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Outback Teacher: The inspiring story of a remarkable young woman, life with her students and their adventures in remote Australia
A charming story of a young woman who faces challenges and finds joy teaching in outback schools.
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 a remarkable teacher and a life-changing adventure in remote Australia.
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.
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 a remarkable teacher and a life-changing adventure in remote Australia.
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.
304 pages, Paperback
Published May 3, 2022
12 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 8, 2024
This is an inspiring book written in a very matter of fact way. She makes no judgements on what she saw and experienced, accepting them and the people she chose to live among. She was dedicated, creative and kind, creating space for many to experience hope and joy in life. A good read.
January 3, 2024
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.
Sally Gare has written about her experience working in remote communities in northern WA as a school teacher in a missionary. It's important to explore this book with an open lens, as Sally was 20 and had the view of wanting to help First Nations communities and children to be educated. It's hard however to not buy in to the narrative that it was imperative that white people had to create missionaries and educate First Nations communities to assimilate and adjust to western civilisation, especially those residing so remotely and independently.
I appreciate the perspective and life of Sally and the wonderful experiences she had with community, learning about their culture, being accepted and embraced by the local community, and generally wanting to do better for community. There are a few small gaps in the narrative, however it's important to recognise that Sally is now 84, and recalling events from the 1950's can be challenging at best.
It was an eye opening experience about a young, white female travelling into remote communities in a time where many people wouldn't, to try to adjust into community life, and embrace the remote wilderness and her surroundings, whilst educating a wide breadth of children.
Thank you to Allen and Unwin for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Sally Gare has written about her experience working in remote communities in northern WA as a school teacher in a missionary. It's important to explore this book with an open lens, as Sally was 20 and had the view of wanting to help First Nations communities and children to be educated. It's hard however to not buy in to the narrative that it was imperative that white people had to create missionaries and educate First Nations communities to assimilate and adjust to western civilisation, especially those residing so remotely and independently.
I appreciate the perspective and life of Sally and the wonderful experiences she had with community, learning about their culture, being accepted and embraced by the local community, and generally wanting to do better for community. There are a few small gaps in the narrative, however it's important to recognise that Sally is now 84, and recalling events from the 1950's can be challenging at best.
It was an eye opening experience about a young, white female travelling into remote communities in a time where many people wouldn't, to try to adjust into community life, and embrace the remote wilderness and her surroundings, whilst educating a wide breadth of children.
Thank you to Allen and Unwin for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 8, 2023
Sally Gare’s story of living and working at Forrest River Mission (FRM) and Port Hedland in Western Australia in the 1950s is an endearing account of a teacher's passion for her job and love of the Aboriginal people with whom she shared her life. Her highly creative approach to education, in which she drew upon the resources of the local community and incorporated elements from traditional Aboriginal culture, reveal an innovative teacher ahead of her time. Recounting her friendship with the celebrated author, Randolph Stow, who was also part of the FRM staff, and a marvellous collection of colour photographs, add value to Gare's charming memoir.
August 4, 2022
A most interesting story. I could relate to the people and places having travelled widely in the area that is the setting for this book. Sally is well ahead of her time in her attitudes and treatment of her students and the wider indigenous community. Also perceptive about problems arising. Told in a simple style with a strong personal voice, it was a book I couldn’t put down u til finished. A book I will be recommending to others.
December 23, 2025
Outback Teacher by Freda Marnie Nicholls is a quietly powerful testament to vocation, endurance, and moral courage in some of Australia’s most remote and unforgiving landscapes. At its heart stands Sally Gare, portrayed with such clarity and warmth that she emerges not merely as an educator, but as a figure of rare humanity. She is, quite simply, a saintly presence: compassionate, principled, and unwavering in her belief in inclusiveness and equality, long before such ideals were comfortably fashionable.
