AustLit

'As Sue Taffe notes at the outset of this book, Mary Montgomerie Bennett has been the focus of more than thirty scholarly books or articles, yet she remains something of an enigma. The adoring daughter of a pastoralist who dispossessed Aboriginal people in north Queensland, Bennett became a passionate and tireless advocate for the rights of Aboriginal people relatively late in life. From a historical perspective, Bennett stands out among white humanitarians of the period for her rejection of paternalism, her explicit denunciation of Aboriginal child removal and the policies that encouraged it, and her willingness to support Aboriginal political organisations.'   (Publication summary)