If Everyone Cared: Autobiography of Margaret Tucker, MBE

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has signed inside page.

Margaret Tucker, or Aunty Marg, was one of Australia’s earliest female Aboriginal activists and a leading figure of the 20th Century.

Margaret (Lilardia) was born at Warangesda Mission in New South Wales in 1904. Her parents, William Clements, a Wiradjuri man, and Teresa (née Middleton), a Yorta Yorta woman, had four daughters. Margaret was the eldest.

At the age of thirteen, Margaret was snatched from school and taken from her family to be trained as a domestic servant. She was sent to Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls. It would be years before she would see her family again.

After three years at Cootamundra, 16-year-old Margaret began several years of domestic work. She suffered abuse at the hands of her first employer and was subsequently placed with a more compassionate family. After attempting to run away, Margaret was sent to a sheep station near Walgett, where she remained for three years.

In 1925, Margaret was released from service and moved to Melbourne. Margaret was among the first Aboriginal people from rural missions and reserves to settle in inner city Fitzroy and its surrounding suburbs.

Margaret married Phillip Tucker and together they had a daughter, Mollie, in 1927. Margaret made a living working in factories. At the same time, she became an Aboriginal rights activist alongside other ex-Cummeragunja residents, including William Cooper, Bill and Eric Onus and Sir Douglas Nicholls. In 1932, she was a founding member and treasurer of the Australian Aborigines League, one of the first Aboriginal-run organisations in Australia. It campaigned in support of citizenship rights for Aboriginal people.

For the rest of her life, she dedicated herself to creating a more equal and understanding society. Whether through her own actions, or those of future generations inspired by her life, she undeniably succeeded. (back cover and Aboriginal Victoria's website)