Mary Durack

Mary Durack, born in Adelaide, South Australia, to Michael Patrick Durack (1865–1950) and Bessie Durack (née Johnstone), and her siblings lived at the remote Argyle Downs and Ivanhoe cattle stations in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Mary and her sister Elizabeth would manage the Ivanhoe cattle station, whilst their brother would leave to manage Argyle Downs.[1] During these times they would live and work very closely with the indigenous people who worked on, and lived near the station. They learnt from the local indigenous women everything from how to cook to how to muster cattle.[1] The Durack family were pioneers in the settlement of the area by Europeans. The story of her family's history, beginning with the mid-19th century migration from Ireland, is presented by Durack in Kings in Grass Castles, and its sequel, Sons in the Saddle.[2]

Durack with Ian Mudie in 1966

In 1935 Mary and her sister, Elizabeth, were to publish their first collaboration. The text in All About: The Story of a Black Community on Argyle Station was supplied by Mary and the illustrations were by Elizabeth. The collaboration was to produce a number of children's books: Chunuma in 1936; Son of Djaro and the Way of the Whirlwind in 1940–1941;The Magic Trumpet in 1946 and To Ride a Fine Horse (1963).

Mary Durack wrote under the name "Virgilia" for The Western Mail between 1934 and 1938, in a column for women and children in rural areas called Virgilians' Friendly Corner. The column represented some of the first work Durack published as a paid writer, however, she felt limited by the demands of her readers and would often hide in her office to avoid meeting with fans of 'The Corner'.[3] In 1950 she wrote the novel Keep Him My Country. Other important works include the saga of the Durack family, Kings in Grass Castles (1959) and its sequel, Sons in the Saddle; and a play, Swan River Saga: Life of Early Pioneer Eliza Shaw (1976). A biography, To Be Heirs Forever, also used Eliza Shaw as a subject.[1] Durack also continued to write children's literature, most notably the story of the Nyungar man, Yagan, which was published in 1964 as The Courteous Savage: Yagan of the Bibbulmun[4] and Tjakamarra: Boy between two worlds.

Other works by Mary Durack included a two–act play, Ship of Dreams; an Australian Settler (1968);[5] The Rock and the Sand (1969) is a history of missionaries in the state; The Aborigines in Australian Literature (1978) is part of the non-fiction component of her work, a subject often forming the basis of many of her works of fiction.

Durack adapted Keep Him My Country into the libretto for a one-act opera, Dalgerie, by James Penberthy; it premiered in Perth on 22 January 1959. On 25 July 1973, along with Larry Sitsky's The Fall of the House of Usher, it was one of the first two operas to be given an evening performance at the Sydney Opera House.[6]

Her literary works include the editing of The Fifth Sparrow (1972), a posthumously published autobiography of the Western Australian author Mollie Skinner.[7]

On 2 December 1938 she married the aviator, Captain Horrie C. Miller, OBE, who died in 1980. They had two sons and four daughters, including Robin Miller, a famous aviator and nurse who was known as "The Sugarbird Lady" after her work fighting polio. Two of Mary Durack's daughters predeceased her.

Durack was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to literature on 31 December 1977.[8] On 12 June 1989 she was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).[9]

• Australian outback literature of the 20th century

• Adelaide, Debra (1988). Australian Women Writers, pp. 57–58 – biography and a full bibliography of publications
• Wilde, W.H.; Hooton, Joy; Andrews, Barry (1994) [1985]. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 245. ISBN 0-19-553381-X.