Margaret has a fondness of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem Ulysses despite its imperialist overtones. As a child she recognised the inequalities and injustice in the world, and aspired to ‘sailing beyond the sunset.’ Not in some airy-fairy way in dreamland, but in a practical, getting her hands dirty, doing it yourself way before DIY became trendy.

Her dream was then, and remains so years later, is that injustice and social inequality can and should be relegated to the dustbin of history. Holding the belief that life can be better, the belief that we, all of us, can be better than we are, the belief that way we treat others, both human and non-human must change for the better. It is a worldview that the world can be better place, and the change starts with each one of us.

However, before I say anything I must declare an interest, Margaret is my partner and has been for over forty years, so I am biased.

Margaret is not a good swimmer; she’s OK, but not great. Yet she was brave enough to paddle a kayak in front of nuclear warships on Sydney harbour, and place herself and her small kayak between duck shooters and the ducks, I say brave as doing things when you are scared half to death is bravery in my book. She asks if we don’t do it then who will?

A few years back when campaigning against live animal circus at Liverpool the whole Circus Federation of Australia confronted her, every circus owner in Australia attended a meeting at Liverpool Council, they said it coincided with their annual meeting, some coincidence, overwhelmed but not deterred she battled on until finally securing a ban on circuses on council land, despite the inadequacy of the RSPCA representative to contribute anything meaningful to the discussions,

Margaret does not like heights, climbing ladders, her heart tells her, is best left to others, her fears she somehow or other manages to overcome if it means doing something for the animals, even if it means climbing ladders in the dark of a chicken shed.

Sitting all night in a cramped position surrounded by pigs, the stench, the discomfort, the tiredness and desperately trying to control the need to pee is not her idea of fun. Yet she does it, on one occasion when the police showed a reluctance to arrest them she demanded to be arrested, ‘I can here to be arrested so go ahead and arrest me’ she demanded. They eventually arrested them and the case to the High Court of Australia

When she is not out working on a stall or other she is feeding stray animals, at one time she had a colony of cats that ranged in number up to 20 odd, this entailed walking from our house to the local TAFE collage some 900 meters in the dark up to her ankles in wet grass. A deserted journey she made nightly for about 4 years until it got too much for her, they would wait each night tails in the air eat then move off to their own secret hiding place, if not happy then full of Margaret’s home cooked food, just carrying it a task in itself.

Currently she has 4 dogs, all strays, 4 cats, and an old tomcat that drops in for a feed from time to time, and 2 rabbits. The rabbits used to be owned by the Lebanese whose garden backs onto ours, the children who like so many kids were not feeding them properly so she as diplomatically as she was able took the rabbits and so our family grew. Being with Margaret all these years has been a joy and a challenge, I am eternally grateful that there are no stray elephants wandering hungry, lonely and looking in our front window with their big brown sorrowful eyes.

But there is more to Margaret than hands on stuff, she is at home with her computer communicating with people around the world, ‘her wonderful window the world’ she calls it, secretly enjoying the libraries and information she would otherwise not be privileged to.

At university, as a mature aged student, she studied economic history, in part because it was ‘deemed’ a male subject, and did better than most. R.S.Neale, the professor, even published one of her essays in his book History and Class

Currently she is wrestling the American notion of rights as opposed to the British tradition of liberation through a system of common law, a far from a simple matter as demonstrated by tens of thousands of American’s busy suing each other, while millions more are too poor to have decent heath care.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Her life is what she believes, a mixture of perusing the active life, the useful and intellectual. Always in the background she avoids self-promotion like the plague, she is going to kill me for writing this.

MARGARET SETTER – The Compassionate Life
From Patty Mark: Founder of Open Rescue and Animal Liberation, Victoria.

I've worked with Margaret Setter on several open rescues and her loving kindness towards any animal she comes across stays in my mind as well as her strong sense of justice. Margaret is what I would call a freedom fighter in every sense of the word, as she is hands-on and super dependable with the hard task of undercover rescue as well as being very committed to and well read on social justice issues. She is able to historically put into perspective the abuse, exploitation and discrimination against anyone whether they are battery hens, female, aboriginal, gay or homeless. Margaret's mind and heart is huge and her compassion is inspiring.

MARGARET SETTER – A Life That Is Lived
From Lynda Stoner: Animal Liberation NSW

Margaret Setter is one of the most inspiring people I have had the good fortune of meeting. She is timeless and iconic. It’s her eyes you notice first. Despite having had what anyone would describe as a tough beginning, Margaret’s eyes twinkle with optimism and humour. She is self-effacing and a person of stoicism and courage. People seem to make a great deal of Margaret’s age, in part because we all aspire to “grow up” to be like her and because every day of her life is, indeed, a life that is lived.

