TY  - BOOK
AU  - Taffe,Sue
TI  - A white hot flame: Mary Montgomerie Bennett -- author, educator, activist for indigenous rights 
T2  - Australian history
SN  - 9781925523188
U1  - 920.072 23
PY  - 2018///]
CY  - Clayton, Victoria
PB  - Monash University Publishing
KW  - Bennett, M. M.
KW  - Women civil rights workers
KW  - Australia
KW  - Biography
KW  - Women social reformers
KW  - Aboriginal Australians
KW  - Legal status, laws, etc
KW  - History
KW  - Biographies
N1  - Signed by the author; Includes bibliographical references and index
N2  - Mary Montgomerie Bennett (1881 - 1961) is an important but under-recognised figure in Australian history. A member of a successful squatting family, she became a voice for reform at a time when Aboriginal Australians had their citizens' rights curtailed by repressive state laws.   From her late forties until her death she fought for justice on behalf of the first Australians. She was a teacher, a writer and an advocate. She vehemently opposed the separating, on racial grounds, of Aboriginal children from their families. She put the case, decades before campaigns began, for Aboriginal rights to traditional lands. And she argued for citizenship rights, including equal pay and access to old age pensions for Aboriginal people. A friend described her as 'a white hot flame', relentless in pursuit of a better world for the people she loved.   This first complete biography seeks the sources of Mary's inspiring energy, maintained throughout her life, in her family background and early life experiences.    Sue Taffe is a Melbourne historian who has written about the contributions of twentieth century activists to campaigns for Aboriginal rights. She is the author of Black and White Together FCAATSI: the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, as well as articles and book chapters about these activists
ER  -