Yeah Irish pioneer girls! Daisy May Bates was actually baptized Margaret O'Dwyer at the time of her birth in 1859 in Roscrea, County Tipperary. Showing many autistic traits, extraordinary intelligence among them, she emigrated to Australia in 1884...and ended up making an exceptional life for herself alongside the Aborigines.
Naturally, it being the time period that it was, she did display some ideas that we would consider "racist" today. However, overall Daisy was an extraordinary figure. She was overall fascinated by the Aborigines, and wished to learn everything about them, and was known for her overall interest in their welfare.
Of course, what would have really held Daisy Bates back in her time would have been not her autism, but her gender. It's too bad that the voices and roles of females were still limited, but Daisy still made an amazing life for herself alongside the Australian Aborigines!
I feel quite a connection to her, since I am also an outdoorswoman, and my great-grandparents immigrated to the US from Ireland, her country of birth!
(I've also considered inquiring about wildland firefighting in Australia!)
"If you are a Celt, you can sense what the singer is unable to express, and feel the varied emotions passing through him..."
-Daisy May Bates
Read more about Daisy in "Unstoppable Brilliance: Irish Geniuses and Asperger's Syndrome" by Antoinette Walker and Michael Fitzgerald.
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