AustLit

'Sue Taffe first heard of Mary Montgomerie Bennett (1881–1961), or ‘Mimi’, while conducting oral history interviews with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal activists for an earlier book about the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Their term for Bennett, ‘spiritual mother’, stuck with the author. In this book, Taffe provides a detailed and convincing biographical interpretation of a young woman growing up between two worlds. The book focuses for almost half its length on Bennett’s early life, between her pioneer Scottish pastoralist father in Australia and her London artist mother in England and Europe.' (Introduction)