Outback Teacher: The Inspiring Story of a Remarkable Young Woman, Life With Her Students and Their Adventures in Remote Australia by Sally Gare with Freda Marnie

Book Description

Secondhand. Fine condition.

A charming story of a young woman who faces challenges and finds joy teaching in outback schools.

The year is 1956. Sally Gare is twenty. She's just out of teachers' college and has been sent to work at a two-teacher school - Forrest River Mission, more than 3000 kilometres from Perth. With the head teacher away, she begins alone with a class of forty-five Aboriginal children, ranging in age from five to thirteen years. Thus begins the career of a remarkable teacher and a life-changing adventure in remote Australia.

Outback Teacher is the story of the challenges and delights of teaching in outback schools in the 1950s and 1960s. Sally's interactions with her students and the local Aboriginal communities are affectionate and heart-warming, although they are not without their misunderstandings. However, the tensions are not confined solely to the school and the local community. Some of the characters with whom Sally shares her less-than-comfortable housing are as eccentric and as curiously interesting as any escapee to the outback.

Full of warmth, humour and kindness, this generous book reminds us how bush people have always found their own solutions to the problems isolation throws at them. But most importantly, and in the most personal way, it confirms how inspiring and passionate teachers can change lives.