Colonial Ladies

Edited by Maggie Weidenhofer

Currey O’Neil Ross, 1985, [First Edition], ISBN 0859022587, illustrative coloured endpapers, colour plates, black and white photographs, hardcover, dustjacket  

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, tape residue and minor scuffing to endpapers, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows minor edge and shelf wear (see photographs)

“The Colonial Ladies faced an uncertain and often lonely life in a scarcely known land, far from ‘the seat of happiness and delight’, England.  This harsh young country demanded strength and independence: governors’ wives played a central part in the official establishment of the colonies; the wives of pioneering squatters brought grace and beauty to homesteads while enduring isolation and hardship; artists and commentators recorded their new and strange land from the perspective of women more accustomed to drawing-rooms than drought; and humble workers provided a backbone of support in both town and country.  Most had the advantage of education and penned their thoughts in diaries and letters, while some of convict origin struggled with the language.
Throughout the varied experiences presented in this selection ad thread of longing for home and ‘dear familiar faces’ is entwined with the unspoken courage and determination required to overcome the difficulties faced by the new settler.  There is delight, too, in new-found friends, in achievement despite adversity, in growing families and fortunes, and in the wonders of the new land.”