Mary Daly (Australian writer)


Dame Mary Dora Daly, was an Australian author, humanitarian and charity worker.

Biography

Mary Dora MacMahon was born in Cootamundra, New South Wales, 24 August 1896. Her parents were Patrick MacMahon, a solicitor, and his wife Mary Ellen.
She was educated at Loreto convent schools in Normanhurst, New South Wales and Ballarat, Victoria.
On 3 January 1923 at St Canice's Church, Darlinghurst, she married John Joseph Daly, a physician and a nephew of the founder of St Vincent's Hospital, Mother Berchmans Daly. The Dalys had two children, John and Marie.
With the outbreak of World War II, Daly was the only woman on the executive of the Catholic Welfare Organisation, founded in Melbourne in 1939 by Archbishop Mannix. She became the CWO's president two years later, in 1941.
She was also affiliated with:
Dame Mary Daly died at Fitzroy, Victoria, aged 86, on 11 June 1983.

Honours and awards

The Roman Catholic Church awarded Mary Daly the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1951 for her service to the church, including her work with the Catholic Welfare Organisation.
She was awarded a long service medal from the Australian Red Cross Society in 1940 and honorary life membership in 1971.