Marie Byles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marie Beuzeville Byles (1900-1979) is known as a committed conservationist, the first practicing female solicitor in New South Wales, mountaineer, explorer and avid bushwalker, feminist, author and an original member of the Buddhist Society in New South Wales.
She was born in 1900 in Cheshire, England to progressive-minded parents who valued individuality. Marie developed a respect for self discipline and the environment. Marie’s mother Ida was a suffragette, vegetarian, tee-totaller and artist who encouraged Marie to be economically independent and to develop her mind. Her father, Cyril, was an ardent campaigner against fencedland in England which prevented public access for recreational walks. He involved his children in these protests.
In 1911 the Byles family arrived in Australia where her father took up a position as railway signal engineer. They found a block of land situated near bush land at Beecroft to build their large house, Chilworth. Two years later, Marie personally chose to be educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney at Croydon from 1914–1915. In 1916, the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney opened a second campus in Pymble due to over-crowding, and Marie was selected to become a founding student of the new college (now known as Pymble Ladies' College). She excelled, and became Prefect and dux in 1916, and Head Prefect and dux in the following year.
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[edit] The First Female Solicitor in NSW
Marie was one of the growing number of women to attend the University of Sydney. In 1921 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and in 1924 a Bachelor of Laws. She was the first woman to be admitted as a solicitor in NSW in 1924, and was the first woman to establish a legal practice in 1929. Marie operated two successful law practices — one in Eastwood and the other in the city — until she retired in 1970. During this time she gave young women opportunities to participate in the legal profession. 'The business in Eastwood built up because she had the reputation of getting things done so quickly and that was almost unknown in a legal office, she was notorious.' (Employee, Ruth Milton, interview with Gillian Coote 1983).
In 1932 she joined The Women’s Club, which was created in 1901 to provide a place where women interested in public, professional, scientific and artistic work could meet. Although Marie’s law practice was general in nature, she wrote articles against women changing their name on marriage so as to protect their financial assets, and also worked to ensure just divorce settlements for female clients.
[edit] The Conservationist
From her family’s holiday retreat on Sunrise Hill at Palm Beach, Marie would look out through her telescope across Broken Bay at the imposing coast and bushland around Maitland Bay, then known as 'Boat Harbour', on the Central Coast. With her girlfriends, Marie found ways through the bush where they set up camps on the beautiful shores of Maitland Bay. By 1929, there was an increasing focus on organised recreation for the growing city and suburban population. Marie joined the two-year-old 'Sydney Bushwalkers Club', which was one of the few walking clubs to admit women.In 1930 a new name for Boat Harbour was proposed by the Club. Bushwalker Dorothy Lawry suggested Maitland Bay after the shipwrecked steamer rusting at the northern end of the beach.
Over the next five years, with the support of the Federation of Sydney Bushwalkers Clubs, Marie successfully campaigned in the press for the area to be placed under public ownership. The creation of Bouddi Natural Park in 1935 was a landmark achievement for early conservationists.
[edit] The Explorer
In 1927, Marie had saved enough money from working as a law clerk to take off on a Norwegian cargo boat to begin her journey around the world. This included climbing mountains in Britain, Norway and Canada. From this journey she authored her popular book, ‘By Cargo Boat and Mountain’, in 1931. Later, Marie led expeditions to Mt Cook in New Zealand in 1935 and to the 20,000-ft peak, Mt Sansato, in Western China near the Tibetan border, in 1938. At times her party in China traveled with 15 mules, porters, an interpreter, cook, two servants, three riding ponies, and occasionally military escorts to protect them from bandits. Due to the poor weather, the expedition failed to reach the summit and Marie was bitterly disappointed'
[edit] The Buddhist
During her travels through Burma, China and Vietnam in 1938, Marie often chose to stay in temples instead of simple inns, and traveled through remote villages. These experiences brought her into direct contact with non-European cultures and religions. On her return, Marie renewed her interest in the teachings of Gandhi, and began exploring Buddhism. No longer able to walk far or to climb her beloved mountains due to a collapsed foot arch, she became more interested in spirituality and meditation as away of dealing with her pain.
During the 1940s Marie also became interested in Quakerism — and was friends with local Quakers who lived nearby and who had meetings at her house. Unfortunately, she was refused membership due to her ongoing interest in Buddhism. Over the following years she made spiritual journeys through India and Asia. She spent a year in India, including the Himalayas, and made three trips to Burma and two trips to Japan. From these experiences she completed four books on Buddhism and was significant in introducing and promoting Buddhism in NSW.
[edit] Marie's Home
By 1938 Marie left her family home Chilworth at Beecroft and built her own house on Crown Land in nearby Cheltenham. The large verandah is primarily where Marie slept and lived in preference to the interior rooms. The four room pre-fabricated fibro and sandstone home was called 'Ahimsa' after the term used by Ghandi meaning harmlessness. In addition to the house, Marie wanted to have a place on her land for groups to meet for discussions and meditation. By 1949, the Hut of Happy Omen, which was designed as an open sleepout with bunks and a large sandstone stone fireplace, was complete.
In 1970 Marie bequeathed her property to The National Trust of Australia (NSW), which she had helped in 1946 when she was the consulting solicitor who drafted the organisation’s Constitution. Her decision to give her home to The National Trust was based on her faith in the Trust to help preserve the native bushland around her home and to help protect the surrounding reserves. Marie died at 'Ahimsa' in 1979.
