Week 35 - Back To School - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 35 and I am behind on the #52Ancestors challenge again - but at least I am still going!

The topic for this week is 'Back to School', and education has played such a huge part in my life.  I was one of those kids who loved school, loved learning, loved books - it is no surprise I have ended up working in a library.  Neither of my parents had the opportunity to continue in school that my sister and I had, but both Mum and Dad loved to read and saw the value of education for their daughters.  They supported our education and were the parents who always attended parent/teacher nights, helped out at school working bees, canteen and library, and always attended school plays and other activities.  Both could not have been prouder when their daughters headed off to university, and proudly attended our graduations.

Me ready for school c1977

For my parents there were fewer educational opportunities.  Both left school early to go out to work to help support their families, but learning was still lifelong and libraries and books played a big part in their lives.  Any topic they wanted to know more about was only a visit to the library away, and reading non-fiction because you happened to be interested in the topic was how we were brought up.  My father even had the opportunity to go back to school later in life, doing a correspondence course from Sydney University in farm management and sheep breeding as part of his job on a sheep station.  Not bad for a man who had left school at Grade 6 to go out to work.