Daisy Bates was regarded as an expert on Aboriginal culture, and her influence penetrated every corner of white Australia. An uncommon woman; she became a celebrity who met princes, dined at the governor’s table, lectured to packed halls, stayed at the best hotels and travelled first-class. It is also the tale of a woman who met naked men, women and children as they came out from the desert, cooked on a campfire, wrote on scraps of paper, lived under canvas and journeyed by camel buggy. What unfolds is a tale of trickery, subterfuge, opportunism and magic. This biography uncovers the acts she carefully concealed as they prove that not only did she deceive white Australia, but also tricked those indigenous people who stumbled into her web. This is a journey into a warped and tangled mind, a trip into another time and a story that explains how Daisy Bates managed to influence, delude and taint an entire nation.