Eagle Hawk Girl: A Free-Range Child

In the 1950s, Eaglehawk boys had fun. I wanted to get out of the house and play with them like a boy. This meant taking risks: playing on the old mine poppet heads, climbing rooftops and roaming around on my bike. I was aware of the danger of ‘men’. As the doctor’s daughter I was observed, but that didn’t bother me. Nor did I let attendance at a private girls’ school and the local church rein me in. My imagination was fired by reading about adventures by competent children. The hot, dry Eaglehawk summers made me long for the pool, and I swam wherever I could. My ‘free range’ experiences involved a precarious balance between freedom and security.