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occasion a tendency toward jargon andconcomitant anachronistic attitudes.The book's cover gives a hint of its basicdilemma. The title, in firm no-nonsense script,is accompanied by a pair of children drawn bythe editor's 7-year old grand-daughter. The bookclearly has an identity problem. Endearing childart on the outside, extensive footnotes on theinside. Who is the intended reader? It is tooscholarly for the general market, at the sametime seems too informal for an academic text.Apart from the reluctance to give details aboutthe thirteen women contributors, there are, evenat a cursory glance, instances of careless editingthat cause uneasiness about possible slipselsewhere, not so immediately recognisable. Forexample, Randolph Stow's novel The Suburbsof Hell is repeatedly referred to as The Suburbof Hell and the running head in the middle ofCarolyn Polizzotto's contribution reads 'PhyllisGarrick.' Even the quote accompanying thephotograph on page 75 is only partiallyappropriate, as the relative paragraph refers togirls in white aprons and makes much of themhaving to play wearing hats. (No hat in sight, andonly a few aprons).Having dispersed with such minor irritations,the way is clear to explore the individual essays,which range from the stylish and lively to theimpersonally informative.The stated aim of the book is to investigatean area neglected by traditional research: Maleadults had been seen as the major actors in thehistorical drama 'moving about apparentlyunencumbered by women and children.' Thismeant that well over half the popUlation hadbeen traditionally ignored, and almost nothingwas known about how children's daily lives hadbeen shaped by their environment and by thedecisions of adults.The essays are organised in three groups: TheReconstruction of Childhood; School andNeighbourhood; Philanthropy Ideology andState. This grouping, despite much inevitableoverlapping, allows an emphasis on the dualperspective of the children's experience and thesocial forces that moulded their lives.At their best they go far beyond theboundaries of their chosen topic. Thus, forexample, Mabel Creelman's Chapter 9, 'Asurrogate Parent Approach to Child Emigration:the First Kingsley Fairbridge Farm School,1912-1924' while, indeed introducing the conceptof 'cottage mothering'is, in fact, more impressiveWESTERLY, No.2, JUNE, 1989as an excellent and interesting short history ofthe Fairbridges and their school. Likewise,Jennie Carter and Jenny Gregory in theircomplementary studies, one of a working classsuburb (Bassendean), the other middle-class(Nedlands) combine personal recollection witha chronicling of local history and achieving,along the way, a quality of freshness andimmediacy. (Only the footnotes break out inacademic absurdities. On checking why some ofthe 'informants' wished to remain anonymous,one finds that they volunteered such startlinginformation as 'Church was one of the greatestthings in Nedlands', or reveal the fact that theMethodist Boys' Badminton Club met on weeknights,or provided details about the number ofprayer meetings attended by Anglican children.)No such reservations hampered Jessie Viner'sreminiscences of a 'Childhood on the Peel.' Abrief introduction by Carolyn Polizzottoprovides a suitable perspective, drawingattention to the incongruity of an idyllicchildhood being possible in the midst of severehardship experienced by the adults in the GroupSettlement Scheme on the Peel Inlet in the 1920s.The reminiscences themselves embody thequintessential myth of the Australian battlerwithout ever turning to cliche, as in the episodeof the impromptu church service with thecongregation sitting on chaff bags and ratsrunning around in the shadows. (The last serviceJessie's mother had attended had been atWestminster Abbey.) Or, the lack of doctorsforcing them into terrible home-cures, with dogsbeing used to lick infected human sores.But while the personal element is the mostimmediately engaging aspect, there are othermemorable contributions.Noelene Reeves graphically reconstructs fromavailable records the daily reality of schoolingin Western Australia circa 1896. Punishmentswere well documented, games not. Concern withovercrowding, discomfort and insanitaryplumbing far outweighs information about thecurriculum, which was severely limited in scope.'The cleaning of slates with sleeves also used ashandkerchiefs was one of the reasons given forpreferring paper and pencil and for recommendingthe discontinuation of the use of slates inschools' and the virulent and fatal nature ofchildhood illness meant that children were nostrangers to the death of a classmate.One of the most impressive contributions isMoira Fitzpatrick's essay on the Mental109