sufficiency as they run Coorain. In bush country, Conway (1990) tells us there is an ethos which ôgrew up from making a virtue out of loneliness and hardshipö (8). These ideals will greatly shape the KerÆs lives and Conway will eventually reject them. However, it is these ideals and this ethos which gives her the strength to break away from a potentially unfulfilling existence and begin anew.
We see how Australians like the Ker family often consider themselves in British terms, something that helps form the class-conscious Australian society. Her fatherÆs moods ebb and flow with the weather and level of fecundity of the land, ôHis depressive mood swings followed the patterns of the weather and the good or bad fortunes that accompanied fecundity or droughtö (Hoy 2000, 450). A severe drought will eventually result in his suicide, while her mother is left to manage Coorain. Australian society does not look kindly upon independent professional women, something the young Conway learns from her motherÆs interactions with various business types. According to Conway, her parentÆs management of Coorain represented a ôgamble for independenceö (Hoy 2000, 450).
For the young Conway, there was no such independence. Her early childhood fortunes were dependent upon the fortunes of Coorain. Absent the education she desperately sought, she was forced to listen to her brothersÆ tutors and read anything she could get her hands on. Nevertheless, her early years were viewed by her as somewhat of an imprisonment from which there was no escaping, primarily because of Australian views of roles for women, particularly daughters. As Conway (1990) writes of her feelings when her brother Barry leaves her with her mother, ôThoughts of escape were unrealistic. Daughters in Australia were supposed to be the prop and stay of their parents. Would I ever get away?ö (151).
Though Conway longed for a new life, she was devoted to work...