DAISY KELLY – AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE DEFYING THAT “A WOMAN’S PLACE IS IN THE HOME”.

Timber Week procession float with Daisy Kelly (centre). Hinchinbrook Shire Library Photograph collection. Photo supplied

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By Dr Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui

Daisy Kelly is a woman of historical significance, and her life and work should be visibly and proudly commemorated in the Hinchinbrook Shire.  

Born on March 7th 1902, to Mary Jane Williams and William Fraser, Daisy had two sisters and a half-brother. Her maternal grandmother, who ran a dairy at Sandy Creek, Charters Towers, raised Daisy when her parents took the younger girls to Greenvale Station. Though only four and half years old Daisy was required to help with the morning milk run, rising at 3am to set off alone on her grandparents pony-cart to deliver cow and goats’ milk, measuring out the required amount into the customer’s jug or billy. She continued that chore even when she started school.  

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After only two and a half years of schooling she went with her parents to the stations where her father was working. When her parents’ marriage ended her mother left which resulted in Daisy, then 11, and her sisters not receiving suitable care or schooling. Daisy then went with her mother and her mother’s new partner George Wright prospecting at Sandy and Lucky Creeks.  

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Daisy was just 14 and a half years old when she married 53 years old Michael Kelly. At 15 years of age Daisy gave birth to a daughter at Wyandotte Station, and later, two sons were born in Charters Towers.  

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When Michael had a stroke, Daisy, now 20, with three children under five, became the bread winner. The family relocated to Mt. Fox where Daisy did stock work and ran a butchery providing beer and Angora goats’ meat to the Kangaroo Hill miners. Visits to Ewan and Ingham were rare and she only gave up heavy work on the 28,000-acre Mt. Fox station after sustaining an injury when a horse rolled on her.  

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Despite being told publicly that “A woman’s place is in the home” Daisy did exactly as she pleased. Around 1932 Daisy was appointed a Justice of the Peace, the only woman appointed for north Queensland in that cohort and in 1937, she petitioned for a state school at Mt. Fox.  

In 1944, Michael passed away. Daisy acknowledged her husband for always encouraging her to improve her knowledge and education for he predicted that one day she would be in politics.  

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She first ran for Council in 1946 polling well, losing by only 99 votes. In 1949, running as an independent, she became the first woman councillor on the Hinchinbrook Shire Council serving until 1955. When, after her election, Daisy attended a North Queensland Local Authorities’ Association meeting held at Tully she was the first female delegate to attend.  

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It would be 24 years before another woman was elected to the Hinchinbrook Shire Council.

It was said of her that she crammed more into life more than most men could. Her list of involvements was impressive not only as an ordinary member of various committees, but as honorary secretary, president or vice president of many others.

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She loved show work and driving in her trusty utility she exhibited at shows across the north. In 1946 she won 65 prizes on the same day at the Ingham and Tully Shows, and excellent horse woman, she won first prize for riding side saddle at the Ingham Jubilee Show.  

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Daisy left Mt. Fox when her children were grown, settling in Francis Street, Ingham where she ran residential accommodation. Daisy died in 1986 aged 84.