Mary Gilmore was Australia's foremost woman poet during the first half of the twentieth century and it was as a poet that she wanted to be remembered when she died in 1962. More attention however has been given in recent years to her long and eventful life, her role as feminist, her championing of Australian literature as an instrument of national identity and her activism for various forms of social justice.This two-volume edition honours her wishes by bringing together for the first time all of Mary Gilmore's copious published poetry. Volume one covers the period from 1887 to 1929. These poems reflect her affiliation to the Bulletin in the value placed on pioneering bush traditions, the Australian working man, and the ANZAC tradition, but are also vitally and distinctively interested in the roles and rights of women.