Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemVoices from below: family, school and community on the Braybrook plains 1854-1892( 1993)This thesis identifies and documents a number of families and neighbourhoods on the plains west of Melbourne in the years 1854 to 1892. It traces their interaction with each other, with teachers and with the central education bureaucracy. A major aim is to make visible the women and children in these neighbourhoods and, where possible, to let them speak for themselves. The period studied is the latter part of the nineteenth century, from the early years of local control and government aid through the various boards of education to the first two decades of 'free, compulsory and secular education'. Braybrook Shire is divided into different neighbourhoods, ranging from the small and fluctuating industrial community at Maribyrnong and the 'labouring-class' suburb of Maidstone, to the dairying and stock-holding areas at Albion-Braybrook, then further west to the settlement of Kororoit Creek, with its farms and explosives factory, and beyond to the sparsely-settled rural areas of Derrimut, Mt Cotterell and Rockbank. The diversity of the small communities studied and the microscopic approach adopted, challenge the view that local communities are uniform, static, isolated entities and that women and men are passive victims of outside forces. There is oppression and hardship, but also evidence that local people had a range of strategies for survival and some victories in local battles with the State. Schooling was clearly an important issue to these early migrant settlers, despite the need for children's labour in family economies. 'Community' is seen to be complex, including mobility and continuity, conflict and kinship ties, and interaction between the private and the public domain. The thesis demonstrates women's importance in the local culture and the value of searching for local perspectives and the voices of 'ordinary' people. The sources and the methodology used suggest possible approaches for other researchers.