<
https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-disabled-australian-author-dorothy-cottrell-was-the-liane-moriarty-of-the-jazz-age-but-is-almost-unheard-of-here-212792>
"In the late 1920s, poet Mary Gilmore – the woman on the A$10 note – declared
she’d encountered only two instances of “genius” during her four decades in
Australian literature. The first was a man who remains a household name: Henry
Lawson, bush poet, author of iconic stories like
The Drover’s Wife, who upon
his death received a state funeral. Today, Lawson’s work is still widely taught
in schools.
But what of Gilmore’s second genius? The writer who “wrote an Australia never
before presented in prose”? This second virtuoso was a young, disabled woman
and – funnily enough – she has been largely forgotten.
In the 1920s and 30s, Dorothy Cottrell (1902-1957) was an international
bestselling novelist – not to mention a disability advocate, world traveller,
and, disturbingly, a settler woman who effectively stole an Aboriginal child.
Her short life was rich in drama and incident. But these days her works are out
of print, and almost nobody knows her name."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
