I catalogued part of the Dame Mary Gilmore Collection for the State Library of New South Wales a few years ago - she was a prolific collector - never threw anything out, and she was also a voracious autograph hunter - lots of menus from event dinners and things like catalogues from art exhibitions that sort of stuff - all scrawled with numerous autographs from the other famous people at the dinners or exhibitions etc. all available at the State Library if you want to investigate.

Mary possessed the Australian ethos "an egalitarian spirit". Mary's focus was fighting for those on the periphery of society.

It’s a pity there isn’t a lots better KZread video on Mary Gilmore - this is a very bare bones account. She is very much to be admired, there is so much more to her story. Louisa Lawson, Henry’s mother was also a great Australian woman in much the same way, though not a poet - she left that to son Henry.

Learning to be a teacher at an early age was normal in 19th century Australia. Student-teacher jobs were common for teenagers with teaching ambitions. My great-great grandmother was a teacher for a very short time, then had to quit when she got married. Married women weren't allowed to work as it was considered the man's job to bring home the wages with only spinsters and widows allowed to have jobs. Gilmore grew up in this era but would've been one of the first women allowed to vote in times of social change.

My Mum was born in Wagga Wagga. Thanks for the Aussie history lessons. I’m finding them fascinating. 👍🤟🏼🇦🇺

@elizabethpilarski1076

Жыл бұрын

Why do they call Wagga Wagga Wagga but don't call Woy Woy Woy 😉😅

@sigmaoctantis1892

Жыл бұрын

@@elizabethpilarski1076 My father came from Temora. He would sometimes refer to "Double Wagga".

@elizabethpilarski1076

Жыл бұрын

@@sigmaoctantis1892 😊 I might start calling Woy Woy Double Woy 😅

@JudeAussie

Жыл бұрын

@@elizabethpilarski1076 I live in Woy Woy. Sometimes people call it ‘Two Woys’ lol

Good on ya Rob for bringing this series of historical people to us. I knew Mary Gilmore was on the $10 note but I never researched her history.

This is a nice idea exploring history through the bank note stories Rob! Fascinating to watch. As an aside, the bubonic plague hit Sydney hard in that era and the Rocks in particular. The rat catchers were brought in and a lot of demolition occurred. Some of the first examples of public housing were built at the time to replace some of the slums but surprisingly to many these days the Rocks was actually a very diverse area, from poverty to rich dwellings with only a street or two making all the difference. Much of the Rocks community going back to the 1800s was quite intact right up to about only a decade ago when a lot of those in public housing were moved out to the outer suburbs of Sydney. It was very sad to see the privatisation of the old terrace housing as there was living history there with a wide socio economic community which gave the area its character apart from all the historic buildings.

@JoTheSnoop

Жыл бұрын

Up to the 1960s, the Maritime Services Board (now Maritime NSW) owned those buildings in Millers Point. The tenants were families of wharfies and merchant sailors who worked nearby.

@starlightshimmery

Жыл бұрын

@@JoTheSnoop yes it is such a fascinating history. I was there a lot in the 80s and 90s and got to know a lot of the locals. It was so amazing to hear the stories.

I'm a Waggarian. Wagga Wagga mean "place of many crows" in the Wiradjuri language. Largest city in inland NSW.

Sounds like she lived in the Rocks area of Sydney. By the wharves so lots of rats escaping from shipping. So bad that bubonic plague broke out in the 1890s. Took into the 1980s to become trendy and expensive when renovated to the eyeballs. Site of the 1970s Jack Munday led union green band to save it from developers.

@starlightshimmery

Жыл бұрын

We have Jack Munday and the green bans to thank for so much of what has been saved of old Sydney. The historic Rocks would’ve been wiped out.

