"Wandering Girl" by Glenyse Ward tells her story of a young Aboriginal girl living a life of many challenges. She was taken away from her mother at the age of three and was brought up in a Catholic mission called "Wandering" until the age of 16. From there Glenyse went to work for the Bigelows, a white family who lived on a farm in the remote outback of Western Australia. The Bigelow's house was very grand and luxurious compared to her home at the mission. She thought she would really enjoy living on the farm, however she did not realise how much she would eventually come to hate the place. She was to face many challenges living at the Bigelows including loneliness, discrimination, the loss of her identity and living in unfamiliar and unfriendly surroundings.

Living in the Bigelow's house was very lonely. It was a kind of loneliness that Glenyse had never encountered. At the mission she always had friends, and nuns and a priest who valued children and lovingly brought her up. However, it was not the same at the Bigelow's property. Each day felt like years, as Glenyse had no one to talk to. Mrs Bigelow n

Glenyse lived in an unfamiliar environment where she was not familiar with the equipment the Bigelow family had in their house. Glenyse had never used equipment like a telephone or a percolator when she lived at the mission and as a result she did not know how they worked. Glenyse was never taught what to do but she was just expected to know. However, if she did not do it correctly Mrs Bigelow called her "A very stupid girl!" On one occasion Glenyse had to take a flask of tea and basket of sandwiches to the shearing team half a mile from the house. Instead of walking right around the road Glenyse thought she would take a short cut straight down the hill and over a makeshift bridge. As Glenyse got half way across the bridge it broke and she found her herself in the water and the sandwiches floating beside her. Glenyse quickly got up and ran back to the house where Mrs Bigelow found her wet and dirty. Mrs Bigelow's son then pulled up in his car and handed his mother the wet basket and cracked thermos, which he found floating down the stream. Mrs Bigelow then turned to Glenyse in front of her son and yelled at her. "You clumsy, stupid girl! I can't trust you to do anything- that bridge was made for ducks!" (Pg. 143) Mrs Bigelow always humiliated Glenyse and she made Glenyse feel terrible.

ever spoke to Glenyse unless it was to give her orders. Glenyse had very little contact with the Bigelow children and Mr Bigelow, the Mayor of Ridgeway, never spoke to Glenyse. She was their "dark slave" and was to do all

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Approximate Word count = 1022
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)