PERHAPS best known today as as the woman on the $10 note, Dame Mary Gilmore led a long and extraordinary life.
Poet (an excerpt from her stirring wartime verse No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest features on the note), journalist and activist, Gilmore (1865-1962) was one of the most influential women in Australia.
Her successful campaigns included votes for women; old-age and invalid pensions; child endowment; and improved treatment of returned servicemen, the poor and Indigenous Australians.
Her amazing life, which included two years as a member of William Lane’s New Australia utopian settlement in Paraguay, will be celebrated at Crookwell in the Southern Highlands next month at the Mary Gilmore Weekend.
A feast of art, poetry, performances, history, trivia and live music begins on Friday, August 12, with an art festival at Gallery 91 to officially opened at 5.30pm.
On the Saturday, Chat-A-Way Cafe will host the Poet’s Breakfast, with poets coming from interstate and intrastate. After lunch, Performing Youth of the Shire will take over the venue. Prizes and certificates will be awarded to encourage the next generation of writers, poets and musicians.
Australian authors book displays at the library, a trivia night at Crookwell RSL Services Club and a historical society photographic exhibition will keep visitors occupied.
A special event at the club on the Sunday will feature Lunch With Live Music, in which top local and visiting musicians play live to air on Goulburn Community Radio 2GCR (FM103.3).
The Mary Gilmore Society is the brainchild of Trevene Mattox and Barry Murphy, who six years ago set about honouring the great woman’s life through the fostering of local talent.
Since the society’s formation, it has inspired five CDs featuring poetry, songs and music by Shire of Upper Lachlan residents. (The area is 21⁄2 hours from Sydney and 11⁄2 hours from Canberra, and also includes the towns of Gunning and Taralga plus many villages.) In 2012, authors, musicians and other contributors released the first CD, Dame Mary Gilmore: a Celebration in Words and Music.
Those featured included the Crooked Corner Bush Band, Mary Gilmore Singers and many individual acts. The society likes to encourage high school and primary school students, so young vocal ensembles are included on the CDs, as are budding poets who take part in the Junior Poetry Competition at the Crookwell Potato Festival each March.
For a full festival program or information about accommodation and restaurants, call the Crookwell Visitor Information Centre on 4832-1988, www.visitupperlachlan.com.au
