Guide to the Papers of Maie Casey, 1831-1987

Summary

Collection number:

MS 1840

Creator:

Maie Casey

Extent:

5.32 metres and (38 boxes, 1 folio item)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Maie Casey, National Library of Australia, MS 1840, [series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection comprises correspondence, diaries, notebooks, speeches, drafts, articles, poetry, subject files, Ellis Rowan source material, art work, photographs and other papers relating to Maie Casey's interests in art and family history, her books An Australian story (1962), Melba revisited (1975) and Rare encounters (1980), her involvement in the International Sculpture Competition (1953) and her role as the wife of the Governor of Bengal and Governor-General of Australia. There are also some papers of John Cotton, Theodotus John Sumner, Sir Charles Ryan and Ellis Rowan.

Major correspondents include Princess Alice, Kazu Aso, Princess Marthe Bibesco, Rosemary Dobson, Donn Casey, Princess Pantip Chumbhot, Sir Paul and Alix Hasluck, Anthea Hastings, Elizabeth Hudson, Sir Charles and Natasha Johnston, Angela Limerick, Frank Logan, Peter Masefield, Shudha Mazumdar, Cynthia Nolan, John Oldham, Elizabeth Salter, Sir David Scott, Clement Semmler, Louise Walker, and Patrick White.

Biographical Note:

Ethel Marian Sumner (Maie) Ryan was born on 13 March 1892 in Melbourne and died on 20 January 1983. She was the daughter of Alice Elfrida Sumner and Surgeon-General Sir Charles Snodgrass Ryan (1853-1926) (brother of Cecil Godfrey Ryan and Ellis Rowan) and the sister of Rupert Ryan. Her paternal grandparents were Charles Ryan and Marian Cotton (daughter of John Cotton).

Maie Ryan spent her early life in Collins Street, Melbourne, where her father had his residence and surgery. She was educated privately. When she was 14 she left Australia to attend St George's boarding school, Ascot, England. During World War I she worked in London before accompanying her brother to Cologne. She returned to London in the 1920s and in 1926 she married Richard Gardiner Casey, who at that time was Australian political liaison officer in London.

The Caseys returned to Australia in 1931 and after Casey's election to the House of Representatives, settled in Canberra. Lady Casey accompanied her husband on his postings to Washington as first Australian diplomatic representative to the United States, 1940-42; to Cairo as Minister of State in the Middle East, 1942-44 and to Calcutta as Governor of Bengal, 1944-46. The Caseys had two children, Donn and Jane.

Lady Casey was a painter, illustrator and patron of the arts. She attended the Westminster School of Art in London and in Australia was associated with the George Bell School in Melbourne, and Joan Lindsay. She illustrated Helen Jo Samuel's biography of Ellis Rowan Wild flower hunter (1961) as well as her own book, An Australian story.

She took up flying while living in Canberra in 1938 and flew in Australia and the United States. She was associated with the Royal Victorian Aero Club and a founder of the Australian Women Pilots' Association. She was also a member of the American women pilots' club, the Ninety Nines.

She was also first President of the Indian Institute of Art in Industry, 1945-46 and a member of the jury, International Sculpture Competition, London, in 1953.

Lady Casey published three autobiographical accounts: An Australian story, 1837-1907 (1962), a history of four generations of her family in Australia; Tides and eddies (1966), an account of her early married life; and Rare encounters (1980), reminiscences of Lady Edwina Mountbatten, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Dame Nellie Melba and her mother-in-law, Mrs R.G. Casey. She also published a biography Melba re-visited (1975); two volumes of verse, Verses (1963) and From the night (1976); co-edited Early Melbourne architecture 1840-1888 (1953) and wrote the libretto for a musical based on an episode in the life of Daisy Bates, The young Kabbarli (1972).

Articles written by Lady Casey include 'Charles Snodgrass Ryan' (Medical Journal of Australia, 19 Sept. 1959: 390-393), 'An introduction to the Nan Kivell Collection' (Art in Australia, v.5, no. 4, Mar. 1968): 586-595), 'A tribute to Sidney Nolan' (Art in Australia, v.5, Sept. 1967: 434), 'George Bell in Bourke Street', (Art in Australia, v.4, Sept. 1966: 120-124) and 'John Cotton 1802-1849' (Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, v. 4, part 2, Jan. 1963: 85-91).

She was awarded the Kaiser-I-Hind Medal, the Africa Star, and the Amelia Earhart Medal and was made a Commander of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1982.

See also Glittering surfaces: a life of Maie Casey by Diane Langmore (Allen Unwin, 1997).

Provenance:

The papers were donated by the Casey family in three small instalments in 1971, 1973 and 1980 and one large instalment in 1996.

Arrangement:

The Maie Casey Papers were arranged by Connie Hauser, Lord Casey's secretary, after Lady Casey's death. Much of this arrangement has been preserved, particularly in series 4 (art papers), 6 (Ellis Rowan) and 8 (photographs). The alphabetical sequence in series one is an amalgamation of two alphabetical sequences constructed by Connie Hauser, together with loose correspondence from the collection. Authors of many of the letters have been identified, presumably by Ms Hauser.

Indexed terms

Names:

Maie Casey

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2997181).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Maie Casey, National Library of Australia, MS 1840, [series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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