Mapping the educational work of governesses on Australia’s remote stations

Abstract

This article is about the educational work of governesses on Australia’s remote cattle and sheep stations. These stations occupy vast tracts of land in the outback, and form part of global food supply chains exporting meat to countries around the world. The article explores the nature of governesses’ work, the boundaries they negotiate to perform their work, and the spaces and places in which it takes place. The governess occupies a unique position within the occupational and social hierarchy of the station. She lives and works in the same domestic space as the family/employer, unlike other station employees, and is valued for her success in managing the social and spatial dynamics of power both with the students/children and the employer/family. The article focuses on the negotiation of boundaries between domestic/public spaces, paid/unpaid, affective and educational labour involved in governess roles.

Keywords:

• distance education
• Australia
• governesses
• educational work
• gendered spaces
• boundary work

Notes

1. http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/dimensions/area-of-australia-states-and-territories.html (accessed June 25, 2012).

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Population estimates by remoteness area, 2001–11. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/DetailsPage/3218.02010-11 (accessed October 22, 2012).

3. This represents a significant historical decline in rural populations from about 60% in 1861 (Petersen and Rodwell 1993, v), to approximately 2.3% in the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics report on ‘Estimated Resident Population, Remoteness Areas, Australia’ (2011).

4. http://www.spatialonline.com.au/aria/default.aspx; and http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/remoteness+structure(accessed June 25, 2012).

5. http://www.assoa.nt.edu.au/_HISTORY/history.html (accessed August 6, 2012).

6. The gendered nature of the Childcare profession in Australia was recently recognised by the Fair Work Australia decision to increase the minimum wage for these workers. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-01/fair-work-orders-pay-increase-for-community-sector/3804682 (accessed June 25, 2012).

7. http://www.deewr.gov.au/Earlychildhood/Resources/Documents/IHCFunding_201011.pdf (accessed July 1, 2012).

8. http://www.facebook.com/govaust and http://www.governessaustralia.com/ (accessed July 5, 2012).

9. ‘Dual Qualification Offered to Outback Governesses’. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-03-28/dual-qualification-offered-to-outback-governesses/1540638 (accessed September 2, 2011). Certificate III in educational support qualifies a candidate to work as a teacher’s aide.

10. http://www.vise.org.au/, accessed 6 August 2012.

11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Creek_station (accessed July 1, 2012).

12. http://www.governessaustralia.com/pictures.htm (accessed October 20, 2011).

13. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ (accessed July 5, 2012).

14. Australia (2008) is a feature film directed by Baz Lurhmann that sought to present the story of the ‘stolen generation’ (the removal of indigenous children from their families during the twentieth century, a government policy only ended in the 1970s and apologised for by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008) in a nostalgic and romanticised matinee-film version of ‘outback’ life.

15. A ‘swagman’ is a colloquial term for a man who travels with a ‘swag’ (all possessions).

16. ‘Shearing’ process of removing wool from sheep with metal shears.

17. Muster’ is the round-up of cattle for droving along the stock routes – these dirt tracks through the outback have historically been used for moving large numbers of cattle for market, some such as the Birdsville and Tanami tracks mark geographic territories across State borders.