"I am he who paved the way That you might walk at your ease today; I was the conscript sent to hell To make in the desert the living well; I bore the heat, I blazed the track, Furrowed and bloody upon my back. I split the rock, I felled the tree, The nation was - because of me! .... Shame on the mouths that would deny The knotted hands that set us high." Excerpt from Old Botany Bay, by Mary Gilmore, in defence of the convicts, written at a time when Australians were still ashamed of their convict heritage and were trying to sweep it under the carpet. Another women who campaigned for women's rights was Louisa Lawson, the mother of the Mary's friend and fellow poet Henry Lawson. Henry used to be on the $10 note but was replaced by his rival Banjo Paterson. Poor old Henry couldn't take a trick but he was greatly loved and his state funeral was one of the biggest ever seen in Sydney. I can't think of any other country that has had three poets on their currency. I think it shows there is a lot more to this country than beaches, beer and football (excellent as all those things are in Australia). Thanks for making the effort to learn more about Australian history. A lot of people never get past the convicts, Ned Kelly and Anzac Day but there was a lot more going on than that.

@starlightshimmery

Жыл бұрын

Well said! These things were much more common knowledge when the older generations were still alive but so much history is being forgotten or just quickly summarised now and the lessons are getting lost along the way.

@flamingfrancis

Жыл бұрын

You can actually see similarities in Mary's poem you have reproduced and some of the words used in that great Aussie classic of Bruce Woodley / Dobe Newton :I am australian".

@robynmurray7421

Жыл бұрын

@@flamingfrancis Thanks for the comment. Something I love about Mary Gilmore's poems is that she rarely uses words longer than two syllables. They are very simple but very eloquent. Perhaps that is another reason they seem similar to I am Australian. They speak to everyone. I find it interesting that Mary was born only 25 years after convict transportation to NSW ceased. She would have come across ex-convicts when she was growing up, which may have inspired this poem. It's a pity her work is not better known.

I used to live in Cloncurry 😎 very dusty lovely town..home of the Royal Flying Doctor service.. the town has a lot of history 🥰

@IonianGarden

Жыл бұрын

Will be mentioned soon with the $20.

@aileenbell2248

Жыл бұрын

@@IonianGarden Can’t wait 😊

In many cities, it is the other way around, inner suburbs were the homes of the very poor, Surry Hills in Sydney, Paddington in Brisbane etc. Now those very suburbs are for the rich or those wishing to be close to the central business hubs or the happening action, art galleries, restaurants etc.

@elizabethpilarski1076

Жыл бұрын

Surry Hills was called Slurry Hills. Bondi was called Scum Valley. Huge difference today. People with money were land holders around Parramatta.

Absolutely loving this series Rob... a nice refresh for the most part but learning new things as well. Can't wait for tomorrow.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

Amazed at how many Aussies are learning too! It was just for me to learn but it's more than that it seems

Wow thanks Rob. Im loving this series. As an Aussie Im learning so much and its you who is bringing this unsung knowledge to us. Thanks mate, appreciated.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

Off that an Englishman is providing Aussie education 😎

Fun Fact. The suburb of The Rocks just to the west of the Sydney CBD is now a ritzy hipster suburb. Back then it was the lowest of the low who lived there.

My sister was born in Wagga Wagga and I lived there for a short time .

Wagga Wagga means place of many crows. Wagga in the local indigenous dialect means crow. Most Australians refer to Wagga Wagga as just Wagga. When I was doing Cerk training at RAAF Base Forrest Hill in Wagga I wrote to my friend and said that Wagga Wagga meant water hole and we omit the first Wagga the place is a hole.

Thks Rob for the history lesson. Great vid as usual.

My maternal grand parents were soldier settlers after ww2 around Casterton Victoria where Mary Gilmore lived with her in-laws

'Wagga' is derived from the local Wiradjuri Aboriginal language on whose land the City of Wagga Wagga now grows. It is widely accepted that 'Wagga' means 'crow' and to create the plural, the Wiradjuri people repeat the word. Thus Wagga Wagga translates as 'the place of many crows'. There are a few places that have the double name. Sometimes you can shorten them to one word but some you can't. For example you can shorten Wagga Wagga to Wagga but can't shorten Woy Woy to just Woy. Also that Paraguay story is really interesting as well if you want to look into it...

