Previous
Characters
The unnamed bushwoman is the main character in “The Drover’s Wife,” and the story centers around the challenges she faces raising a family largely on her own in the Australian bush. She has four children—Tommy, Jacky, and two daughters—with the drover, who is often away for many months at a time. The bushwoman has grown extremely self-sufficient over the years, though she still clings to various trappings of more “civilized” life—reading the Young Ladies’ Journal and dressing up to go for a walk with her children every Sunday, for example. As a girl she dreamt of a comfortable life and she enjoyed being pampered by her husband early in their marriage by buggy rides and fancy hotel stays. After the drover’s finances were devastated by a drought, however, both were forced to trade their creature comforts for a demanding, solitary existence in the outback. The bushwoman has since come to accept the inescapability of her fate and the harshness of life in the bush, which has robbed her of her more “womanly” nature (symbolized by her wearing trousers, which both amuses and frightens her children). In addition to depicting her struggle to protect her family from a snake that invades their home, the story enumerates the many threats that she has faced over the course of her life in the bush, which range from natural phenomena—fires, floods, and wild animals—to lascivious men who, realizing no husband is at home, occasionally come to her door. By the end of the story, the reader has a clear understanding of just how tough these many challenges have forced the bushwoman to become, both physically and emotionally, in order to ensure the survival of her family. That she remains unnamed throughout the story suggests that she symbolizes a generation who helped establish the foundations of white settlement deep in the Australian continent.
The Bushwoman Quotes in The Drover’s Wife
The The Drover’s Wife quotes below are all either spoken by The Bushwoman or refer to The Bushwoman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Drover’s Wife
Quotes
No undergrowth. Nothing to relieve the eye save the darker green of a few she-oaks which are sighing above the narrow, almost waterless creek. Nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilization—a shanty on the main road.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
As a girl she built the usual castles in the air; but all her girlish hopes and aspirations have been long dead. She finds all the excitement and recreation she needs in the Young Ladies’ Journal, and Heaven help her! Takes a pleasure in the fashion plates.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The sight of his mother in trousers greatly amused Tommy, who worked like a little hero by her side, but the terrified baby howled lustily for his ‘mummy.’
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She stood for hours in the drenching downpour, and dug an overflow gutter to save the dam across the creek. But she could not save it. There are things that a bushwoman cannot do.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The crows leave in a hurry; they are cunning, but a woman’s cunning is greater.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
On Sunday afternoon she dresses herself, tidies up the children, smartens up baby, and goes for a lonely walk along the bush-track, pushing an old perambulator in front of her.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She loves her children, but has no time to show it. She seems harsh to them. Her surroundings are not favorable to the “womanly” or sentimental side of nature.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He was the last of his tribe and a King; but he had built that woodheap hollow.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Presently he looks up at her, sees the tears in her eyes, and, throwing his arms around her neck exclaims:
“Mother, I won’t never go drovin’; blarst me if I do!”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Drover’s Wife LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Bushwoman Quotes in The Drover’s Wife
The The Drover’s Wife quotes below are all either spoken by The Bushwoman or refer to The Bushwoman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Drover’s Wife
Quotes
No undergrowth. Nothing to relieve the eye save the darker green of a few she-oaks which are sighing above the narrow, almost waterless creek. Nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilization—a shanty on the main road.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
As a girl she built the usual castles in the air; but all her girlish hopes and aspirations have been long dead. She finds all the excitement and recreation she needs in the Young Ladies’ Journal, and Heaven help her! Takes a pleasure in the fashion plates.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The sight of his mother in trousers greatly amused Tommy, who worked like a little hero by her side, but the terrified baby howled lustily for his ‘mummy.’
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She stood for hours in the drenching downpour, and dug an overflow gutter to save the dam across the creek. But she could not save it. There are things that a bushwoman cannot do.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The crows leave in a hurry; they are cunning, but a woman’s cunning is greater.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
On Sunday afternoon she dresses herself, tidies up the children, smartens up baby, and goes for a lonely walk along the bush-track, pushing an old perambulator in front of her.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She loves her children, but has no time to show it. She seems harsh to them. Her surroundings are not favorable to the “womanly” or sentimental side of nature.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He was the last of his tribe and a King; but he had built that woodheap hollow.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Presently he looks up at her, sees the tears in her eyes, and, throwing his arms around her neck exclaims:
“Mother, I won’t never go drovin’; blarst me if I do!”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
