Mary Montgomery BENNETT

BENNETT, MARY MONTGOMERY. Teacher of Aborigines, Mt Margaret, 1932-42.

Mary Montgomery Bennett was an educated English lady. To us, as children at Mt Margaret where she did her most significant work, she was awesome. Of slim build and erect stature, she only needed to look over her steel rimmed spectacles to make us quake. In spite of ill health (she was diabetic) she was not a lady with whom you could mess around, as the government found to their great chagrin. However, that was only one side of her. Her pupils saw the other side of her, but the government never did. She loved her students, and they knew it, and speak of her with great affection even today.

Mrs Bennett's childhood was spent in Qld, where her father had leased a large tract of land, which he called 'Lammermoor'. He was kind and fair to the Aboriginal people who worked for him, and his daughter absorbed these attitudes. Later, living in London she met and married a naval captain, who was killed in action during World War One. She returned, heartbroken, to Australia. Without children herself, she adopted the whole Aboriginal race. These people became her family, and she showered on them her love, her material resources and unswerving efforts for their upliftment. In 1930 Mrs Bennett published The Aboriginal as a Human Being and dedicated it 'To my childhood friends, the Australian Aboriginals'.

At this time, WA government policies regarding the Aborigines were moulded by anthropological thought that the Aborigines of Australia were the 'missing link' in Darwin's theory of evolution. On the other hand, Mrs Bennett held strong views that these people were precious in the sight of God, and capable of anything which any other human being could do. Her religious beliefs were the foundation tor these views. It was inevitable that she and the government would come into conflict.

Mrs Bennett travelled widely, and in 1932 settled at Mt Margaret Mission (a station of the UAM) in the goldfields of Western Australia. Here she found an environment where her gifts, her initiative, and her intense ambition for the Aboriginal people, could effectively flourish. At first she added spinning and weaving to the crafts already being taught. One day, while speaking with R S Schenk (q.v.), the superintendent, she asked what was the greatest need of the Aboriginal people. My father replied that after the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the essential need of every human being, the most important ingredient in the uplift of the Aborigines was education. On the spot Mrs Bennett replied 'Then I will be your teacher. From that day on 'school' took on a whole new meaning at Mt Margaret. She scoured the world for new teaching methods, and these forgotten children of the desert had the benefit of teaching techniques not introduced into Australia until years later—and that at a time when Aboriginal children were barred from State schools in WA. The children responded and the results were quite remarkable. However, the main reason for her success stemmed directly from her religious belief that each child was created by God in His image. She made each child feel his or her innate worth in the Saviour's eyes, and his or her ability to achieve anything.

In tandem with her heavy teaching load, Mrs Bennett and Rod Schenk had a prolific correspondence with government and welfare groups, which promoted changes in legislation about the Aboriginal people and their treatment.

In her later years Mrs Bennett lived in Kalgoorlie, a friend to her 'adopted' tamely to the end. She was a remarkable lady, whose impact on her world is still being felt today.

M Morgan, A Drop in the Bucket. The Mt Margaret Story (Lawson, 1986); M M Bennett, Christisson of Lammermoor

SELECT WRITINGS:

Christison of Lammermoor, London: Alston Rivers, 1927.

The Aboriginal mother in Western Australia in 1933 [S.l.: s.n., 1933?]

Teaching the Aborigines: data from Mount Margaret Mission, W.A., [S.l.: s.n., 1935]

Hunt and die: the prospect for the Aborigines of Australia, London: Anti-Slavery Society, 1950.

Human rights for Australian Aborigines: how can they learn without a teacher?[Australia]: [s.n.], [1957?]

ESTHER MAY MILNES