The unrelenting rigour of farming women has become a unique poem-novel in the hands of author Ray Tyndale, writes Laura Stace

A hard life is a farmwoman’s life, says author Ray Tyndale, who lived through the devastating Ash Wednesday bush fires in 1983 that destroyed buildings, killed animals, burnt soil and destroyed the irrigation system on her farm.

"That is nature and that is the nature of farming," she says.

What originally began as a manuscript for her PhD in creative writing has become Farmwoman, Tyndale’s book that paints an accurate picture of what life is like for women who live in rural and remote Australia.

Tyndale spent many years farming in South Australia and drew from her own experience on the land, as well as the stories of hundreds of other farmwomen she talked to while researching for her book, to create the quintessential farmwoman character Molly.

Tyndale says her uniquely structured book started out as a short poem that just kind of "came out one day", and from there Molly lived her life through the pages of Farmwoman.

The brutality of life on the farm, abuse from a male relative, hard work and the realisation that she was inferior to men were facts of life for Molly from when she was just a child.

Unlike her character, Tyndale grew up in England and came to Australia in 1970, but like Molly she has led a hard working life with past jobs including running a farm, being a cook, a brickie and a truckie.

Married to a supportive husband but repressed by his controlling family who govern her every move, Molly’s world is far different from the life of women in the city.

If a city girl met a farmer and was contemplating moving with him to his farm, Tyndale says she would advise her to think hard about her decision, warning it is a very tough life.

Tyndale says she has spoken to farmers who agree it is difficult for women who have to give up their lives and move to a farm where they are isolated from their family and friends.

Tyndale says these women refer to themselves as farmers’ wives instead of farmers, despite the fact they are really farmers too.

However, like Molly’s daughter, in an industry that is dominated by men, the new generation of farming women are starting to break the mold and find their voices.

They are taking the reins and becoming more active, not just in the decisions that are made on the farm but also in the influencing of policy decisions in Canberra, something Tyndale describes as "agripolitics".

"For most of us it is too late, but it is really exciting for us to support these young women," she says.

Tyndale says organisations like the Australian Women in Agriculture and Women on Farms are more popular nowadays as farmwomen become more involved with the details of farm life that typically used to be left to men.

The new breed of Australian farmwomen are so full of life, ideas and politics says Tyndale.

"Women might not appear to be very strong, but they have that inner strength that can help them carry on no matter what," she says.

• Tyndale will be signing copies of her book Farmwoman at the Collins Bookstore at Smithfield on Sunday, August 3, from 11am-1pm.

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