Book Summary

This book documents the lives of twenty-one women on soldier settler blocks in New South Wales after World War II. Their stories relate how they came to live on virtually virgin land and lived in tents and sheds with no electricity and no running water.

They established their homes and worked side by side with their husbands on the farms. At the same time, they brought up their children far from family support and with medical help difficult to access on sometimes impassable roads. They survived floods, drought, and bushfires.

Their stories show it was the women who brought the communities on the soldier settlements together. A number of the women reveal personal tragedies that set even greater challenges for them to face. Through it all though, these women have shown amazing strength, resilience, and selflessness.

Their contribution to their families, their farms, their communities, and the state of New South Wales is significant.