Join Sally Gare (Herzfeld) as she talks about her book, Outback Teacher (Allen & Unwin). Outback Teacher is the story of a remarkable young woman, life with her students and their adventures in remote Australia.

The year is 1956. Sally Gare is twenty. She's just out of teachers' college and has been sent to work at a two-teacher school more than 3000 kilometres from Perth. With the head teacher away, she starts out alone with a class of forty-five Aboriginal children, ranging in age from five years to thirteen. Thus begins the career of an inspiring teacher and a life-changing adventure in remote Australia.

Bookings are essential for this free event via Eventbrite. 

Please advise if you have any access requirements.

Light refreshments will be included. We encourage you to bring your own keep cup for tea/coffee or water.

About Sally Gare: Sally Gare grew up in Darlington as one of the Gare family, and since 1969 has lived in Darlington with husband Tom Herzfeld and her family. Outback Teacher was co-written with Freda Marnie.

About the book: Outback Teacher is the story of the challenges and delights of teaching in outback schools in the 1950s and 1960s. Sally's interaction with her students and the local Aboriginal communities is affectionate and heart-warming, although it isn't without its misunderstandings. But the tensions aren't just confined to the school and the local community. Some of the characters with whom Sally shares her less than comfortable housing are as eccentric and as curiously interesting as any escapee to the outback.

Full of warmth, humour and kindness, this generous book reminds us how bush people have always found their own solutions to the problems isolation throws at them. But most importantly, and in the most personal way, it confirms how inspiring and passionate teachers can change lives.