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Bennett, Mary Montgomerie (Montgomery) (1881 - 1961)

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Teacher, Writer and Aboriginal rights activist
Born: 18 July 1881  London, United Kingdom.  Died: 6 October 1961  Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia.

Mary Montgomerie Bennett spent her childhood in Queensland, returning to London from 1903 to 1908 to study, and again in 1914 to marry. When her husband died in 1927 she returned to Western Australia to pursue her interest in Aboriginal education. She worked at the Mount Margaret Mission from 1932, dramatically improving educational outcomes through the implementation of progressive teaching methods. Over the next three decades Bennett was a passionate advocate for Aboriginal rights employing her connections with international humanitarian groups and women’s organizations to support her campaigns to improve the lives of Aborigines, in particular Aboriginal women.


Career Highlights
Alternative Names:
  • Christison, Mary (maiden name, 8 July 1881 - 18 August 1914)
 
Sources used to compile this entry: Haebich, A. Broken Circle: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1800-2000. Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2000. ; Radi, H. (ed.) 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology. Broadway, NSW: Women’s Redress Press, 1988. ; Duckham, I. ‘Visionary, vassal or vandal? Rod Schenk- Missionary: A case study in Western Desert missions’. Limina, Vol.6, 2000, pp. 41-56; Morgan, M. A drop in the bucket: the Mount Margaret story. Box Hill, Victoria: United Aborigines Misssion, 1986; Paisley, F. ‘Ideas Have Wings: White Women Challenge Aboriginal Policy 1920-37’., phD Thesis, Women’s Studies, La Trobe University, 1995.
 
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Published Resources

Books

  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie), Christison of Lammermoor, Alston Rivers, London, [1927], 280 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie), Human rights for Australian Aborigines : how can they learn without a teacher?, [Australia], [1957?], 63 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie), The Australian Aboriginal as a human being, Alston Rivers, London, 1930, 146 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie), Hunt and die : the prospect for the Aborigines of Australia, Anti-Slavery Society, London, 1950, 10 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie) (notes by), Teaching the aborigines : data from Mount Margaret Mission, W.A, (Perth: City and Suburban Print), [S.l : s.n,], [1935], 67 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Haebich, Anna., Broken circles : fragmenting indigenous families 1800-2000, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, W.A., 2000, 725 pp. [ Details... ]

Book Sections

  • Radi, Heather, 'Mary Montgomerie Bennett', in Radi, Heather. (ed.), 200 Australian women : a Redress anthology, Women's Redress Press Inc, Broadway, N.S.W., [1988], pp. 128-129. [ Details... ]

Conference Papers

  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie), 'The Aboriginal mother in Western Australia in 1933', in British Commonwealth League Conference, June, 1933, p. [4]. [ Details... ]

See also

  • Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au. [ Details... ]
  • Daniels, Kay, Murnane, Mary, Picot, Anne and National Research Program (Australia) (eds), Women in Australia : an annotated guide to records, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1977. [ Details... ]
  • Duckham, Ian., 'Visionary, vassal or vandal? Rod Schenk - Missionary : A case study in Western Desert missions.', vol. 6, 2000, pp. 41-56. [ Details... ]
  • Morgan, M. R. (Margaret R.), A drop in a bucket : the Mount Margaret story, United Aborigines Mission, Box Hill, Vic., 1986, 306 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Paisley, Fiona, 'Ideas have wings : white women challenge Aboriginal policy, 1920-1937', PhD thesis, La Trobe University, 1995, 363 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Radi, Heather (ed.), 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Women's Redress Press, Sydney, 1988, 258 pp. (Also available at http://www.200australianwomen.com/) [ Details... ]

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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Denise Tallis
Created: 31 March 2004
Modified: 13 December 2005

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 3 December 2008
http://womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0808b.htm

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