I have been thinking a lot recently about the women who pioneered the rural life in Australia. Truly, I can't even begin to describe how much respect I have for these people.
Can you imagine falling in love with a handsome fella, I don't know, maybe back in the mid 1800's and he has a vision and a dream to be a farmer! Or maybe he came home from the horrors of war and has been gifted for his trouble a soldier settlement block and with stars in your eyes as a young bride, you follow him into the great unknown of rural/farm life!
Often as modern farm wives, we groan at the thought of how to tackle the never ending dust and dirt that seems to make it's way into our homes. And don't think for a second that nice bedroom carpet is going to make it through all the dust storms unharmed!
Then comes the mice plagues, eating everything in sight - and these women didn't have all the cute storage options our local Kmart has on offer. My kitchen still has the large flour bins which I store bags etc in. My cooking ingredients safely in glass jars.
Think about the practical day to day of getting water to the house to drink, bathe, cook and clean with. I have an electric pump at my disposal and it is definitely a first world problem if we lose power and I have no water in jugs to use. I have been known to rinse my shampoo out under the water outlet at the water tank one morning! The power had gone out as I was in the shower equalling an immediate loss of water!
The house cow which we all now truly crave was an institution and it would have meant fresh milk for the family. I imagine it would have been the farmers wives that looked after this task each morning. Then there would have been the chooks for eggs and maybe the pigs that would have been fed for eventual slaughter.
These women would undoubtedly also had to deal with deadly snakes, spiders and other unusual wildlife that we now take for granted. Imagine coming from a beautiful English countryside to the crisp harsh Aussie outback! And the heat! This summer I have craved the swampbox aircon. I kept wondering how these women managed in their long dresses with no breeze.
I thank them for their guts in coming. For settling and growing communities with their men. Here we are in 2024 still in dusty farmhouses and perhaps still making sure we have water at the house, checking for deadly reptiles on the lawn and collecting the eggs.
We too have more often than not come from non-farm backgrounds and are learning every day how t navigate this life on the land.
Each generation of rural women have faced droughts and floods and fire. We have heard of accidents that took a life too soon and perhaps of a wife that just couldnt do one more day. Farm wife life has a different tone to it. There's different layers that have to be dealt with, taught to the next generation, cried over, breathed in and survived.
I am in awe of the women of the past, and honoured to share this life with gutsy women who call their husband "farmer".
xxx
Toni
FWFL
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