Father’s Right Hand Man: Women on Australia’s Family Farms in the Age of Federation, 1880s–1920s

Description

In 1924, 27-year-old Nancy wrote to the Farmers’ Advocate, ‘I have for years been father’s right-hand man’. To a long-running debate on the nature of farm life for women, Nancy brought the unique perspective of the single woman.

Kate Hunter explores the lives of many women like Nancy, and the communities in which they lived during decades of great social, and economic change. Using personal papers, diaries, official reports and a wide range of other documents, she provides a sensitive insight into rural culture in Federation Australia and changing notions of womanhood.

The author Kate Hunter was born in Papua New Guinea and grew up in Albury–Wodonga. She studied History at the University of Melbourne, where she went on to complete her PhD. She lectures in Australian and Rural History at the Victoria University of Wellington in Aotearoa/New Zealand.