@JudeAussie

Жыл бұрын

I live in Woy Woy. It would be weird if people called it ‘Woy’ lol.

@NeilBlanco

Жыл бұрын

@@JudeAussie I know right? LOL!

@peterfromgw4615

Жыл бұрын

Mate, Spike Milligan used to go on about Woy Woy because his mother lived there after emigrating to Australia. While Wagga Wagga is more popularly called “Wagga”, Woy Woy is still referred to by its full name, Woy Woy. And just another bit of trivial info on Wagga, it sits on the banks of the Murrumbidgee river, another great Australian name. Grüße aus Australien.

@JudeAussie

Жыл бұрын

@@NeilBlanco yep! LOL.

@XaviRonaldo0

Жыл бұрын

NSW is full of double names. Wagga Wagga, Kurri Kurri, Woy Woy, I think there's even a Wangi Wangi.

must be a nice place to live when they named it twice the city is 141km north of another city called albury thats 1hour and 41minute drive between two the cities

Wagga Wagga, from Waga Waga, a local Wiradjuri word meaning "A place to dance". A double like this in any aboriginal word most often indicates Very, Much, or Lots of. So, Wagga Wagga was almost certainly a place where yearly trade and dance ceremonies took place between tribes/families. who may have walked a week to get there. It would have been a big gig.

the weird thing, but sad reality, is that most Aussies wont even be able to recognise most of the people on our banknotes, or know their history. Most will be able to recognise the Queen, but that's about it

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

To be fair I don't know a few on our pound notes.

@BD-yl5mh

Жыл бұрын

I think David Unaipon is the only one who I know bits and pieces of his story and it literally only goes about as far as “he was an indigenous inventor”

The town is called Wagga Wagga, but we just call it Wagga. There's also Kurri Kurri but we just call it Kurri, there is also Woy Woy but that is NEVER called Woy!

Despite the fact that Wagga Wagga only has a population less than 60,000, it is known as the town that has a disproportionately large number of elite Australian sportspeople that have originated from there.

Very deserving that she appears as a great Aussie. Very appropriate that Henry Lawson was on the same note. History from a time when Australia was being founded and the tough times being experienced. Lawson's poem Faces in the Street is a brilliant piece on those times as is Blood on the Wattle. Great reference to William :"Billy" Lane which gives insight into what happened following the 1891 Shearers Strike, recognised as the start of worker's rights. All of our kids should be taught this .

Rob, you've got the city geography almost correct.... but think like this in colonial period. The oldest part of the city was near the docks, where the more affluent people would move away from over time - think Poplar and South Bank of London - with wealth they moved further out for larger houses and bigger land.

Thanks Rob. Had no idea who Mary Gilmour was. I"ve learnt something.

From memory. I think Wagga Wagga means 'Home of many crows'. I could be wrong! That happens 😆🤔

Wagga Wagga, a lovely town in SE NSW located along the Murrumbidgee River, about 160km to the west of Canberra. It was one of the major hubs for people travelling between Sydney and Melbourne in the early days.

Thanks for this little series Rob. It’s interesting.

The Rocks was a serious slum, from rough seamen to desperately poor families! It still has so much character, and, the narrow lanes highlight the terrible conditions! .. Scots are historically tough, and the largest percentage of migrants to survive and thrive in Australia, the bravest explorers and the strongest percentage of successful leaders and sportsmen! Amazing, well done Mary, a braw lass! 👍

This is awesome I love that you’ve taken this on!!

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

It's interesting that Aussies are learning as well!

I am going to enjoy this excursion. I had no idea who Mary Gilmore was. It's kind of embarrassing that it's a Pommy who is teaching me about her. This is great. Thankyou.

WAGGA WAGGA is one of very many places with Aboriginal names. No way should Australia be accused of ignoring original Aboriginal names, there is quite a mix of names.