Gare’s dedication to her students of First Nations heritage is the book’s moral backbone. She teaches not from a position of superiority, but with profound respect, patience, and love, recognising the dignity and potential of children who have so often been failed by systems far removed from their lived realities. Her commitment is not abstract or rhetorical; it is deeply practical. Time and again, she diverts her modest salary to purchase basic equipment and learning materials for schools so remote that even essentials are scarce. Teaching, for Gare, is not confined to the classroom - it is an all-encompassing act of service.
Nicholls (Sally Gare's ex student) also gives generous space to the quiet heroism of Gare’s parents, whose steadfast support sustains her through isolation and hardship. Their parcels of fabric, even a typewriter, and supplies - items unobtainable in the outback - form an invisible lifeline, reminding the reader that resilience is often communal rather than solitary. These gestures of love and practicality underscore the emotional cost of remote teaching, and the networks required to survive it.
The physical hardships are rendered without sentimentality: the relentless heat, the sandflies and mosquitoes, the discomfort and exhaustion of daily life at the margins. Social challenges, too, are presented honestly, including the frustrations of theft and disorder that occasionally accompany entrenched disadvantage. Yet what is most striking is Gare’s refusal to allow these difficulties to harden her. She meets every trial with an almost radical generosity of spirit, continuing to care deeply for her students, never withdrawing her affection or belief in them.
Outback Teacher is not merely a memoir of education in remote Australia; it is a meditation on empathy, perseverance, and ethical responsibility. Sally Gare’s story lingers long after the final page, a reminder of what it means to teach with one’s whole self - and to love, even when it would be easier not to.
Gare’s dedication to her students of First Nations heritage is the book’s moral backbone. She teaches not from a position of superiority, but with profound respect, patience, and love, recognising the dignity and potential of children who have so often been failed by systems far removed from their lived realities. Her commitment is not abstract or rhetorical; it is deeply practical. Time and again, she diverts her modest salary to purchase basic equipment and learning materials for schools so remote that even essentials are scarce. Teaching, for Gare, is not confined to the classroom - it is an all-encompassing act of service.
Nicholls (Sally Gare's ex student) also gives generous space to the quiet heroism of Gare’s parents, whose steadfast support sustains her through isolation and hardship. Their parcels of fabric, even a typewriter, and supplies - items unobtainable in the outback - form an invisible lifeline, reminding the reader that resilience is often communal rather than solitary. These gestures of love and practicality underscore the emotional cost of remote teaching, and the networks required to survive it.
The physical hardships are rendered without sentimentality: the relentless heat, the sandflies and mosquitoes, the discomfort and exhaustion of daily life at the margins. Social challenges, too, are presented honestly, including the frustrations of theft and disorder that occasionally accompany entrenched disadvantage. Yet what is most striking is Gare’s refusal to allow these difficulties to harden her. She meets every trial with an almost radical generosity of spirit, continuing to care deeply for her students, never withdrawing her affection or belief in them.
Outback Teacher is not merely a memoir of education in remote Australia; it is a meditation on empathy, perseverance, and ethical responsibility. Sally Gare’s story lingers long after the final page, a reminder of what it means to teach with one’s whole self - and to love, even when it would be easier not to.
October 30, 2023
Interesting at first but a bit diffuse and rambling as the book progressed. I suppose that's understandable since the author is 84. She hit the nail on the head regarding "missionaries", who in Australia must have been just like many I've known here in Spain (some of them indeed were Australians); those who seem to think they're on a long holiday, and those who do very little for the people they claim to be "serving", while expecting others to pay their expenses. They call it "living by faith" but it comes down to sending begging letters.
One thing that surprised me was her constant reference to the two main Aboriginal groups she worked with as "mobs" instead of clans or groups. A quick online search shows that the term is indeed used in her way, but being used to "mob" being used for gangsters, or for a group of sheep cut out of a herd for home slaughter, it brought me up short every time.
I will say it was a quick read, but she seemed to gloss over many things that could have been interesting in a sentence or two. Some of the ghost writer's prose is a bit stilted and a good editor would have been a help.
One thing that surprised me was her constant reference to the two main Aboriginal groups she worked with as "mobs" instead of clans or groups. A quick online search shows that the term is indeed used in her way, but being used to "mob" being used for gangsters, or for a group of sheep cut out of a herd for home slaughter, it brought me up short every time.
