Desert Queen: The lives and loves of the shameless, reckless, undaunted Daisy Bates

Historian Susanna de Vries gives a complex portrait of Daisy Bates: an unconventional, Irish-born and ultimately well known anthropologist, who spent sixteen years living among West Australian indigenous tribes documenting their culture. Australian author. Born Into Modest Circumstances In Ireland In 1859 And Orphaned By The Age Of Six, Daisy Bates' Prospects Were Dim. But Through Strength Of Will She Pulled Herself Up To Become Governess, Wife, Mother, Journalist, Intrepid Traveller And One Of Australia's Most Controversial Ethnographers. The Mistress Of Reinvention, Once In Australia, Daisy Was Able To Pass Herself Off As A Member Of The Aristocracy. Marriage Followed - First To The Young Breaker Morant, Then Bigamously To Two Other Husbands. But Her Lack Of Convention Went Deeper Than Her Private Life; At A Time When White Australia Mostly Turned Its Back On Indigenous Australians, Daisy Set Out To Study Desert Aborigines And Document Their Culture. She Would Eventually Spend 16 Years Living In A Tent In Outback Australia Tending And Documenting Desert Tribes.--provided By Publisher. Prologue -- 1. Irish Orphans -- 2. In Search Of Daisy Dwyer -- 3. The Getting Of Wisdom -- 4. Meeting And Parting -- 5. A Marriage Of Sorts -- 6. Daisy, The Drover's Wife -- 7. The Mystery Of The Third Husband -- 8. A Visit To Ireland And A Training Job In London -- 9. To The Northwest And On To Beagle Bay -- 10. At Government House And Off The Beaten Track -- 11. Contradictions, Complexities And Research -- 12. To The Isle Of The Dead -- 13. Eucla And The Nullarbor Plain -- 14. Camping At Jergala Creek And The Edge Of The Desert -- 15. Joining The High And Mighty -- 16. 'great White Queen Of The Never-never' -- 17. Mrs Daisy Bates, Cbe, At Canberra And Ooldea -- 18. Birds Of A Feather -- 19. Daisy Bates, A Legendary Figure -- 20. Lonely, Though Not Alone -- Epilogue: A Personal Note -- Afterword / Barbara Ker Wilson. Susanna De Vries. Includes Bibliographical References. The Queen of the Never Never as never seen before! In the 1890s, when a woman's role was seen as marrying well and raising a family, Daisy Bates reinvented herself from humble governess to heiress-traveller and 'woman of science'. She would become one of the best-known and most controversial ethnologists in history, and one of the fi rst people to put Aboriginal culture on the map. Born into tough circumstances, Daisy's prospects were dim; her father an alcoholic bootmaker, her mother dying of consumption when Daisy was only four years old. through sheer strength of will, young Daisy overcame her miserable start, and in 1883 she migrated to Australia with a boatload of orphans, passing herself off as an heiress who taught for fun. Marriage followed - first with the young Breaker Morant, then bigamously with two other husbands. For decades she led a double life. But who was the real Daisy Bates? While other biographies have presented her as a saint, historian Susanna de Vries gives readers a more complex portrait of the 'Queen of the Never Never'. "Historian Susanna de Vries provides a detailed portrait of the life of Daisy Bates, the Australian icon who put the Aboriginal culture on the map with her study of language and kinship ties, becoming one of the best known and most controversial anthropologists in history. Daisy lived amongst the West Australian tribes and documented their culture at a time when Australia mostly turned its back on Aboriginal life."--Provided by publisher