{{Short description|(1877–1967) Irish born Australian journalist}} thumb|Mary Liddell in 1929 '''Mary Wherry Liddell''' (22 October 1877 – 3 October 1967)<ref name=adb>{{cite book|author=Ina Bertrand |title=Australian Dictionary of Biography: 'Liddell, Mary Wherry (1877–1967) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/liddell-mary-wherry-10827/text19209 |year=2000 |access-date= 20 May 2024}}</ref> was an Australian journalist and feminist, born in Ireland.
==History== Liddell was born Mary Wherry Bullock, daughter of Mary Bullock, née Wherry, and her husband Thomas Bullock of Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, Ireland. The novelist Shan Bullock was her elder brother. She married James Crothers Liddell ( – 13 April 1946)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17976512 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=33,795 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 April 1946 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> on 18 June 1902 and settled at Cookstown, County Tyrone;<ref name=appeal>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126752937 |title=An Appeal to Ulster-Australians |newspaper=The Sunday Times (Sydney) |issue=1507 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 December 1914 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> they had two sons, Edward (1904) and Leslie (1907), then emigrated to Australia, settling in Sydney. Her husband was a member of the Ulster Association of New South Wales<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221909033 |title=Men and Women |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |issue=1642 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=1 October 1915 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> 1915–1928 at least.
By 1915 Liddell was involved in patriotic work,<ref name=appeal/> raising funds for the Irish Ambulance,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15542840 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=24,038 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 January 1915 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and Red Cross<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15734575 |title=Red Cross Society |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=24,789 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 June 1917 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
She joined Sydney's Feminist Club, and was elected to the committee in February 1916.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article121343437 |title=The World and His Wife |newspaper=Sunday Times (Sydney) |issue=1568 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 February 1916 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In 1920 she was joint secretary with H. Marston, and secretary a year later, and in 1923 when the Club gained its own rooms in the basement of the Culwulla Chambers.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16058106 |title=Women's Column |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=26,574 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 March 1923 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> And when in 1929 the Feminist Club backed out of its agreement to join with the Women's League of N.S.W. and Women Voters' Association in forming the United Associations,<!--not "United Associations of Women"; ADB got it wrong--> Liddell was one of those, with Club president Mrs Kenneth Street (ie Jessie Street), who "jumped ship" to join the new organisation.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223707754 |title=United Associations |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |issue=6050 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=1 April 1930 |access-date=2 May 2024 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}} Note: the "Women's Service Club" mentioned in this article was a journalistic blunder.</ref>
Liddell was presumably working as a journalist by March 1917, when she played Urania in an entertainment presented by women journalists at the Repertory Theatre, Sydney. She was working at the ''Evening News'' and ''Sunday News'' 1920–1929. She briefly worked for ''Melbourne Truth'' in 1932–1933.<ref name=adb/>
In 1923 she was elected to the council of the N.S.W. Institute of Journalists,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16085281 |title=Journalists' Institute |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=26,702 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 August 1923 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> the first woman so appointed. She remained a member, serving in various roles, until 1956, when the Institute was wound up.<ref name=adb/>
Liddell was, in 1925, an inaugural vice-president of the Society of Women Writers.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93607986 |title=Sydney Society |newspaper=The Northern Star |volume=50 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 September 1925 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Florence Baverstock was the inaugural President.<ref name="HallofFame">{{Cite web |last=Club |first=Melbourne Press |title=Florence Baverstock |url=https://halloffame.melbournepressclub.com/article/florence-baverstock |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=MPC - Hall Of Fame |language=en}}</ref> The three other vice-presidents were Pattie Fotheringhame, Mary Gilmore and Isobel Gullett and the society's aim was to encourage other women writers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc. About SWW |url=https://womenwritersnsw.org/about/ |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc. |language=en-gb}}</ref> In 1928 Liddell represented the Society at the National Council of Women.
In November 1928 she was appointed to the Appeal Board associated with the Film Censorship Board.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117465528 |title=Film Censors |newspaper=The Evening News (Sydney) |issue=19168 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 November 1928 |access-date=20 May 2024 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> None of the three was reappointed by the Scullin government: Professor (later Sir) Robert S. Wallace resigned and Ernest Blackwell died; their replacements were John Le Gay Brereton and John Vincent Gould; Liddell was replaced by Mrs (later Dame) Mary Gilmore.
In 1929 Liddell was the inaugural treasurer of the N.S.W. Women Voters' Association, which later that year amalgamated with the Women's League of N.S.W. to form the United Associations, and resigned her position in the Feminist Society, as mentioned above.
==Family== Mary Wherry Bullock married James Crothers Liddell in 1902. Their children included: *Edward Percival Liddell (8 February 1904 – 7 May 1968) joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1918 as a cadet midshipman and served until his retirement in 1949<ref>{{cite news |date=21 March 1969 |title=IN the Supreme Court of New South Wales.—Probate Jurisdiction.—In the will of MARY WHERRY LIDDELL, late of |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220065828 |accessdate=21 May 2024 |newspaper=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=1143 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=37}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Liddell, Edward Percival |url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=5229135&S=1&N=6&R=0 |access-date=2024-05-21 |website=National Archives of Australia}}</ref> *Leslie Johnston Bullock Liddell (born 8 January 1907 in Cookstown, Ireland) was a miner who enlisted in the Australian Military Force in July 1940<ref>{{Cite web |title=Liddell, Leslie Johnston Bullock |url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=6458260&S=1&N=8&R=0 |access-date=2024-05-21 |website=National Archives of Australia}}</ref> They had a home, "Evenvale", Upper Avenue road, Mosman,<ref name=appeal/> later "Trafalgar" on Marine Parade, Maroubra.
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Liddell, Mary}} Category:1877 births Category:1967 deaths Category:Australian feminists Category:Australian social reformers Category:Australian journalists Category:20th-century Australian women journalists Category:20th-century Australian journalists