Passionate Friends: Mary Fullerton Mabel Singleton and Miles Franklin: 2 (Queer Oz Folk)

Mary Fullerton (1868-1946) and Mabel Singleton (1877-1965) met in Melbourne as suffrage and peace activists in Vida Goldsteins Womens Political Association. They remained together for thirty-five years as loving friends raising Mabels son born in 1911. Through her literary friendship with Miles Franklin (1879-1954) Mary Fullertons last two volumes of poetry were published in the 1940s. Rescued from near destruction a box of Marys manuscripts eventually made its way to the Mitchell Library. It contained poems she never sent to Miles Franklin. These poignant poems many dedicated to Mabel trace a love story that sheds light on how women of the early twentieth century may have understood their love for each other.