmore Collection appears in W.H. Wilde Courage and grace: a bibliography of Dame Mary Gilmore (Melbourne, 1988).

Biographical Note:

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, and later at Wagga Wagga Public School. Between 1877 and 1895 she taught in a variety of schools in New South Wales. She became involved in the New Australia movement and on 31 October 1895 resigned from teaching 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. Before returning to Australia in 1902, she taught English in Rio Gallegos in southern Patagonia and wrote for Buenos Aires papers.

Gilmore's verse first appeared in the Australian Worker in 1902, and from 1908-31 she edited the women's page of this newspaper. Her first published volume, 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), Battlefields (1939), and Fourteen men (1954).

In 1937, in recognition of her contribution to Australian literature, she was made a Dame of the British Empire - the first woman to receive this award for services to literature. Dame Mary 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 life member of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Dame Mary Gilmore died on 3 December 1962.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The papers held at MS 727 were received by the Library in several instalments between 1958 and 1991.

Box List:
Box Series File
1 I 1-21
2 II 1900-20
3 II 1920-23
4 II 1924-40
5 II 1941-59
6 III 1-10
6 IV 1-4
8 V
7 VI 1
7 VII 1-5
7 VIII 1-5
8 IX 1-9
9 X 1-5
9 XI 1-14
10 IV, VII, IX, XII (Added 13.7.72) 1-5
11 IX (Added 1991)
12 IX (Added 1991)
13 IX (Added 1991)

Indexed terms

Names:
Ralfs, Christopher, Mr.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Available for research.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore, National Library of Australia, MS 727, [series/file/item number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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