May Mundt a Biography

May’s place of birth and a repository of so much nostalgia and beautiful memories for her. May was 3 years of age when the Great Depression destroyed the livelihoods of countless Australians. Her adolescent years were spent in the beautiful hinterland town of Maleny, where she lived with her parents and siblings on a farm, in a place called Witta.

(on the farm) May tolerated school and was an exceptional student, but (and there always was a but when it came to women in those days), she did not (perhaps could not) complete her schooling, leaving at the age of 14. May told me that her two favourite subjects were English and Mathematics. She loved numbers. And she loved words, as evidenced by her funny warm and descriptive poetry that she writes to this day. In another time, in another era, May might have gone on to complete her Queensland Matriculation exams and study Mathematics at Queensland University. Where would this have led to? A mathematics lecturer, Actuarial Studies, a scientist, discovery of some breakthrough vaccine perhaps? The opportunities would have been endless if she had been a man. But despite the promise and the intent, there were no opportunities for women and May left school at 14 and worked on her parents’ farm.

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