@melissabarrett9750

Жыл бұрын

Another "W" is Woolloomooloo.

Another great video Rob 👍

Thank you good to learn a little about Mary Gilmore, looking forward to the rest.😊

I live in the Federal Electorate of Gilmore on the NSW South Coast. Named after Mary. We hold an annual celebration of her life, called the Dame Mary Gilmore Oration.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

Oh that's brilliant

tnx for taking so much interest in good ol Oz

Love your channel hope it is not to hot it's winter here but it is still 30c in this part of Australia

This was interesting, obviously I knew the name but absolutely nothing about her. Billy Lane was one of the fiery agitators during the famous 1891 shearers strike. He is mentioned in the well known "Ballad of 1891" sung by the Bushwackers & others. The Paraguayan socialist utopian dream was a dismal failure. Years ago there was an ABC doco about the descendants who still live there. Apparently they still sing old Australian songs from the 1800's. As an old folkie, I find this fascinating

@mrgoono9264

Жыл бұрын

Australian stone masons had already brought the world the 40 hour work week but the shearer's strike created the world's first unions and Labor party. I still carry a watch of an ancestor who brought a peaceful end to the strike by taking the worker's pleas to parliament. Unfortunately one of the conditions the workers demanded was to ban the Chinese workforce from the shearing sheds (the start of the white Australia policy). My forebear said he would've preferred to keep his Chinese workers as they worked twice as hard for half the money and never complained.

The suburb of Gilmore in Canberra is named after Mary Gilmore. All the street names are writers, particularly female writers.

Another fun thing you can do is, look for the micro print, you may need a magnifying glass, you will find all kinds of interesting stuff.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

I have bought a magnifying glass!

@chrmnlp4413

Жыл бұрын

You also need a blue light to see the birds in all their glorious colour

One of the Sydney Swans legends Paul Kelly is from Wagga Wagga. Historically, I believe a few have been.

Ah Wagga so good they named it twice.

There is a huge divide in my opinion in Sydney despite what ppl want to believe.Much of the North is the insular peninsular&I met many who never travelled West before Costco opened.There are many suburbs with high immigration of particular nationalities.Whilst this seems nice enough,there is less integration,much group think&rascism is alive&well. Most of the struggling&homeless are in poorer socio economic areas.During Covid a N Sydney worker told me that poor people are so used to being poor,Covid will not affect them.I was gobsmacked&replied homelessness can come about from circumstances changing. It was amazing to see such a strong willed person in the days when it was unacceptable,I hope she was happy at the end of her life,cheers

Think your on a winner of an idea to this interesting series mate. Have a good one.

Yea, Wagga Wagga, Greg Greg, Grong Grong, Tilba Tilba, Woy Woy, all proper town/ city names.. Wagga Wagga is apparently the largest inland city in N.S.W if not Australia

@flamingfrancis

Жыл бұрын

Kurri Kurri and similar names that are not repeated...Tumbi Umbi, Kangy Angy

@stanleywiggins5047

Жыл бұрын

@@flamingfrancis yea I don't know them, I just named the town's I've been through & either bought petrol or & pie, or both

Love your idea to go through all those personalities in bank notes. I'm learning new things. As a migrant myself, I have to admit that I have holes in my Aussie history. Well done Robbo!!

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

I'm glad to hear people are enjoying this!

Funny thing is Rob, the rats still live in those wealthy inner bayside suburbs and I know of residents who employed rat catchers in the week before the auction! LOL

She probably met and was inspired byLouisa Lawson (Henry Lawson's mother) who was an early fighter for women's rights in Australia

As well as talking about the people on the notes be good if you zoned in on all the intricate details of the notes as well 😁

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

I can do that in a separate video.

@craigjb8740

Жыл бұрын

@@RobReacts1 cool 😎

What a coincidence. Henry Lawson was on the $10.00 note from 1966 -1991.

