If he turned out to be heartless, violent or miserly, she had little or no recourse. This meant she was totally dependent on him for everything, both financially and emotionally. The law in that era stated that that when a woman married, all her assets became her husband’s property, and the law gave him the right to force her to obey him in every area of her life. What I found was that women then had few rights, and were dominated by the men of the time, not just in Bulahdelah, but everywhere. What my research found was that women then had few rights and were dominated by the men of the time, and not all women led the pleasant life enjoyed by Rachel Henning. This made me curious about the lifestyle and conditions for all women in the nineteenth century.
In them she described her daily life, which she found very agreeable. A friend loaned me a book of ‘Rachel Henning’s Letters’- letters that had been written by the English wife of a Bulahdelah timber-mill manager in the mid-nineteenth century to her various family members. I became curious about the lifestyle and conditions there in the nineteenth century, particularly for women. In the early days of colonisation it was a well-known timber-cutting area, home to magnificent red cedar trees. I always enjoy learning the history of places I visit, and while living for a time on the beautiful mid-north coast of New South Wales, I researched the past of Bulahdelah, a picturesque village about 200kms north of Sydney on the Myall River. The story behind the Australian Redwoods Series The story behind the Redwoods series of Australian historical women's fiction
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