1988 School Magazine

husband's society affecting her material interestsj however deeply it may and must affect her {eelings and her comfort, it seems to me that the loss of conjugal society is a special damage to the husbrand only, who has thereby lost the society of one who is . . . considered . . . his servant." To me these passages highlight the signif icance of the tremendous privileges we have inherited from generations who were'concerned to see that different paths were open to us. To a large extent, of course, those paths are still being forged. That brings me to my second reason for being excited about taking your step into the world, and it is this; awaiting you, and to be had for the taking, lies a real sense of adventure. I think we allow ourselves to imagine that the days when one person could set off on a real adventure ended with Magellan sailing around the world. Geographically, the world seems a small place today, but there are still men and women who are "discovering" things. and places in the most genuine sense of the word. We don't tend to hear much about our women pioneers, but I was recently reading of one early German immigrant, Amalie Dietrich, who did pioneering work in the f ield of natural science in Queensland in the 1860s and 1870s. lt is reported that in her travels, she; ". . . disembowelled crocodiles, started a butterf ly farm, bartered for skeletons; was sucked down into a swamp, got malaria and lost equipment and specimens when her bush hut burnt down ..." Now, lest you mistake ffi€, Iam not necessarily advocating that you launch yourselves on the first solo bicycle trip to the Antarctic; what I am leading up to is the fact that frontiers lie ahead, with barriers waiting to be broken. In my own field, that of the law, there are some very interesting frontiers. As yet in Queensland, there is no woman who can place the initials "Q.C." after her name. These stand for "Queen's Counsel" and indicate an eminent and respected barrister. There are no women judges in Queensland, indeed, scarcely a handful in Australia; but slowly, the bastions are falling. The process, of course, is not a bitter assault upon a f ortress, but a gradualwinning of respect for dedication, intelligence and honesty. There are many areas as you know in which women are being pioneers - some in fields which have traditionally been dominated by men such as stockbroking or the ministry, and there are also f ields where women are pioneers alongside men, such as medicine, teaching, fashion and scientific research. While we are on the subject of f uture careers, there are a few general hints I would like to pass on. Firstly, although you have already filled out your QTAC forms and made some important decisions about what direction your life is to take, don't be too surprised or concerned if you find your ideas changing after a while. Some of the girls who left school with me have radically altered their initial plans; others have more subtly changed directions. These changes obviously have something to do with the likes or dislikes of various vocations, but also with some deep-seated changes made concerning values and goals. One of the most exciting things about f urther education tn

and mixing with older people, is the challenge it presents to the ideas that we have unconsciously inherited f rom ou r parents. It is a time for re-evaluaiing some ideas and possibly altering them - but whether they are altered or retained, you should fi.nd you have much better reasons for, and a clearer understanding of, what,become your new life values. Secondly, never apologise for being good at what you do, and don't be afraid to try hard to be good at it. ln the process of discovering our talents, which is not always easy, we are sometimes afraid to give things our best shot, in case that turns out to be nolgood enough. We are concerned that people wilIsee us as "conchies" or "crawlers" if we put too much effort into something, so we hold back. We are fooled into believing that if we have to work hard at something, we must have no natural talent for it, and should give it away. These ideas are very common, extremely destructive and usually propagated by people who do not have your best interests at heart. They are a product of the Australian attitude which iclolises success, but fails to a'cknowledge the hard work behind it. lf you do achieve good results, don't obliterate them with false modesty. Be gratef ulthat you have done well, be generous in aiding others, but don't be too quick to put yourself down. Thirdly, don't forget that while life might not have been meant to be easy, it was still, I think, meant to be fun. So don't forget that personal glorification and achievement is not everything, unless you want to be a very narrow sort of person. Life starts opening up some marvellous activities of which you should begin to take advantage. Social activities take an interesting twist once you discover that life, as a rule, is co-educational. Music, sport, religion, drama, politics deserve your time too, so make su re that when you have to work or study, you do it efficiently, Ieaving yourself with worry-free hours in which to really enjoy yourself. This is a special time, as you learn to value certain friendships, undoubtedly form a host of new ones, one or two of which may become more important and intimate than others. One might eventually lead to marriage - a possibility which may seem remote to you now, but which it would be unwise to dismiss out of hand. I know that for me, getting married was one of the smartest and most enjoyable things I have done. Some girlfriends, too, I am sure, will emerge as being special, and that is one thing lthink this school can take credit for in my life, and that is with having provided me with some loyal and lifelong friends. I would therefore encourage you to keep in touch with the good friends you make at school. You may all end up doing very different things in life, but the time you have spent together at school can provide a base from which to continue to learn about, and be interested in, the varied ways in which others manage their lives. Among my good f riends, all of whom went to this school, I can count teachers, physiotherapists, doctors, nursing educators, an engineer, a composer, a valuer and even a Uniting Church minister. AII of these people have interesting occupations and i have learnt a lot from