By Moira Dynon B.Sc.
1970 Corowa, NSW
Through the Catholic Womens League, Moira was asked to address the gathering on Women’s World Day of Prayer at Corowa, New South Wales, on Friday 6th March 1970.
In this year of 1970 in which we are commemorating the 200th anniversary of the landing of Captain Cook on Australian soil, much is being said and written about the heroism of the early white settlers. Since this is our year of remembrance it is fitting that we recall the courage of the pioneer women. Their names mean little or nothing now except to a few. They are dead long ago. But their spirit lives in this land they helped to build.
As a child I loved to listen to my Grandmother recalling stories of their bravery. There was the spinster – a dread word in those days when the girl who failed to marry before she was 30, was definitely considered on the shelf and could look forward only to a future of good works to justify her existence. But Martha Louisa Moore used her spinsterhood as a weapon with which to mould lives.
She was little more than a girl when she sailed from England in the late twenties of the nineteenth century. She brought with her two little orphaned nieces – a defiant gesture to those who warned her against foolhardy voyaging without a man to protect her. They spent 10 months on the sea in a crowded little ship – ten months in which they saw birth and death take place among the people on board. When her nieces were older, she opened a school in Sydney where she educated girls from the Never Never country where their parents struggled. She imported highly qualified teachers; she gave her pupils a solid training that included languages, accomplishments, ‘deportment’ – all the graces of her generation. She had the vision that made her give them the mental elasticity she knew they would need to cope with the new country. She gave them love in extraordinary measure. When she was 70 years old, she learnt to ride a horse so that she could visit a grand niece who was in need of her help. A bullock wagon was useless for the journey. When she died, from every corner of Australia poured in letters that told how she was remembered and loved.
Then there was the Irish girl. She married a wealthy young man a month after leaving her convent school. The first year of her marriage was a nightmare of trying to cope with an enormous house and sixteen servants. Seven years later her husband died, having gambled away his fortune and she found herself almost penniless with four little girls. That she soon re-married must have been the triumph of hope over experience. They emigrated; her new home was a tent near the Murray River. Listening to her story, I felt that she had enjoyed the tent life more than the terrifying mansion and servants.
Another story comes. The Scottish girl of 18 was alone with her injured husband in their hut for weeks. She had set his broken leg and he lived to show how well it had been set.
There is the tale of the young mother who was thrown out of the Gippsland coach when it overturned. When she picked up her baby she saw that its head was out of shape; and, incredibly, she moulded the little head with her hands until it looked normal. The baby showed no sign afterwards of having been damaged – perhaps babies as well as women, were made of sterner stuff in those days.
Two centuries ago women were not encouraged in initiative and independence. All had to be learnt in the new land. Theirs was the unending battle of little things – the grinding of the wheat between stones, the making of soap and candles, the spinning and weaving of wool, the incessant bread making, the curing of the meat. We whose path is made so smooth today owe them reverence for the invincible courage they brought to their fight.
The early women settlers endured the greatest privations with a spirit that inspired their husbands and their children to persevere in spite of all – in spite of bushfires, droughts and floods. Women did more than cook and sweep. They milked cows, sowed crops, dug for gold, and put their hand to the plough. They tended the sick and the dying; they comforted the homesick and in every way passed down to the women of future generations a heritage of courage and initiative.
Caroline Chisholm
One of the most inspiring characters of early Australia is Caroline Chisholm whom we may think of as the mother of social service as we know it today. She was born in England in 1803 and was a remarkable person. She and her husband arrived in Australia in 1838 from Madras, and settled in Sydney. Although most of her activities were carried on in New South Wales, she was later an active worker for the miners in the goldfields of Victoria.
The squalor and neglect of the immigrants horrified her. Appalled at the system of immigration which was throwing into Australia men, women and children who often found themselves destitute on arrival, she inaugurated a public campaign and whilst awaiting governmental decisions, she gave shelter to emigrant women in her own home. At last she obtained from the Government a dilapidated barrack where she housed her female immigrants. Running a Registry Office, accompanying bands of immigrants sometimes 300 miles into the country in bullock drays, working out with the co-operation of squatters a system of small holdings for families, transporting the children of released convicts to rejoin their parents, persuading the Government of the day to erect shelter sheds for miners, and to give the men plots of land to grow vegetables, this courageous woman seems to have revolutionised a continent.
In London (1846-54) she became a famous figure through her work for secure family emigration by means of the Family Colonisation Loan Society (1849). As you know, her picture appears on the five dollar note of the Australian currency.
Women in early Victorian times were not encouraged to seek careers in any field but the women of Australia early became aware of the needs of others less fortunate than themselves. They accepted the challenge by forming a number of church and charitable voluntary organisations with the objectives of assisting the poor and working for the social welfare of women and children.
As sickness and suffering evoke the concern and sympathy of women, it is not surprising that women played an important role in the establishment of major Australian hospitals. Nursing as a profession for women now seems perhaps the most natural of callings, and for us it is hard to believe that it ever had a beginning, and a difficult beginning at that.
Training of nurses began about 1888 and a solid foundation was laid for a body of nurses of which Australia today is justly proud.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi
History is studded with the names of great women of courage. One such modern day woman is India’s Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. As a child she knew what it was to be by herself with her parents and her grandparents often away in prison. When she was grown up she herself was imprisoned and led a secluded life without a word or a visit from the outside world for some 13 months. She has lived through periods of tension, conflict and heartbreak. From her earliest years, Indira Gandhi has demonstrated in all her activities a deep love of humanity. Her whole life is enveloped with a sense of dedicated service. Before entering Parliament for years she was active in social work especially child welfare.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi is at the helm during what is undoubtedly a difficult period. I believe she has the most important job in the world – that of raising the living standards of one-sixth of the people of the world within the framework of a highly articulate and politically conscious democracy. For India and the world, much depends on the outcome of her endeavours. Courage has been and is the distinguishing feature of Mrs. Gandhi’s role in public life. We know of her work to bring relief to the distresses in riot torn areas during the days of partition and how in an extensive tour she calmed the atmosphere in Madras State when there was turmoil over the language question. It required exceptional courage for Mrs. Gandhi to accept the burden of Prime Ministership after the death at Tashkent of Lal Bahadur Shastri. The country was suffering the worst drought in living memory, the food situation was causing unrest in some parts of the country, the shortage of foreign exchange seriously affected the economy, there was rising unemployment. Her first broadcast as Prime Minister demonstrated her love of the poor people – “we have promises to keep …of work, food, clothing and shelter, health and education” she said.
On this day, this 1970 Women’s World Day of Prayer, we are all exhorted to “Be of Good Courage”. Not many of us are called upon to demonstrate the bravery of Martha Louisa Moore or Caroline Chisholm, the early pioneer women or Mrs. Indira Gandhi. But it behoves us all to heed the words “Be of Good Courage” in our daily lives and in aspiring to more effectively serve God and serve our neighbour.
What do we mean when we say “Be of Good Courage”? The Oxford Dictionary defines courage as “that quality of mind which shows itself in facing danger without fear or shrinking”. And from where do we draw the inner strength to be of good courage? We draw it from love. Love is the most potent factor in the world – love of God and love of our neighbour. As the illustrious Indian Rabindranath Tagore wrote:
“This is my prayer to Thee, My Lord,
strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.
Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
And give me the strength to surrender my strength to Thy will with love.”
(GITANJALI)