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Women of the Land

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 9 ratings · 2 reviews

Making your living from the land in Australia is not for the faint-hearted. Isolation, hard physical work, long hours and the vagaries of drought, floods and fire make it a challenging environment for any farmer. But how do you cope when you are a woman in what is traditionally a man?s world?
Women of the Land brings together the heart-warming stories of eight rural women s...more

Paperback, 324 pages

Published March 26th 2012 by Allen & Unwin Australia

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Mar 27, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Women of the Land is an account of eight women who live and work in rural Australia. These women, choose to run their own farms, some raise cattle or sheep, others grow fruit or crop, in isolated areas of Australia. Liz Harfull, herself the daughter of dairy farmers, bases these eight portraits on interviews with the women themselves, research, observation and conversations with family and friends. The women largely agreed to participate to promote awareness of rural life and farming in Australi...more Women of the Land is an account of eight women who live and work in rural Australia. These women, choose to run their own farms, some raise cattle or sheep, others grow fruit or crop, in isolated areas of Australia. Liz Harfull, herself the daughter of dairy farmers, bases these eight portraits on interviews with the women themselves, research, observation and conversations with family and friends. The women largely agreed to participate to promote awareness of rural life and farming in Australia.

Harfull introduces each woman by exploring their family background, childhood experiences and memories, tracing the path that led the women to choose rural life. Not all of the women Harfull features were born to farming life, in Nan Bray's case for example, the American born marine biologist was an academic and executive before decided to breed Merino sheep in Tasmania. Mary Naisbitt inherited her farm when her husband died suddenly, leaving her with an 1828 hectare farm to run and four children under the age of seven to raise. Catherine Bird on the other hand is a 'station brat', raised on a cattle property near Alice Springs she now runs a 3000 square kilometer spread in South Australia.

Harfull has taken more of an academic tone towards sharing their stories rather than something more intimate which I would have preferred but each of the women have interesting stories to tell of their everyday lives. As farmers, these women are no stranger to adversity, successful farming relies on fickle weather which withholds rain for years on end, starving stock, only to destroy promising crops with vicious hail storms. Rural life is hard work with something on the station always needing attention from broken fences, to recalcitrant machinery or orphaned lambs, not to mention the endless reams of paperwork. Harfull includes a handful of anecdotes from each women that highlights the particular challenges of this way of life, a particularly vivid example is Catherine Bird's accident that ripped much of her scalp from her head and almost killed her.

The eight women Harfull features are very different yet all have something in common, and that is their love for, and pride in, the land they surround themselves with. These stories provide a glimpse into the extraordinary lives of the practical, yet passionate, Women of the Land.

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May 28, 2012 Sharon added it

Didn't really finish this book as I just couldn't get into it. I think I will have to revisit it when I don't have some books around that I have been dying to read.

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