Doris Irene Taylor
{{Short description|Australian activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Doris Irene Taylor
| honorific_suffix = MBE
| image = Doris Irene Taylor.png
| alt = A grainy photograph of an older white woman with white hair, wearing glasses.
| caption = Doris Irene Taylor, from a 1951 newspaper.
| birth_date = 25 July 1901
| birth_place = Norwood, South Australia
| death_date = 23 May 1968
| death_place = Adelaide
| occupation = Social activist
| known_for = Founded Meals on Wheels in Australia (1953)
}}
Doris Irene Taylor MBE (25 July 1901 — 23 May 1968) was an Australian social services activist.
Early life and education
Doris Irene Taylor was born in Norwood, South Australia in 1901, the daughter of Thomas Simpkin Taylor and Angelina Williams Taylor. Her father was a bricklayer.{{Cite web|title=Doris Taylor, MBE|url=http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/people/doris-taylor-mbe,%20/people/doris-taylor-mbe|access-date=2020-07-01|website=Adelaidia}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Twice in childhood, she survived falls that caused her a limp and paralysis.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Greg Crafter|first=|authorlink=|year=2002|volume=16|id=|id2=taylor-doris-irene-11825|title=Taylor, Doris Irene (1901–1968)|accessdate=26 December 2013}}
In 1925 she was injured in a collision with a car, while her sister Ivy was pushing her wheelchair.{{Cite news|date=1925-07-30|title=A DOUBLE CLAIM.|pages=14|work=Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46226047|access-date=2020-07-01|via=Trove}}{{Cite news|date=1925-07-29|title=MOTOR CAR AND INVALID CHAIR.|pages=7|work=Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57299131|access-date=2020-07-01|via=Trove}}
Career
During the 1930s Taylor worked as a secretary and a fundraiser for a mothers' club, and for a soup kitchen. She moved into political work with the Australian Labor Party by the mid-1940s, and directed a survey of housing conditions.{{Cite news|date=1944-04-03|title=Busy Worker, Invalid For 26 Years|pages=5|work=News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128399088|access-date=2020-07-01|via=Trove}} Taylor is credited with persuading Don Dunstan to run for the South Australian lower house seat of Norwood in 1952.
Taylor founded Australian Meals on Wheels in South Australia in 1953,{{Cite news|last=Burley|first=Cyril|date=1953-10-07|title="Let's change our approach to aged"|pages=12|work=News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130781694|access-date=2020-07-01|via=Trove}} and in 1954 the first meal was served from the Port Adelaide kitchen.Cudmore M., 1996, A Meal a Day, South Australia, Gillingham Printers She worked to include other home-based services for seniors in the organization's offerings, including personal care and library access. Her work for healthier aging was praised by the World Health Organization. She also campaigned for accessible recreation and "a wheelchair for every invalid".{{Cite news|date=1951-05-24|title="A WHEEL-CHAIR FOR EVERY INVALID"|pages=2|work=Labor Call (Melbourne, Vic. : 1906 - 1953)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250000675|access-date=2020-07-01|via=Trove}}
Taylor was appointed M.B.E. in 1959.
Personal life
In addition to the spine and leg injuries that affected her mobility, Taylor had rheumatoid arthritis. She enjoyed learning, and taught herself to speak Russian; she also read twice a week to a blind schoolmaster. In 1951 she began using a motorized wheelchair, saying "Heaven help any bureaucrat who gets in my way now."{{Cite news|date=1951-05-12|title=HER CHAIR HAS A MOTOR|pages=12|work=Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55789560|access-date=2020-07-01|via=Trove}} Taylor died in 1968, in Adelaide, aged 66 years. The South Australian Electoral district of Taylor is named after her.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/sa/2006/guide/tayl.htm|title=ABC Election Coverage: 2006 South Australian Election|date=21 April 2006|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=26 December 2013}}
References
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