Dame Mary Gilmore died at 97 in late 1962, two and a half years before the birth of her great-great nephew, Scott John Morrison.
Gilmore was a prolific writer – her collected verse contains 1,437 pages of poetry. She also had a background in radical leftist politics and shared a close friendship with war-time prime minister John Curtin. When he took office in 1941 and told the press “every man should read poetry – for the good of his soul”, Gilmore was ecstatic and a warm correspondence ensued between them.
