Copyright Ian D. Richardson Email: contact@preddonlee.com

First published in the Weekend Australian, September 26, 1970:

DAISY… WARTS AND ALL
By Ian Richardson in London

THE South Australian thriller-writer-turned-biographer, Elizabeth Salter, is putting the final touches to her "warts and all" biography of Daisy Bates, that remarkable Irishwoman who became a legend in her own time for her work among Australia's aboriginals.

Tentatively titled Woman of the Dreaming, it is expected to be published in March [1971].

Miss Salter, a record librarian at radio 5DN, Adelaide, before moving to London in 1953 to become a professional writer, has spent 18 months on the biography.

Her first six books were thrillers, several of which were written during her eight years as secretary to Dame Edith Sitwell. After Dame Edith's death in 1964, Miss Salter put aside fiction to write The Last Years of a Rebel, a sort of Sitwell memoirs.

This whetted her appetite for biographical work, and a friend in Australia suggested trying her hand at a biography on Mrs Bates.

Miss Salter felt the suggestion had merit and acquired a copy of Mrs Bates' own book, The Passing of the Aborigines.

"I found the book absolutely fascinating, and I could see Daisy Bates was a fabulous character," she recalled as we discussed her project in her fashionable Hampstead flat.

The book gave Miss Salter an important starting point, but also proved later to be a major cause of confusion.

"I'm afraid that in her old age -- when The Passing of the Aborigines was written -- Daisy had become a bit of a fantasist. It wouldn't be fair to say the book was deliberately inaccurate, but she certainly had lost her sense of reality to an extent.

"And my research wasn't helped by the discovery that she had burnt all her diaries -- apparently because of her tremendous Victorian reticence about her private life.

"I think she realised she'd become famous and that some day someone would write about her, and she was not going to allow anyone to write on a personal level if she could help it."

Miss Salter anticipates some controversy over the biography, the film rights of which have already been bought by Sir Robert Helpmann.

"I feel a lot of people are going to be disappointed because, in many ways, she wasn't the person her image suggested," she said.

"In her youth she was the height of fashion and a flirt -- far from the eccentric she became in old age - and like many strong-willed people, she was tremendously prejudiced.

"In the first instance, her work with the aboriginals was motivated by self-interest because she was first and foremost an anthropologist."

Despite this, Miss Salter still has enormous admiration for Mrs Bates. "As Daisy spent more and more time with the aboriginals, her interest in them became primarily that of a social worker.

"Towards the end, she was deeply concerned with their problems, and in her very old age rejected the white civilisation."

First published in The Australian, September 29, 1971

REWRITING A LEGEND
Ian Richardson talks to Elizabeth Salter about Dame Daisy Bates

THAT legendary and much-revered Australian heroine, Dame Daisy Bates, is about to suffer a few knocks.

Not maliciously unkind ones, but nevertheless, South Australian-born writer Elizabeth Salter - in her biography Daisy Bates - is determined to set the record straight about the Grand Old Lady and her work with the Aboriginals.

The book, subsidised by a grant of about $A10,000 from the Commonwealth Literary Fund, will be published in Australia by Angus and Robertson, next month and in Britain and the United States early next year. A film version will be shot some time next year with Katharine Hepburn playing Daisy and Sir Robert Helpmann as director.

Miss Salter, a record librarian at 5DN Adelaide before moving to London in 1953 to become a professional writer, spent close to two years on the biography, including six months' research in Australia.

Her first six books were thrillers, several of which were written during her eight years as secretary to Dame Edith Sitwell. After Dame Edith's death in 1964, Miss Salter put aside fiction to write The Last Years of a Rebel - a sort of Sitwell memoirs. This whetted her appetite for biographical work, and a friend in Australia suggested she try her hand at a biography of Dame Daisy Bates, who died in 1951.

She acquired a copy of Dame Daisy's own book The Passing of the Aborigines.

FABULOUS
Daisy Bates is "a fabulous character," she says -- an opinion she stands by despite many false trails and distortions in The Passing of the Aborigines.

"I'm afraid that in her old age -- when she wrote her book -- Daisy became a bit of a fantasist. It wouldn't be fair to say the book was deliberately inaccurate, but she had certainly lost her sense of reality to an extent."

Miss Salter also found herself hampered by the discovery that Irish-born Dame Daisy had burnt all her diaries -- apparently because of her tremendous Victorian reticence about her private life.

Miss Salter anticipates considerable controversy about her biography, although she stresses that she has resisted the obvious temptation to "jolly the story up". But the book does depart very much from the traditional view of Dame Daisy Bates. To most people she had the image of a do-gooder, perhaps slightly missionary, who always wore high necks and long skirts.

"She was a woman who really had to get her own way, and although she married and had a child, she couldn't really make a success of domesticity. This will to do her 'own thing' -- to use that modern expression -- went right through her life and towards the end she got a lot of opposition. She was poor but obstinate and tremendously proud, and this had a rather frustrating effect on her personality. As an old lady she became very difficult."

RESPECT
Miss Salter finds it difficult to come to a firm view on whether the Aboriginals ever received any long-term benefits from Dame Daisy. On balance, she thinks they probably did.

"Daisy interpreted the Aborigines in her articles and stories and helped present them as human beings. She was criticised because some of her articles were perhaps not as factually accurate as they should have been, but at least she allowed her readers to identify, with the Aboriginal people."

Despite her discoveries about Dame Daisy's unpleasant, sides, Miss Salter stoutly maintains her support. "I respect her now just as much, if not more, because I see what she was battling in her own nature. I also admire her for such qualities as her courage and her determination to stick to what she genuinely believed in the face of great odds."

Miss Salter plans to see Katharine Hepburn about the film version. "I can't think of any actress who could play Daisy Bates more perfectly than Katharine Hepburn. They look alike and their personalities are alike. They probably even speak some what alike. Daisy never sounded like an Australian, you know, even though she 'lived in the country most of her life. "Those who knew her say she had a beautiful voice, just like Miss Hepburn's."

Besides acting as consultant on the movie, Miss Salter has plenty of other things on her plate. She has written the preface to an illustrated children's book, Tales of Kabbarli, which publishes for the first time a unique collection of Aboriginal myths and legends from Dame Daisy's personal papers.

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