The Australian Women's Register

A typed letter signed in indelible pencil by Helen Keller to the Australian Federation of University Women, care of Mrs H.M. Lewis, Adelaide, South Australia (apparently Chair of the Committee on International Relations of AFUW). Two pages, quarto, on South Australian Hotel, Adelaide letterhead (5 July 1948). Keller visited South Australia with her travelling companion Polly Thompson from 23 June to 11 July 1948; a surprise party was held for her 68th birthday on 27 June. The letter would appear to be partly in response to that event: ‘What delight your exquisite floral gift brought me! How did you know that I especially love violets combined with daphne? People often express surprise that I can enjoy flowers when I cannot see their colours, but they forget that I derive pleasure from the delicate texture of the blossoms and their varied fragrances’. The rest of the letter refers at length to the power of the AFUW and the international body to which it is affiliated. ‘You realise your oneness with all women as the creators and preservers of the human race. You are not divided by politics as men are, and you feel the preciousness of all resources of life to mankind, among them atomic energy and the slowly growing friendship and cooperation between the peoples’. The letter had been inserted inside the book which was coincidently awarded as a primary school prize in 1965 to the young daughter of the recipient of the 1948 letter from Helen Keller.