Margaret’s intellect is formidable. She may have left school at the age of 15 but she has never ceased educating herself and in turn educating others.

Her life is rounded and rich and includes family, friends, an unquenchable thirst for knowledge that translates into continuing higher learning on a multitude of subjects, a voracious appetite for books and a mind that can absorb massive ideas and condense them for public consumption.

The lifeblood of the animal rights movement is its ever-increasing numbers of young people and Margaret has always been inclusive and encouraging of new members and their ideas and passion. She nurtures people and brings out the best in them. Margaret worked in the Animal Liberation office as a volunteer for almost two decades. Among her myriad of duties she tended the membership database and I can testify that when she left I had to respond to numbers of visitors and email and letters from people saying they sorely missed her as a point of contact.

Margaret is an anarchist – I hope she won’t mind being described this way. She wants to pick up the planet Earth in the year 2007, shake out its crap, greed and selfishness and resettle it on an axis of equality and compassion for all species. I’ve had the stimulation of hearing her on subjects as diverse (yet commonly linked) as animal rights, socialism, the feminist movement, the anti war movement, global citizenship, all of which she has been actively involved.

At a grass roots level I have been to the wetlands slaughter of birdlife where Margaret has been in the first line of defence. I have been in battery hen hell holes and the unmitigated purgatory of intensive pig “farms” with her. We were arrested in the ACT for rescuing chickens and I was able to share with her and other activists the joy of hearing Magistrate Ward’s indictment of the battery cage and its causal suffering for billions of birds. I only mention my own participation because I can testify firsthand that Margaret is phenomenal in any given situation. Reluctantly I hark back to her age only by way of inspiring others through her - it is Margaret who patently, through her actions, reminds me that chronology is nullified when a person’s mind and spirit are ageless.

For all her strength and valour I have seen her laid bare when faced with trying to find homes for companion animals. She can’t sleep or focus on anything but the vulnerable little lives she will move heaven and earth to help. The footprint Margaret has already left on our planet is deep, indelible and altruistic. On behalf of all of us whose lives have been touched by her – Margaret, you rock!

MARGARET SETTER – Intellectual Synthesizer
From Claudette Vaughan, Editor of Abolitionist-Online A Voice for Animal Rights

If Patty Mark is the heart and soul of the animal liberation movement in Australia, then Margaret Setter is the intellectual synthesizer. When speaking to a room of people on the all important subject of animal liberation and animal rescue it’s amazing watching heart and minds move over to our side after listening to Margaret speak. Margaret synthesizes the Peace, the Anti-Nuclear, and the Women’s Movement and then rounds off and encompasses the animal rights movement as a natural extension of these other human movements.

We are extremely fortunate to have Margaret write for us at the Abolitionist. Tom Regan said of her that her interview with him was the best he had ever done before!

We invite you to read Margaret’s work for the Abolitionist.

Issue One: Propaganda, Property Rights and Politics. Margaret Setter Interviewed

Issue Two: Review of Going Native and her excellent response to the author of the book

Issue Three: Margaret Setter Replies to Circus Owner, Robert Perry

Issue Four: Chicken The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Fast Food

Issue Five: Freedom Next Time Reviewed

Issue Six: Earthlings Reviewed and Tom Regan Interview.

There are also several other noteworthy reviews to be found in various issues.

Margaret’s intellectual integrity encourages open discussion and debate. She enjoys receiving emails on this important subject of animal rights and where the Movement is heading. Why not email her to discuss animal rights:

Her email address is SetterMM@bigpond.net.au

MARGARET SETTER – a friend and fellow animal liberationist.
From Bede Carmody – Sanctuary Owner and Animal Activist

Margaret Setter was one of the first people I met when I joined Animal Liberation. I was immediately impressed by her knowledge and her reasoning.

Over the years Margaret has never failed to impress me with her integrity and willingness to embrace new methods of campaigning. She is a very humble person who does things without seeking kudos for her efforts, whether its big picture stuff like going to court over battery cages or aerial shooting of goats or local issues in her neighbourhood like neglected cats and dogs.

Margaret has always been an inspiration and continues to be so.

MARGARET SETTER - AMBROSIA FOR THE ANIMALS
From Mark Pearson – Executive Director of Animal Liberation NSW

Margaret is "the comforter" in this movement, not only for betrayed animals but also for animal activists. Particularly in times of anger, frustration and distress at the painfully slow progress of the animal rights movement, Margaret offers compassion towards other animal activists which guides us to keep up the fight in the last revolution.

Margaret knows animals have only one voice to stand up to the tyranny that oppresses them and that voice is an animal activist. She instills in us that vision.