Just a side note, Australian women were 2nd in the world to get to vote. New Zealand were the first

I lived in a town near a placed called Tittybong it's in Victoria

Mary was distantly related to my grandmother. Let me tell you that blood line was not inclined to passive co operation.

When a word in the Aborigonal luggage is repeated it indicates multiplication. As wagga has something to do with birds, nests, types, something so Wagga Wagga means lots of bird what ever.

This is Awesome doing these, most Aussies have no idea who is who on our everyday cash and take it for granted til overseas. Asian countries are great for mistaking 20000 notes for 2000 notes they look the same. all zeros no colour.

There many locations in Australia with the reduplicated names like Wagga Wagga. The doubling means "many of", in the case of Wagga Wagga it's probably a Wiradjuri term for 'many crows'. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reduplicated_Australian_place_names

Louisa Lawson was The Editor of a socialist newspaper remaining hidden away as society did not accept working or intelligent women. Her husband Lawson or really Lars Larson a Scandinavian seaman was a wanderer and the marriage failed despite several children including twins one deceased while her son Henry journalist became Australia's best known and loved poet,in fierce competition with Andrew Barton Paterson (Waltzing Matilda connection ) Their pointed comments were mainly printed in Sydney Bulletin Incidentally Cloncurry holds an annual bush poetry competition promoting connection with Dame Mary Gilmore who was a great aunt of former PM Scott Morrison

it's a tribute to her stature as a writer that she was given a state funeral by then very conservative Australia despite being an outright communist in her final years.

Gday Rob I like your KZread videos though you might find this interesting about our Australian $ plastic notes did you feel the dimples on them it is for blind people to tell the difference in each note and get hold of a UV torch it will show up the security on each note they are all different regards Pj205

Spike Milligan retired to a property near Wagga Wagga I believe

Don't know if time of your recording is 4AM or 4PM on the clock behind you but I was watching at 3:45 PM at equivalent time, assuming you were doing this video early morning, given ten hours GMT to our EST time especially if you have 1 hrcsummer time, so 9hrs difference. 3/4 hrs from your creation time.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

It definitely wasn't 4am!

@helmuthschultes9243

Жыл бұрын

@@RobReacts1 ok so video appeared about 23 hrs after recording. Fine I just happened to notice the time, and amused that possibly got KZread release notice less than 2 hrs after up load, as gthe notice was for 1hr before.. Clearly it is day after recording all quite proper and fine , plenty of time for edit and up load.

Bit of a rebel, wasn't she? Thanks, I didn't know her story before this ✌✌

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

Well hopefully there is more learning for you Aussies to come

@davidjohnpaul7558

Жыл бұрын

@@RobReacts1 You're never to old to learn something new ✌

Fancy a pom teaching me about Oz

@melissabarrett9750

Жыл бұрын

Better than having nobody teaching you at all.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

A lot of Aussies are learning things with this new series of videos!

@melissabarrett9750

Жыл бұрын

@@RobReacts1 I know I am and it's wonderful.

Written in 1910 after earlier drafts Mary Gilmore predicted global warming hehe. "I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror- the wide brown land for me!" Many other verses.

@brettevill9055

Жыл бұрын

That poem was written by Dorothea Mackellar, not Mary Gilmore.

@goatslunch6991

Жыл бұрын

@@brettevill9055 Well your right but the substance still stands. By Mary "No foe shall gather our harvest, Or sit on our stockyard rail" Mary Gilmore.

@patrussell8917

Жыл бұрын

I had always believed that Dorothea McKeller wrote "My Country"?

No she was not the First Aussie Woman to push for Rights, Aussie Women from that 1st Convict Ship have stood on their own, will find a Selection for you to give you an idea, it is the Isolation and the need to be Just as capable as the Men to handle living in this land, We have both City Women and Bush Women who in the Present and in the Past who are Kick Arse Legend, Did you know way back in Early Days of AFL there were Female Teams.

