![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Women's History Month: Sharyn Lilley
Mar. 4th, 2011 01:49 pmSharyn Lilley: mother of seven incredible individuals; as a writer, editor and publisher, when she looks back over the last few years is probably proudest of the book she had least to do with: Baggage edited by Gillian Polack. This would be closely followed by the novel short-listed in last year's Ditmars - Gillian Polack's Life Through Cellophane.
Gillian tells me a truly amazing woman can silence rabble with just a look. And, to give credit where it’s due, any mother will tell you that a good quelling look is very definitely an art worth cultivating. But you know, I get this feeling that, had I been the young and innocent girl being sexually accosted by a drunken ruffian in the frontier town of Bald Hills in the 1800’s, I would have far rather had Mother Buntine there to take to the cad with her bullocky whip, and thrash him into soberness, than another woman who might have given him the glare of a lifetime.
So – is this guest blog about Mother Buntine? In part, but it’s been sparked by several things:
a) my hackles rising every time someone tells me Australia’s history is boring;
b) some of you might know of my Granny alter ego, a friend recently said she wished she could create a character as interesting as Granny, and hang on – Granny is based on my real (if tea total) Grandma. Granny characters are all around us if we take the time to look; and
c) the surprise I still feel that a very good friend of mine, university educated, and interested in history, hadn’t so much as heard of the Battle of Broken Hill, until in her forties. This blog post is about some of those Australian women whose lives have inspired me, ever since I was old enough to hang about in the front room, reading a book, but truly eavesdropping on the conversations of my elders. *g* I hope it might interest some of you enough to find out more for yourselves. ( If you want to find out more, please click here. )
Gillian tells me a truly amazing woman can silence rabble with just a look. And, to give credit where it’s due, any mother will tell you that a good quelling look is very definitely an art worth cultivating. But you know, I get this feeling that, had I been the young and innocent girl being sexually accosted by a drunken ruffian in the frontier town of Bald Hills in the 1800’s, I would have far rather had Mother Buntine there to take to the cad with her bullocky whip, and thrash him into soberness, than another woman who might have given him the glare of a lifetime.
So – is this guest blog about Mother Buntine? In part, but it’s been sparked by several things:
a) my hackles rising every time someone tells me Australia’s history is boring;
b) some of you might know of my Granny alter ego, a friend recently said she wished she could create a character as interesting as Granny, and hang on – Granny is based on my real (if tea total) Grandma. Granny characters are all around us if we take the time to look; and
c) the surprise I still feel that a very good friend of mine, university educated, and interested in history, hadn’t so much as heard of the Battle of Broken Hill, until in her forties. This blog post is about some of those Australian women whose lives have inspired me, ever since I was old enough to hang about in the front room, reading a book, but truly eavesdropping on the conversations of my elders. *g* I hope it might interest some of you enough to find out more for yourselves. ( If you want to find out more, please click here. )