Daisy Bates (author) Daisy Bates (author) Daisy May Bates, CBE (born Margaret Dwyer; 16 October 1859 – 18 April 1951) was an Irish-Australian journalist, welfare worker and lifelong student of Australian Aboriginal culture and society. She was known among the native people as "Kabbarli" (i.e. /kaparli/, a kin term found in a number of Australian languages which means "grandmother" or "granddaughter"). Daisy Bates was born Margaret Dwyer in County Tipperary, Ireland in 1859. Her mother, Bridget (née Hunt), died of tuberculosis in 1862. Her father, James Edward O'Dwyer, married Mary Dillon in 1864 and died en route to the United States, so she
Daisy Bates (author) lived; and she made them interesting not only to herself but to us as well." At about 1899 a letter was published in "The Times" about the cruelty of West Australian settlers to Aborigines. As Bates was preparing to return to Australia, she wrote to "The Times" offering to make full investigations and report the results to them. Her offer was accepted and she sailed back to Australia in August 1899. In all, Bates devoted 40 years of her life to studying Aboriginal life, history, culture, rites, beliefs and customs. She researched and wrote on the subject while living in