Pioneer Women and Social Memory: Shifting Energies, Changing Tensions
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Pioneer Women and Social Memory: Shifting Energies, Changing Tensions Shannon Schedlich-Day BA (Hons) Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) May 2008 Statement of Originality This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. Research for this thesis was begun as a candidate enrolled at Flinders University in January 2002 and was continued under this enrolment until the formal transfer of my candidature to the University of Newcastle in April 2007. The research and writing of this thesis has been under the sole and continuing supervision of Dr Victoria Haskins, who took up an appointment at the University of Newcastle in April 2006, throughout my entire candidature from January 2002 to May 2008.I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Signature: _________________________________ Date: ___________________ 1 Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr Victoria Haskins for her firm but fair supervision throughout the life of this thesis. Dr Haskins has continually challenged me to think better, write better and argue my point better. I approached her to act as my supervisor because I admired her intellect and work: this admiration has only grown since I have been under her supervision. To that, I must add thanks to her family who has allowed her the time to act as my supervisor, even when she has been on leave. Further, I wish to acknowledge the support that I received whilst at Flinders University, most specifically that of Dr Janet Phillips. I would also like to thank the staff and volunteers at the many libraries, archives and museums that I have visited in the course of my study. Additionally, my thanks goes to my employers and colleagues who have provided me with the time required to work on this thesis; and the friendships and support that have helped so much. Finally, I express my heart-felt thanks to my family and friends who have supported me through my journey, specifically: to Brett, who is my inspiration in everything I do and whose love and support have made this effort far less painful than it might otherwise have been; to Mum and Dad, who have brought me up to believe in myself and to tackle the challenges that come my way, and have encouraged me in those challenges; to Amber and Sam, who have given me friendship, advice and diversions when I needed them; to Bruce and Lorrie, who have offered support and love over and above what I could reasonably have expected; and to all the others who I am lucky enough to have in my life. 2 Table of Contents Abstract 5 Introduction 6 Chapter One – Social Memory and Pioneer Women 36 Chapter Two – „Authentic Memory‟: History Books as Memory Source 57 Chapter Three – Angels in the Bush: Cultural Depictions 80 Chapter Four – Pioneer Women in the Museum 113 Chapter Five – Memories in Stone: Pioneer Women and Memorials 145 Chapter Six – Saying Goodbye: Gravestones as Memory Markers 175 Chapter Seven – „A Pioneer Woman in Our Past‟: Family Histories 196 Chapter Eight – Forget Me Not: Pioneer Women Writing About Themselves 229 Conclusion 261 Appendix One 277 Bibliography 278 3 4 Abstract This thesis examines how the ideal of the Australian pioneer woman has been so broadly circulated in Australian national social memory. Through the study of the dissemination of the social memory in a range of diverse sources, I will scrutinise the tensions that have existed around this ideal; how these tensions have been reconciled into a dominant narrative; and how they have shifted through the time of the inception of the legend to the present day. In its approach to the creation of social memory, to understand the changing influences of this particular memory in the Australian psyche, this thesis draws upon a number of types of sources for history that have tended to be overlooked – such as headstones, popular and family histories, and museum exhibitions. Significantly, the thesis will examine the role that such non-traditional accounts of the past have played in the transmission of social memory. Most people do not gain their knowledge of the past through intensive and exhaustive research; instead, they appropriate, as their own, the messages and meanings that they are fed through a variety of modes. The relationship between sources and social memory is a symbiotic one, where the sources are informed by social memory, and then in turn shape and elaborate social memory. In so many cases, the very creation of sources happens within the parameters of the national social memory. These sources are then drawn upon by subsequent generations to form their own social memory of pioneer women. This thesis will demonstrate that social memory is not rigid, but instead is subjected to shifting energies and changing tensions; and explain, through a discussion of a diverse range of sources through which it is disseminated, how memory remains fluid so that it is able to respond to the needs of the community that it serves. Australia‟s pioneer woman remains an important aspect of the national identity – her creation and, thus, significance situated firmly in the present. 5 Introduction „Authenticity matters little … Our willingness to accept legends depends far more upon their expression of concepts we want to believe than upon their plausibility.‟ David Mikkelson Australia was first settled by white people in 1788 who gradually and devastatingly destroyed thousands of years of Aboriginal history in this nation. Instead of looking to the Indigenous people for a long and proud past on which to draw, the whites who colonised Australia actively ignored the traditions of the original inhabitants and sought to create their own histories and legends, in which the white man (and, in later tellings, the white woman) tamed the virgin land and created a nation. Foremost in this glorious retelling of the past were the hardy pioneers, who entered Australia‟s interior with a plucky spirit and forged a national identity in the bush. In this vein, on the landscape of Australia‟s past stands the pioneer woman, her heart devoted to her family and the opening of Australia‟s seemingly impervious interior. This fanciful woman does not celebrate the Australian „traditions‟ of multiculturalism, of egalitarianism, or of diversity. And yet, she is fêted within the national narrative, an example of perfect colonial womanliness and of the strength of the Australian spirit. The Australian social memory has firmly clasped the ideal of its „pioneer women‟ to its breast, providing an enduring memory of the female face of the frontier. Despite the high esteem of the pioneer woman in the wider community, since the 1970s academics have challenged the ideal that is so widely believed. They have shown that the ideal was just that – an ideal that was too tightly circumscribed to have been a reality. And despite the challenges that have occurred, the wider community has continued to hold to this ideal as the „reality‟ of the past. Whilst history seeks inclusiveness (and this is particularly true since the rise of women‟s and social history), social memory actively seeks to be 6 exclusive: a fact which is perfectly displayed in popular legend, and the pioneer women‟s legend in particular. The legend of Australia‟s pioneer women has been examined in depth by other historians; and indeed this thesis does not seek to examine the veracity of the various myths that surround the women of the white frontier of Australia. Instead, I will examine the way that the social memory of these women has changed and evolved with the shifting energies through time; and I will do so by examining the way that social memory can and is transmitted through various media, some previously unconsidered by historians. About twelve months after I began this project, I gave a lecture entitled „Are pioneer women truthfully depicted in colonial paintings?‟ The audience was a group of adults of varying ages who had no tertiary education, but who hoped to enter university through the bridging course that I was lecturing in. At the beginning of the lecture, I asked, „What were Australian pioneer women like?‟ The answers came back quickly: loyal, loving, stoic-when-needed and hard- working were just some of the responses. I then asked another question – „And how do you know this?‟ This time, the answer did not come so quickly – someone finally ventured, „It‟s just one of those things that you know.‟1 This thesis will examine how the ideal of the pioneer woman has been so widely disseminated through our national social memory. Through the examination of the dissemination of the social memory, I will examine the tensions that have existed around the memory; how these tensions have been reconciled into a dominant narrative; and how they have shifted through the time of the inception of the legend to the present day. 1 Shannon Schedlich-Day, Lecture: „Are Pioneer Women Truthfully Depicted in Colonial Painting?‟ Foundation Course, Tuesday, 7 April 2003, North Theatre 3, Flinders University 7 For some, social memory may seem the antidote to the more empirical study of history: indeed, it is the stuff of legend and folklore, and with that carries the veneer of magic and the mystical. However, whilst history was once thought of as a discipline in which it was easy to distinguish right from wrong, in which facts were black and white and shades of grey were irrelevant, it is now widely held that as human nature creates bias in everything it does, so too does this occur in the study of history.