Journeyings: The Biography of a Middle-Class Generation 1920-1990

by Janet McCalman

Journeyings begins with a tram journeyandmdash;the sixty-nine tram collecting boys and girls from Melbourne's middle-class heartland on their first day of school for 1934. It marks the beginning of an extraordinary journey through Australian private life that commences with the gold rushes of the 1850s and concludes in our own time, tracing the life journeyings of a generation of boys and girls from four of Melbourne's legendary private schools. In an engrossing and highly original exploration of one of the most neglected subjects in Australian social historyandmdash;the middle classandmdash;Janet McCalman has produced a worthy successor to her acclaimed portrait of working-class life, Struggletown.

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens with the No. 69 tram travelling from Carlisle Street St. Kilda to Cotham Rd Kew on the first day of school, 1934. The tram wends its way “along the spine of Melbourne’s middle-class heartland”, with an ebb and flow of private school students who peel off as they pass the major private schools in Melbourne. Being 1934, these are the children of WWI parents and unless they have scholarships, their parents are paying for their private school education during the Depression.
The No. 69 tram in February 1934 is the opening chapter and linchpin of Janet McCalman’s book, which explores both the antecedents and consequences of that daily commute....
McCalman's methodology combines prosopography, survey responses, oral history interviews with 80 respondents, the judicious use of fiction and memoir, her own literature review, and statistics....
This is an excellent book. It’s beautifully written, it is nuanced and yet broad. The No. 69 trope works so well.

For my complete review, visit
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