SPINIFEX AND HESSIAN BOOK BY SUSSAN HUNT WOMEN IN NORTH WEST AUSTRALIA 1860-1900

This is not a story of ladies in crinolines but a story of the dangerous and impermanent lives of women during the colonization of Northern Australia. Set against a backdrop of European pastoral, pearling and mining development, Spinifex and Hessian explores the experiences of the women who lived on the north-west frontier, those who accompanied the male pioneers; women who travelled north as servants, teachers, prostitutes and hotel-keepers; and the Aboriginal women whose country was over-run by the settlers.