After my father died and the boys left home to work on farms in the district, I often caught my mother weeping and between her sobs she hummed the verse of a sad hymn. My heart ached terribly for her but I did not have the strength to comfort or help release her pain. As the family thinned out she caught me to her, r0ping me in. I was being fastened to her emotionally.
Category: Source
For My People – Part 2
I returned to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs: a hard time with a high executive position for a woman, getting no support from the men in the Department. I thought: ‘There must be more in life than this.’ Maybe it was time to look at studying law. I sent off applications and chose Melbourne. When I got in I said: ‘That’s it, I’m throwing this job in. Thank you every much but I’m going.’ I have not regretted it.
For My People – Part 1
One of my earliest memories of her was when I was quite young, at a time when so-called ‘half-caste’ children were taken away from Aboriginal families. Some gudia came to the house. They were wanting to take me. My grandmother wouldn’t let them and chased them out of the yard. That is a powerful memory of a strong Black woman.
Suffragettes and Tea Rooms
Even as late as 1911 a woman’s presence still caused consternation in some places of public refreshment. Kate Frye, staying in a hotel in a small Norfolk market town while organizing suffrage meetings, notes in her diary:
22 March 1911 ‘Had my lunch [in the hotel dining room] in company with four motorists. It is funny the way men come in here and, seeing me, shoot out again and I hear whispered conversations outside on the landing with the waitress. Then they come in very subdued and make conversation one to another and try not to look at me. Awfully funny – they might never have seen a woman before – but I suppose it does seem a strange place to find one.’
From the Bush, to Sales, to the Airforce – Reflections on the Beginnings of a 20th Century Life
… As a junior, I didn’t serve any customers for almost 12 months, because that was the seniors’ job. Juniors weren’t allowed to speak to a customer. We had to run the messages and tidy up … The seniors at Farmers were trained in what we’d now call customer relations. The juniors were trained too. When I first went there, even though it was only for three weeks, for a sale, I had two days training before beginning in the department. I was paid to be taught where the items were in the store, how to write out dockets, how to speak to people …
Music & Liberation: Music and Activism in the UK WLM, 1970-1989
… I’ve been handed countless audiotapes of recordings of practices, live performances and demos that have been lurking at the back of cupboards or underneath beds, unheard for decades. Some are the only recordings of the bands in existence, and you will be able to listen to them at the WLMA & Music & Liberation Exhibition …
Not According to the Calendar
One cadet, David Hill went on to become executive producer with Channel 9’s “Wide World of Sports”, then Murdoch took him over to Britain for Sky Channel. Many years later at a party I tapped him on the arm and said: ‘David, do you remember the day I threw you out of my classroom for giving me …’ He recognised me immediately, and took me around the room to meet his children. He told them: ‘This lady taught Daddy.’ The children looked at me as if I were the pyramids.
Captured by Germans – WWI Women Seafarers
German crew … wondered at the women’s calmness. ‘Aren’t you afraid of being shot?’ they asked. After all, Edith Cavell had been executed by firing squad just seven months earlier. ‘“We are Englishwomen” was considered sufficient reply,’ claimed the women’s company magazine …
The Writings of Constance Maynard (1849-1935)
One aspect of Constance Maynard’s life which still intrigues researchers and is the subject of on-going research today is her close relationships with women. As female sexuality was not discussed or understood in the Victorian period, interpreting Maynard’s words requires an appreciation of the context and time in which they were written. Her diary entries detail intimate encounters with students and friends … In her autobiography, Maynard in 1926 writes candidly about her close relationships, showing her awareness of theories by psychoanalysts such as Freud …