Mary Montgomerie Bennett

Mary Montgomerie Bennett (1881–1961) was an Australian activist for Indigenous justice, a teacher and advocate for Australian Aboriginal rights at a time when this was not usual amongst settler Australians.[1]

Mary Montgomerie Bennett
Born(1881-07-08)8 July 1881
London, United Kingdom
Died6 October 1961(1961-10-06) (aged 80)
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
NationalityAustralian
OccupationActivist, educator
Spouse(s)Charles Douglas Bennett

Biography

Bennett's childhood was spent in both England and Australia, where her father Robert Christison had a station in north Queensland. By 1910, the family had sold up and relocated permanently to England. Bennett married Charles Douglas Bennett in 1914.

In 1927, she published Christison of Lammermoor, a biography of her father which was comparatively unusual at the time for its acknowledgement of settler violence towards Aborigines.[2] Whilst in London she also published The Australian Aboriginal as a Human Being (1930).[3] In 1930, after her husband had died, Bennett relocated to Perth, Western Australia to devote the rest of her life to Aboriginal welfare.

In 1932, Bennett settled at the Mount Margaret Mission near Laverton. Whilst working as a teacher of Aboriginal children, she was also actively involved in activist groups, including the Women's Service Guild.

Her work led to the formation of the Moseley Royal Commission in 1934.[4] During her testimony before the Commission, Bennett condemned the alleged widespread sexual exploitation of Aboriginal women, as well as the forced removal of their children by the authorities.[5]

In 1960, the year before her death, Bennett wrote to the Kalgoorlie Miner and asked its readers:

Who made the Eastern Goldfields natives beggars? Surely it must have been we whites who robbed them of their land without giving them compensation, who robbed them of their children without giving them training for earning a living, and who have frustrated their every incentive to live.[6]

Bennett died in Kalgoorlie on 6 October 1961 and was buried with Churches of Christ rites in the Kalgoorlie cemetery.[4] After her death, Bennett's personal archive, "a dossier of state malpractice and neglect on a significant scale", was stolen and has not been recovered.[7] Her life's work was recognised when she was one of the inaugural inductees to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.[8]

Works
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie) (1927), Christison of Lammermoor, Alston Rivers, retrieved 8 August 2018
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie) (1930), The Australian Aboriginal as a human being, Alston Rivers, retrieved 8 August 2018
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie) (1935), Teaching the Aborigines : data from Mount Margaret Mission, W.A, s.n, retrieved 8 August 2018
  • Bennett, M. M. (Mary Montgomerie) (1950), Human rights for Australian Aborigines : how can they learn without a teacher, [s.n.], retrieved 8 August 2018

References
  1. Taffe, Sue. A White Hot Flame Mary Montgomerie Bennett – Author, Educator, Activist for Indigenous Justice. Monash Publishing.
  2. "A 'Fantastic adventure': reading Christison of Lammermoor" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  3. Paisley, Fiona (2000). Loving Protection?. Melbourne Australia: Melbourne University Press. pp. 11, 12. ISBN 0 522 84919 9.
  4. Bolton, G. C.; Gibbney, H. J. "Bennett, Mary Montgomerie (1881–1961)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  5. "WOMAN SAYS BUCK GINS NEVER GET JUSTICE". Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954). 1934-03-20. p. 7. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  6. Taffe, Sue (5 April 2018). "Mary Montgomerie Bennett: Forgotten activist for Indigenous justice - Victorian Women's Trust". Victorian Women's Trust.
  7. Holland, Alison (2015). Just Relations: The Story of Mary Bennett’s Crusade for Aboriginal Rights. Crawley: UWA Publishing. p. 382. ISBN 9781742586878.
  8. "Victorian Honour Roll of Women: List of Inductees 2001 to 2011" (PDF). Women's Health in the South East. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
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