Notices in the sisters’ home and dining room of the Thursday Island Hospital declared: ‘Nursing sisters must not attend coloured Islanders’ parties or homes. They must not travel in unauthorised vessels.’ In the 1950s and early 1960s the hospital’s decisions were greatly influenced by the Thursday Island tennis club. The self-appointed cream of Thursday Island society (all white) were members until ‘the tone deteriorated’, because black people were learning to play tennis. A bowling club was formed and anybody who classed themselves above the black Torres Strait Islanders joined. Today, it’s just an ordinary bowling club. All the power people believed they projected has been diminishing since the Whitlam government of the 1970s came to power and gave status recognition to the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.
Tag: education
The Women’s Time has Arrived – Part 1
Even before I was old enough for school, my parents told me and my brothers and sister the legends of our people. An afternoon ritual in our familiy, it gave me a strong sense of who I was, and of the rich culture of the Torres Strait. I grew up knowing our traditions. As I grow older, I come more and more to appreciate that sense of certainly. If a culture is destroyed or ignored, it robs people of a sense of self. As a child it is important to know where you come from, and who your people are, your family and the people of your own country, your own culture. Now I am in my sixties, I know it is important at all stages of life …
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.
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 …
Ellen Wilkinson – Minister of Education
Ellen’s main concern was to raise the school leaving age to 15 … [She] had to find 5,000 extra classrooms and train 13,000 more teachers for the expected extra 390,000 pupils. The Labour Cabinet, hard-pressed by post-war financial limitations, were disinclined to allocate sufficient money … And when she realised there was no money to build new schools she devised special pre-fabricated huts to accommodate the new pupils. A one-year Emergency Training Scheme provided the teachers. Ellen faced complaints from Labour MPs and others that [this] would dump hordes of ill-trained teachers on the schools.
“You are supposed to be educated”
Hertha Ayerton’s experiences – the struggle against poverty and family responsibility, the limitations on her education, and the blocks to her career development – were shared by other WSPU women. Florence Macauley was forced to leave Somerville College, Oxford when her father died because she could not live on her scholarship. Emily Wilding Davison gave up her studies at Holloway College when her father died and the money ran out. Teresa Billington-Greig had to leave school at thirteen to work. She later trained as a teacher, taking her BA through extension studies.
Elizabeth Smith – No Ivory Tower
Elizabeth Smith is a splendid example of the way that learning could provide a challenge and an outlet to women whose daily lives were by modern standards terribly cramped … She is also an example of the women’s tradition: though she died before she was thirty, she was remembered for years, with admiration, by other women who were trying to think or write. She shows too, less pleasingly, how reactionary cultural forces would join ranks against a woman stepping out of line, even when she did so in her mind rather than her behaviour.
Women’s History Month: Lucille Mathurin-Mair (née Waldrond), 1924-2009: Pioneer of Caribbean Women’s History
Lucille Mathurin Mair. Source: The Gleaner, Jamaica, January 31, 2009 http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090131/letters/letters4.html Lucille Mathurin-Mair, who died on January 29th, 2009 aged 85, was a well respected Jamaican historian, author, teacher, activist and diplomat and sustained a deep commitment to women’s rights…