Casey, Maie (1892–1983)

Australian painter, illustrator, aviator and patron of the arts. Name variations: Lady Maie Casey. Born Ethel Marian Sumner Ryan, Mar 13, 1892, in Melbourne, Australia; died Jan 20, 1893; dau. of Alice Elfrida Sumner and Sir Charles Snodgrass Ryan (1853–1926, surgeon-general); sister of Rupert Ryan; attended St. George's boarding school in Ascot and Westminster School of Art; m. Richard Gardiner Casey (then Australian political liaison officer in London), 1926.

Lived in London (1906–31); with husband's election to Australian House of Representatives, settled in Canberra where she took up flying (1938) and was a founder of the Australian Women Pilots' Association; accompanied diplomat husband to US, when he was posted to Washington DC (1940–42), then Cairo (1942–44), then Calcutta (1944–46); as a painter, was associated with Joan Lindsay, as well as the George Bell School in Melbourne; illustrated Helen Jo Samuel's biography of Ellis Rowan Wild Flower Hunter (1961), and her own book, the autobiographical An Australian Story, 1837–1907 (1962); also wrote Tides and Eddies (1966), an account of her early married life, Rare Encounters (1980), Melba Re-visited (1975), 2 vols. of verse, From the Night (1976), and the libretto for a musical based on an episode in the life of Daisy Bates, The Young Kabbarli (1972). Awarded Kaiser-I-Hind Medal and Amelia Earhart Medal; made Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and fellow of Royal Society of Arts; made Companion of the Order of Australia (1982).