Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Wright, Mary
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Mary Lamm
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1903 - 1993
History
Mary Wright was born in 1903 in Sydney, New South Wales. In 1919 she worked in a chocolate factory while living with her sister in Glebe and at age 17 she married John Lamm and started a family. She later married trade unionist Tom Wright. In 1926 she became involved with the Militant Women’s Group, based at the Trades Hall. The group was led by Hettie Weitzel and included Annie Isaacs, Clarice Irwin, Edna Nelson, Jean Thompson and Joy Barrington. As part of the group Mary Wright gave support to the Timber Workers in Sydney during the lockout in 1929 and in that year she joined the Communist Party of Australia. In 1930 the Militant Women’s Group dissolved. She was a founder of the International Women’s Day celebrations in Sydney and in 1936 became President of the first Sydney IWD Committee. She was involved in the formation of the Council of Action for Equal Pay in 1937 and became a State Council member of the United Associations of Women, taking part in drawing up the Women’s Charter of equal rights. She was a member of the New Housewives’ Association and a member of its successor, the Union of Australian Women when it was formed in 1950. In 1953 Mary and Tom Wright moved to Bankstown, where Mary became President of the Bankstown Branch of the UAW. Mary resigned from the CPA with Tom Wright in 1971 and joined the new Socialist Party of Australia.
Places
New South Wales
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
feminist; political activist; trade unionist
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Related entity
Identifier of the related entity
Category of the relationship
Dates of the relationship
Description of relationship
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Entered from deposit description on 23 April 2012
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
National Library of Australia, http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/508679?c=people (accessed on 23 April 2012)
The Australian Women’s Register, http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE3981b.htm (accessed on 23 April 2012)
Audrey Johnson. Bread & Roses (Sydney: Left Book Club, 1990)
UAW Ink, June 1993