Old days, old ways: A book of recollections

by Mary Cameron Gilmore

Mary Gilmore was born in 1865 and died, Dame Mary Gilmore, in 1962. In this work, she describes life in the 19th century in fine detail.

Genres: History

248 pages, Hard cover

First published December 31, 1986

Reviews

[Anne Fenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot of charm in this meandering wander through Australia's past. Dame Mary Gilmore (1865-1937) discusses and describes things not often covered with such an authenticity. From domestic and farming objects to ways of dress and social habits, she mentions things lost from current practice. Her attitudes to moral issues are crystal clear. Earlier comments sympathise with white settlers having to kill the blacks, but then in later much more detailed chapters she shows real insight into the indigenous culture and condemns the white readiness to shoot . This book was written and published two years before her death. It's out of print, may be found on e-sites if you look.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was like listening to a great grandma wax on about the past, but not without a compassionate eye for the injustices experienced by women and Indigenous Australians at the time. Basically, Mary Gilmore (RIP) should be everyone's grandma. The Nurse Bennett she spoke of should also somehow be everyone's distant relative. I'm so very bummed that Gilmore never wrote a Bronte-esque novel about Nurse Bennett, who rode solo to attend patients stuck in remote locations, because she sounded like a fricken badass.
Gilmore writes about a lot of other subjects - it's fairly loose - but very good at invoking a kind of nostalgia via osmosis for that time period of settlers and cattle and dust that I don't normally care for.

Unfortunately this was a library book, so now I have to give it back. I want to find my own copy and keep it under my pillow, or put it up on a special shelf like its some family heirloom that must be treasured.

[Neil Munday · Rating 4 out of 5]

very very good

[Kim Sheibley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK book. It started kind of slowly but got better as it progressed. I was hoping for a great ending to the book - some sort of wrapping it all up and a commentary on the fractured justice system or something, but the book really just ended. We hear the verdict and that's pretty much it. Two people comment, but that's it. A VERY weak ending.