I think Henry Lawson Used to be on the $10 note, I may be wrong. Another good poet and a wonderful short story author. Another "socialist"!

@AUmarcus

Жыл бұрын

Yep that's correct on the paper $10. Also the town of Gulgong....he grew up there.

@geoffprice5357

Жыл бұрын

@@AUmarcus Indeed, thanks for the reminder

Wagga means crow in the the local Wiradjuri Aboriginal language, the plural, Wagga Wagga means the place of many crows!

Wagga Wagga is the aboriginal word for Italians.

Jesus, this is the first time I have heard the story of Mary Gilmore. Totally unimpressive and a bit shameful how she abandoned her husband I must say. I can think of a number of people first hand that never received any publicity and achieved far more, while doing great things for the country and their fellow man. What I took from this is that she unpatriotically turned her back on Australia and joined a communist cult that attempted to establish a utopian society in Paraguay, but unsurprisingly it completely failed. She had a good job as a teacher and couldn't hack it. She could have gone with her husband to work hard and earn a clean and respectful living as a farmer but instead she moved to the city to add to the squalour and contribute virtually nothing to society, except for writing communist propaganda to lead people astray and cause a lot of collateral damage. She craved fame, lived in guilt and it sounds like her dad addled her mind. Sydney had a vibrant manufacturing sector that employed and fed massive numbers of people, and many of the companies were so successful that they were expanding into other countries. There was a whole street in Port Elizabeth in South Africa that was the home of a number of Australian businesses that had expanded and were doing well. However during a 6 month strike on the wharves back home, where the trade unionist Fenian cartels were doing very little except reading Chairman Mao's little red book, every one of them had to close up due to the businesses back home crumbling. All the goods rotted on the docks and thousands of people (their "comrades") lost their jobs. Talk about sabotage and shooting yourself in the foot. Some of our 'heroes" I find embarrassing at times. Please no-one defend these morons - these traitors should have just been given a one way ticket to China or Russia to hang out with Mao or Stalin or not been allowed back from their failed communist state in South America. In my mind the person who decided on Mary Gilmore for the $10 must have been a dirty card carrying commie at university, that is for sure. There are many, many untold truths about our past that get buried or are not reflected accurately in our recorded history, while some of us romanticise about people who were murders, traitors, highwaymen, alcoholics, Maoists etc. You often only learn about the many lies from people who were there and can tell you about it first hand. Unfortunately the more virtuous among us tend to be more focused on living a productive life than devoting our time to worshiping false idols like this. This woman was an official member of the COMMUNIST PARTY and a traitor for God's sake. Anyone who admires her should take a holiday to North Korea. I wonder if many people have noticed that she was also an avid supporter of the White Australia Policy apparently? She seems to escape criticism on that front because she sits on the left of politics, so it is a bit of a double standard at a time when people are talking about tearing down statues of other historical figures, who on the balance were far better than this. The true builders of our society and prosperity get virtually no credit. What about the decent, educated people who took a risk and came here to establish businesses that employed a thousand people at a time when Australia only had a few million inhabitants and then went on to serve in the army with distinction, saving the country from invasion? We have to decide who we really are and I would argue we need a new tenner.

@magnalucian8

Жыл бұрын

you need therapy mate

@mrd4785

Жыл бұрын

@@magnalucian8 The only good communist is a dead communist, or one that goes to Paraguay and stays there.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

I agree with the comment below

Socialist hey! Hmmm not a fan

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

Maybe not, but you know a socialist has good intentions and a good heart

@mrgoono9264

Жыл бұрын

@@RobReacts1 Whenever I mention socialism to American friends I get an earful of abuse. They seem conditioned to see it as Communism or Nationalist Socialism rather than a safety net that gives workers rights and attempts to stamp out destitution. This might be one of the reasons why the Yanks are happy not to have nice things like minimum wages, unfair dismissal laws and universal healthcare.

@RobReacts1

Жыл бұрын

@@mrgoono9264 exactly the same! All they throw the term Marxist at you