Great Pioneer Women of the Outback

Facing hardship, danger and deprivation

FROM THE 1800s TO THE ONSET OF WORLD WAR I, PIONEERS MAKING THEIR HOMES IN OUTBACK AUSTRALIA WERE JOINED BY THEIR WIVES, MANY OF WHOM HAD NO IDEA OF THE DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS AHEAD. 

These incredibly brave women encountered conditions which would test their resilience and resourcefulness to the utmost; relentless heat, dust and isolation; hostile wildlife; no medical facilities; and never-ending, backbreaking work.

The outback was indeed 'no place for a lady'. Yet many women with no previous experience of hardship rose to the challenge of creating homes, nursing, farming — and keeping journals, which provided a startling picture of the life they faced.

Great Pioneer Women of the Outback profiles ten female pioneers, from Jeannie Gunn, author of We of the Never-Never, to equally brave but lesser known women, such as Georgiana Molloy, Emma Withnell and the Bussell girls in Western Australia, Evelyn Maunsell’s adventures in north Queensland and the remarkable Myrtle White, whose harrowing attempts to reach a doctor with a sick child influenced John Flynn to found the Flying Docctor service. Building on the women's letters, diaries and photographs and her own knowledge of Australian history, Susanna de Vries documents the grit and determination it took these women to build what many today would consider an extraordinary life. This is an extraordinary book which every women in Australia should read. It was written for the authors’ grand-daughters to make them realise just how much these early pioneers had to put up with and how good their lives are as a result of the struggles of these women.

Georgiana Molloy	Frances ('Fanny') Bussell
Elizabeth ('Bessie') Bussell	Charlotte Cookworthy Bussell
Emma Mary Withnell	Atlanta Hope Bradshaw
Jeannie, Gunn, OBE	Evelyn Maunsell
Catherine, Langloh Parker	Myrtle Rose White