The schoolhouse at Balnagowan. Picture: Contributed
People and Places Vicky Bowden, Greenmount Homestead
The year 2020 introduced some significant changes to the daily lives of many Australians.
Not least of these was a prolonged period of home schooling for our children with parents having to take on the role of teachers while trying to manage all the other things that parents do.
Home schooling is not a new concept in Australia, particularly in the more remote regions of our country, but for most people this would have been completely new territory.
When the Cooks of Greenmount came to Queensland with their small but growing family in the late 19th century however, the role of teacher was often assumed by mothers at home, left to look after the children while the men worked away.