By Callum Ludwig
An author and playwright is coming to the Yarra Junction Library this month to share her second book.
Robyn Bishop lives in Melbourne and will be visiting to talk about her book ‘The Rust Red Land’.
Ms Bishop said the book is a historical drama set between 1892 and 1950, based on a slightly fictionalised version of the life of her grandmother, Matilda.
“She was a country woman and during those times, obviously it was pretty much a patriarchal society and she grew up as the oldest daughter of nine siblings born to farmers who were quite poor,” she said.
“She wanted more than she could have because in those days, particularly as the oldest female, you were expected to leave school at this certain age and help your mother with the rest of the siblings,”
“That was her loss, but she sort of wanted a bit more than that, she wanted to learn, she wanted to get out there in the world and do things so it follows her life and what happened to her and her siblings as well, who all have their own stories within hers.”
Ms Bishop’s grandmother grew up in the town of Narrandera, located in the Riverina region of New South Wales.
Ms Bishop said she thinks it’s for the younger generations to know about a slice of life from earlier times and what women had to go through.
“I think a lot of women who have read it, who are older, identify with it in a huge way, because we’re still a bit under the patriarchal thumb, even these days, it’s hard for some women to do what they want to do and need to do,” she said.
“I’m sure being in the country would’ve made it even harder, it was a very closed community or a small community, she adored the land that she was living on, the land and the river, but you don’t meet people who may be doing things that are a bit more liberated.”
It took Ms Bishop six years to write the story while juggling her work as a drama teacher, having published her first book in 2014.
Ms Bishop said this particular story had sat with her since she was a little girl and heard it from her grandmother herself.
“She used to sit me on her knee when I was a little girl, four or five, and tell me all of these things about growing up and her various siblings,” she said.
“It should be a really good read, my friends and people I know who’ve read it have picked it up and not wanted to put it down again and I just hope that people perhaps identify with Matilda and her struggle and see a little bit of their own forebears in her or a little bit of themselves in her and go on that journey.”
Ms Bishop will be visiting Yarra Junction Library from 2pm to 3pm on Thursday 29 February and you can book your place at events.yourlibrary.com.au/event?id=49865.