I will say it was a quick read, but she seemed to gloss over many things that could have been interesting in a sentence or two. Some of the ghost writer's prose is a bit stilted and a good editor would have been a help.
July 25, 2022
Just a truly amazing journey of real life as an outback teacher, I did not want to finish this book as it was a bit emotional towards the end (especially the baby boy now grown up) I was really moved by this moment.
Sally Gare was the most un-judgemental, caring and beautiful soul that cared so much for teaching and did it in a fun way. She had a heart so big and so forgiving that it did not deter her from what she believed in was right and what other people thought of her through judgement which was often at times revoked by Sally proving through the kids that it worked.
A great insight of the aboriginal people and a better understanding of why they were against things and how they were trying to protect their cultural ways and beliefs.
Sally was one tough, resilient woman who despite the bare necessities, fought hard in knowing she loved teaching the kids without taking their culture away from them.
Loved all of this book and felt privileged to read her adventures from beginning to the end.
A must read!
Sally Gare was the most un-judgemental, caring and beautiful soul that cared so much for teaching and did it in a fun way. She had a heart so big and so forgiving that it did not deter her from what she believed in was right and what other people thought of her through judgement which was often at times revoked by Sally proving through the kids that it worked.
A great insight of the aboriginal people and a better understanding of why they were against things and how they were trying to protect their cultural ways and beliefs.
Sally was one tough, resilient woman who despite the bare necessities, fought hard in knowing she loved teaching the kids without taking their culture away from them.
Loved all of this book and felt privileged to read her adventures from beginning to the end.
A must read!
June 4, 2022
Well written stories about a young teacher who lived and worked in remote Australian communities from the late 1950s.
Having taught in remote communities myself (late 1990s), I found this book very interesting.
It gives readers an insight into the teaching life of Sally Gare as well as the lives lived by the local Aboriginal people, and the politics of the white staff.
Having taught in remote communities myself (late 1990s), I found this book very interesting.
It gives readers an insight into the teaching life of Sally Gare as well as the lives lived by the local Aboriginal people, and the politics of the white staff.
April 28, 2023
This book gives an amazing glimpse into the life of a young, naive teacher, Sally Gare, in the north of Western Australia, and into her battle to have her indigenous students accepted into the broader education system. We are also shown the effects of the "stolen generation" on the older Aboriginal people and the younger generation as well.
December 18, 2023
An inspiring story of adventure and resolve, reminding us how we can tackle any challenges or sense of isolation by embracing what we do have / can do and making life better for others. This memoir about teaching and travelling in remote Western Australian communities shares engaging and uplifting insights to a time and place few would have experienced or considered.
December 23, 2022
A lovely memoir of a time now gone but with a real sense of respect for the First Nations people of Australia. An easy read that rings true at every page. Whilst not a hum dinging “page-turner”, a sweet and wonderful read.
August 28, 2022
A truly beautiful and special journey, Sally Gare no doubt has many wonderful memories and stories, these are just a few retold from letters her mother kept.
What a wonderful experience.
What a wonderful experience.
November 23, 2022
This book is actually by Sally Gare. Freda Nicholls helped her write it. It is a lovely account of teaching in far north west Western Australia in the 1950s and 60s.
April 4, 2023
Good insight into outback/remote life for a young female teachers in the 50’s.
April 10, 2023
Way ahead of her time. Sally Gare's story is one of inspiration, love and care for our fellow human beings, particularly our First Nations People.
April 19, 2023
Excellent easy reading of a a lifestyle quite unique.
May 3, 2023
What an incredible story of love for teaching, our people and our country.
June 27, 2024
Average read. Could have been really interesting and more informative.
Perhaps it is a book of its time.
Perhaps it is a book of its time.
April 3, 2025
Well written
What it was like teaching Aboriginal Children in Remote Schools and limited resources in Western Australia.
What it was like teaching Aboriginal Children in Remote Schools and limited resources in Western Australia.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews