An Alice Girl in Aussie Readers

May 12, 2020 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, arc, own-read, reviewing-by-request, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, non-fiction, memoir, 2020-release

Tanya was the eldest of four children to Janice and Grant Heaslip; M’Lis, Brett and Benny, her siblings, and as they grew up, they were the best of mates, playing, rough-housing and getting into mischief as much as they could. Tanya loved her schooling through The School of the Air; her love of words, stories and everything connected started from a young age and didn’t stop. The only thing she wasn’t fond of – at all – was maths.

But it was when they were helping their father – the “Boss” – that ...more

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May 05, 2020 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, arc, australian, autobiography, aww2020

What an upbringing this was, for a girl from the burbs who has never really been to the outback!

This year, my husband and I had planned a trip to Uluru. I had always wanted to go and I thought that once they banned climbing it, it would be a perfect time. Photos without people traipsing all over it! However of course, we’ve had to postpone that trip – probably until July or so next year. When I was planning it, I learned that Alice Springs isn’t actually as close to it as I thought, in fact it’s What an upbringing this was, for a girl from the burbs who has never really been to the outback!

This year, my husband and I had planned a trip to Uluru. I had always wanted to go and I thought that once they banned climbing it, it would be a perfect time. Photos without people traipsing all over it! However of course, we’ve had to postpone that trip – probably until July or so next year. When I was planning it, I learned that Alice Springs isn’t actually as close to it as I thought, in fact it’s a four hour drive and I’d have to make our holiday a bit longer if we were to see both of them! That’s how clueless about that area I am…..in the meantime, until I can go there, this was an excellent way to learn a little bit more about it at a more grass roots level, from someone who spent their entire childhood on a cattle property outside of Alice Springs.

It might be the same country I grew up in but it might as well be a million miles away! I was fascinated with the accounts Tanya gave of her and her younger siblings playing outside for hours, learning to ride and muster the cattle on the property, doing long distance learning and school of the air. Even more interesting were how people on remote properties managed to maintain social lives with those others who were also in similar situations. Things like cattle sales and local shows were something that people came from miles around to attend, catch up with others and kick back. A lot of the farmers had planes, so could fly to each other’s properties if required. And given your nearest neighbour could be over 500km away, which would be a 10/12 hour round trip in a car, a plane was not only a useful tool in terms of helping to muster and inspect properties from the air, but also to keep each other connected. Tanya’s father also had a property in South Australia and then added a third property in another part of the Northern Territory and using the plane to travel between them cut down on travelling time considerably. A four day drive between the NT and SA property became an 8hr plane ride, broken into 2x4hr chunks with a refuelling stop in Oodnadatta.

In some ways, this feels like an idyllic childhood. There’s a lot of freedom, to roam and explore. It seems they’re all connected in varying degrees to the land and it definitely teaches a hard work ethic as well as patience and understanding. This is not an easy lifestyle, which is the other side of the coin. There’s potential for a lot of danger: snakes, falling off horses, dehydration and heatstroke, etc. You’re a long way from any medical help and this can be serious, such as the case of Tanya’s mother’s fourth pregnancy. The hours are long, the work is backbreaking. The heat is endless, the dust and flies and relentless sun. It’s a harsh environment and when Tanya’s father took over the lease of the property, the area had been in a drought for ten years. That’s a long time and this sort of endeavour often relies upon things you cannot control, like the weather. The isolation is tough as well – Tanya and her siblings were raised alone and a bit wild….when meeting other children at first, they had no idea how to interact with them. It was a daunting, anxiety inducing experience. For women like Tanya’s mother, you have to be incredibly resourceful and resilient. Her story is told through Tanya’s observations. Never ending cooking and washing and cleaning, taking care of the men with their food requirements is basically a full time job. And those who aren’t happy with the benefits will probably leave and go elsewhere. For Tanya’s mother, connections to others in the “area” (broadly speaking) are vital. The governess/teacher/nanny types they employ to come and help look after and teach the younger children are also a lifeline for the wives, providing adult, female conversation and companionship when they can be alone long hours whilst their husbands are out working the cattle. It’s a lifestyle probably not suited to many and you have to really want it, love it, thrive on it in order to be successful. And I can fully admit, I wouldn’t be able to cope. The heat alone would do me in (I get burned when it’s less than 20 degrees). This was the 60s and 70s – no internet. No TV. No phone. Basically communication was via radio and very limited. But something that did very much come through for me, was that despite all of these challenges, the people who populate this remote area built their own very remarkable type of community.

I enjoyed this a lot. It also stops an interesting point (tying back in to Tanya’s guest post from yesterday) where she’s about to leave for boarding school, so perhaps one day there’ll be more about that experience.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

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