1863-1951
welfare worker amongst Aboriginal peoples
born on 16 October 1863 at County Tipperary in Ireland; migrated to Australia in 1884.
My name is Daisy Bates and I represent ‘Australians All’ because of my work
amongst Aboriginal peoples. I was moved by the miseries and indignities suffered by many
Indigenous Australians, and I became involved in Aboriginal welfare. I often wrote
articles about my experiences which were controversial, but which nevertheless prodded
governments into some action with regard to medicine and welfare.
IDEA
FOR SCENE: Daisy Bates’ first contacts with indigenous Australians occurred in
Western Australia where she observed certain sacred rites and recorded many Aboriginal
words from the groups around her husband’s farm in the north west of the state. In
1918 during a brief stay in Adelaide she tried (but failed) to get money from the South
Australian government for medical work; she nevertheless set off for a camping stay of 16
years at Ooldea, a permanent water hole on the trans-Australia railway around which some
Aboriginal peoples gathered. Show Daisy Bates in Adelaide, arguing with politicians and
public servants in order to get money for Aboriginal health.
