Mona Matilda Clare (13 August 1924 – 13 July 1973) better known as Monica Clare was an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

political activist and author. She was the first Indigenous woman to publish a novel, though ''

Karobran ''Karobran: The Story of an Aboriginal Girl'' is an autobiographical novel by Monica Clare, published posthumously in 1978. It was among the first publications by an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal Australian woman, though it was significantly ...

'' was published after her death.

Early life

Clare was born on 13 August 1924 at Dareel near

Goondiwindi Goondiwindi () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , the locality of Goondiwindi had a population of 6, ...

in Queensland. She was the daughter of Aboriginal shearer Daniel Herbert McGowan and an English woman, Beatrice Scott. She had one brother Dan. After the death of their mother, the children were sent to Yasmar home for infants at Haberfield and later fostered to siblings Bill and Stella Woodbury at their farm near Spencer on the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River (Dharug language, Dharug: Dyarubbin) is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle ...

. In 1935 officials separated Monica and Dan, who never saw each other again. Monica was then schooled at

Strathfield Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A sma ...

, and was trained in domestic work. After many years working for Sydney suburban families, Clare was released from being a ward of the state in August 1942. She then worked in factories such as W. D. & H. O. Wills (Australia) Ltd's cigarette factory.

Career and activism

Clare became involved in race relations and

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politics, after meeting the Aboriginal community at Bellwood reserve in north coast of New South Wales. She worked with Aboriginal families at La Perouse, enrolling them to vote, while working on Daniel Curtin's campaign for the Federal seat of Watson. Clare married in 1953 and had a daughter, but later divorced. She then married union official Leslie Forsyth Clare on 13 August 1962. Clare joined the women's committees of the union in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

, accompanying Leslie on his travels inspecting the conditions on

Aboriginal reserves An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...

. Clare then became secretary of the Aboriginal committee of the South Coast Labor Council, lobbying to see improved housing and financial support for Aboriginal people. Clare died on 13 July 1973 in Sydney.

Karobran

Clare wrote an autobiographical novel ''

''. Having attended a creative-writing course at Wollongong, she rewrote the manuscript many times until she was satisfied. It was published posthumously in April 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, Mon 1924 births 1973 deaths Australian Indigenous rights activists Australian people of English descent Australian women human rights activists Australian women writers Indigenous Australian writers 20th-century Australian women writers