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Desert Queen

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Desert Queen

By: Susanna de Vries
Narrated by: Beverley Dunn
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About this listen

 In the 1890s, when a woman's role was seen as marrying well and raising a family, Daisy Bates reinvented herself from humble governess to heiress, traveller and woman of science. She would become one of the best-known and most controversial ethnologists in history, and one of the first people to put Aboriginal culture on the map. Born into tough circumstances, Daisy's prospects were dim; her father an alcoholic boot maker, her mother dying of consumption when Daisy was only four years old. Through sheer strength of will, young Daisy overcame her miserable start, and in 1883 she migrated to Australia with a boatload of orphans, passing herself off as an heiress who taught for fun. Marriage followed - first with the young Breaker Morant, then bigamously with two other husbands. For decades she led a double life. But who was the real Daisy Bates?©2008 Susanna de Vries. (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Historical

Editorial reviews

Susanna De Vries presents a complicated portrayal of Australia's beloved Daisy Bates. Born in Ireland to an alcoholic father and a mother who died from tuberculosis, Bates immigrated to Australia and gained notoriety for her ethnographic work with the Aborigines. But De Vries provokes controversy by looking into Bates' scandalous love life, starting with presumed misconduct that led to suicide while she was a governess in Ireland, and documenting her many marriages. Despite the more unsavory aspects of Bates' life, Beverley Dunn performs with a posh, stern strength that commands respect for one of Australia's most influential women.

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Good but narrator's voice does not suit book

Interesting book although narrator's voice is annoying. Too English sounding for a book about Australia.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.