The Land Girls
This book tells the story of New Zealand's land girls during the Second World War. Drawing on the oral histories of 130 women and the written interviews of 90 others, it uncovers what has been a hidden history, overlooked in most surveys of New Zealand's war experience. The Women's Land Service was formed to supply labour to keep New Zealand agriculture going during the War. From 1940, city girls from the age of seventeen were sent to assist on sheep, cattle, dairy, orchard and poultry properties. Many had the experience of arriving at a remote destination late at night and starting work the next morning as a farm-hand, when they had never been close-up to a sheep. They learned to ride horses, train and whistle up dogs, muster and shear sheep, plough and harvest crops, and to master all the myriad tasks of rural industries, often without electricity. The experience dramatically changed lives. Some gave up university education, or left their careers and changed direction. Others were bitten by the land bug and never returned to city life. This book tells it all, with personal stories, diary entries, photographs, and reproductions of artworks by land girl artist, Juliet Peter.
1018468115
The Land Girls
This book tells the story of New Zealand's land girls during the Second World War. Drawing on the oral histories of 130 women and the written interviews of 90 others, it uncovers what has been a hidden history, overlooked in most surveys of New Zealand's war experience. The Women's Land Service was formed to supply labour to keep New Zealand agriculture going during the War. From 1940, city girls from the age of seventeen were sent to assist on sheep, cattle, dairy, orchard and poultry properties. Many had the experience of arriving at a remote destination late at night and starting work the next morning as a farm-hand, when they had never been close-up to a sheep. They learned to ride horses, train and whistle up dogs, muster and shear sheep, plough and harvest crops, and to master all the myriad tasks of rural industries, often without electricity. The experience dramatically changed lives. Some gave up university education, or left their careers and changed direction. Others were bitten by the land bug and never returned to city life. This book tells it all, with personal stories, diary entries, photographs, and reproductions of artworks by land girl artist, Juliet Peter.
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Overview

This book tells the story of New Zealand's land girls during the Second World War. Drawing on the oral histories of 130 women and the written interviews of 90 others, it uncovers what has been a hidden history, overlooked in most surveys of New Zealand's war experience. The Women's Land Service was formed to supply labour to keep New Zealand agriculture going during the War. From 1940, city girls from the age of seventeen were sent to assist on sheep, cattle, dairy, orchard and poultry properties. Many had the experience of arriving at a remote destination late at night and starting work the next morning as a farm-hand, when they had never been close-up to a sheep. They learned to ride horses, train and whistle up dogs, muster and shear sheep, plough and harvest crops, and to master all the myriad tasks of rural industries, often without electricity. The experience dramatically changed lives. Some gave up university education, or left their careers and changed direction. Others were bitten by the land bug and never returned to city life. This book tells it all, with personal stories, diary entries, photographs, and reproductions of artworks by land girl artist, Juliet Peter.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781877133947
Publisher: Otago University Press
Publication date: 11/01/2000
Product dimensions: 7.48(w) x 10.24(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dianne Bardsley grew up in post-war rural Wairarapa, and often overheard references to land girls in adult conversation. Compiling the book has taken her on the adventure of a lifetime. She found that in addition to the 4290 women who applied to join the land service, there were many more who worked informally in place of male relatives. All of them 'are now, in very many ways, women out of the ordinary'. Dianne wrote the book while holding down a full-time teaching job and is now compiling a dictionary of rural language for Oxford University Press.

Table of Contents

Prefacev
Chapter 1Straightening the Record1
Chapter 2Rural Conservatism7
Chapter 3Champions of the Cause23
Chapter 4High Country Work37
Chapter 5Family Farms51
Chapter 6Women in Charge57
Chapter 7Farms with a Difference73
Chapter 8Rydal Downs79
Chapter 9Glenburn Station95
Chapter 10Hardships and Hurdles107
Chapter 11Farming for Life117
Chapter 12Who'd be a Land Girl?125
Conclusion141
Notes143
Appendix 1Biographies of Land Girl Contributors147
Appendix 2Women's Land Service Handbook164
Bibliography167
Index168
Glossary of Rural Terms
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