Post #10: Jill Ker Conway

 Word Count: 256

Jill Ker Conway came from a farming background in the outback in Australia. Jill writes about her journey from South Wales to America. There were almost no opportunities for woman scholars in Australia and she was given little choice in how to lead her life. From the lack of opportunity to her family struggles, she was able to move to America. Though she had escaped the farm life, her struggles were not yet done. The excerpt, “The Road from Coorain”, goes over a brief section of Jill’s early life and how she perceived it.

In Jill’s life on the farm, she performed numerous tasks. She bounced between the life of studying and learning and working at home. Jill was somebody who was always developing. On page 154, she refers to studying as “as a leisure activity. A gift without price”. Still, her mother often acted as a stumbling block to her. In other places around the farm, her family was struggling with the farm. It turned her home to a realm of anxiety and tension. Even when her brothers came home and she learned of all the things they had done, the atmosphere was not something that could be fixed easily. As her father often was swallowed by this atmosphere, he would tell Jill to truly make something of herself, leave the country and get a real education. Through the death of all the sheep on her farm, the death of her father, and the deterioration of her mother, she somehow was able to continue on.