| Daisy Bates with
group from the mission. |
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Ooldea,
South Australia
Photo: A G Bolam 1920s
South Australian Museum Bolam Collection
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Bates
styled herself 'Kabbarli', or Grandmother, and for many she was an authority
on Aboriginal culture. Her work, particularly on language, is still frequently
consulted. |
|
| Portrait of Daisy
Bates, 1936. |
|
Photographer
and location unknown 1936
Mortlock Library
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Daisy
Bates was born Daisy O'Dwyer in Ireland in 1859, and first came to Australia
in 1883. In the late 1890s she became interested in Aboriginal culture,
and in 1904 she was appointed by the Western Australian Government to collect
information on Aboriginal languages. This work continued for over a decade. |
| Between
1912 and 1919 Daisy Bates continued her research, living with various Aboriginal
groups in Western Australia and South Australia. From 1919 to 1934 she lived
at Ooldea, providing clothing, food and simple medical care to people camped
there, and recording their language and culture. In 1934 she moved to Adelaide,
and spent the remaining years of her life editing her manuscripts. |
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| Daisy Bates is
in the centre of this group at Ooldea in the 1920s. |
|
Ooldea,
South Australia
Photo: A G Bolam 1920s
South Australian Museum Bolam Collection
|
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Daisy
Bates was a controversial figure. She earned a reputation for stubbornness,
and often found herself in conflict with authorities and others. |
| Her camp
at Ooldea attracted official disapproval, and she was not issued Government
rations to distribute. She supported herself and her work through her journalism
and through donations. |
| Bates'
writing made her famous, but she was not well regarded by all. Her friend
and biographer, Ernestine Hill, called her 'the most remarkable woman in
Australia's first two centuries', while others remember her as a publicity-seeking
eccentric. Today, some of the Aboriginal people from Ooldea remember her
as a little strange. |
|
| Spearthrowers
collected at Ooldea by Daisy Bates, and purchased by the Museum in
1932. The first two are of the Mingari or thorny devil totem, while
the others show several totems. |
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Ooldea,
South Australia
Makers unknown
South Australian Museum
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Daisy
Bates had a deep interest in Aboriginal ceremonial life. She collected objects
which reflected this, and, as much of this material is of a secret/sacred
nature, today it is restricted on cultural grounds and cannot be displayed.
The items pictured here are some of those in the collection of the South
Australian Museum which do not fall into that category. |
| |