If it wasn’t true, one could be forgiven for thinking this book is a work of fiction.
THE UNFORESEEN WARRIOR WOMAN
By Pauline Doherty
The plot is deep and the shocks are even deeper.It’s a family history and a history of rural New South Wales 70 years after the convicts first arrived. The land had been divided and apportioned by a society which was transplanted holus bolus from Europe.
That transplantation had brought with it, the entire social and economic problems of the time. The only difference was a different land. The poor were still poor and the rich were still rich. With wealth came prosperity and with nothing came hard work and subservience. What sustained this family was their Lutheran faith, hard grinding toil and strong women.
For the men it was work on the land, for women the endless cooking cleaning and nurturing of children and for young girls of 14 years the duties of maid to the local landowner. What followed was a baby girl and decades of shame attributed to the abused rather than the abuser. The hidden shame of an unwanted child sired as a result of a criminal act.
The power of the wealthy to stigmatise the poor and to control them though control of the local administrative apparatus, dominated by the Council, the Police and the Catholic Church.The very institutions which were supposed to nurture and support were used by the powerful to subdue, steal and abuse. They were dominated by the powerful, the wealthy, people who make the law and break it in their next breath. With impunity!
This is a story of a woman from a family determined not to be dominated, one who educated herself against all headwinds, a Warrior who struggles still for social and economic justice.
