The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Born in 1904, Daisy Marchisotti developed an interest in left-wing politics in the 1940s. She eventually joined the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in the 1950s, giving up a better-paying job as a stenographer to work for the party. In 1964 she was part of a CPA women’s delegation to the Soviet Union.

Marchisotti took an active interest in indigenous affairs and was involved with the Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (QCAATI) and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). She edited the Federal Council’s newsletter and wrote articles on indigenous issues for FCAATSI and the CPA.

In 1982 she was still fighting for Aboriginal rights. After being arrested for joining an Aboriginal protest outside the Commonwealth Games venue in Brisbane, she told the magistrate: “I am seventy-eight years old and a pensioner. I did not take part in my action lightly. [It was] my belief that the only way to change Queensland’s racist laws was to take the action I did.”