Keep on doing the best you can. You are better than you think you are. Remember: ‘If it’s going to be, it’s up to me’.

Anne Gribble is a farming woman from Yenda who has a long history of advocating for improved access to adult education for rural people. Although ‘retired’ from her more ‘formal’ high-level educational committee and board work, Anne is still very much involved at the local community level through history and genealogical associations and through the University of the Third Age. Anne has given workshops on ‘writing your memoirs’, and is currently involved in producing a booklet on business administration to help farmers do their books. Anne has a wealth of knowledge and wisdom on effective ways of working with bureaucrats and politicians to effect change.

What gave you the motivation/inspiration to follow your dream?

Education is the key to life. Gradually, with tiny steps, access to education for rural people has improved. However, government support for community-based rural adult education is still very low and is very often dependent on the commitment of dedicated people who run programs ‘on the smell of an oily rag’. I am especially passionate about increasing access to literacy classes. A rural woman in our area dragged her shearer husband 100 miles into the Griffith Adult Learning Association (GALA) to learn to read. He was nearly illiterate, most embarrassed and not very cooperative. However, with his wife’s support, a sympathetic teacher and a year’s worth of lessons, his world opened up and he left shearing to begin his own business. Stories such as this have been strong motivators.

At what point did you realise that your dream was actually possible and what was it that made you think you could really do it?

I returned to the country, married a farmer and raised a family of three sons. Over the years I went to many short courses, and in 1980 I joined the local Adult Education Committee and had a part-time job with GALA. I later sat on the regional Adult Education Committee, and then became President of the Community Adult Education Centres Association and a member of the national body. These were all voluntary positions with some expenses covered. Many times I was the lone female representative. Over my 20 years of involvement in ACE (Adult and Community Education), I met and lobbied many state and federal ministers, bureaucrats and other high-flyers. I was constantly amazed by how rural and women’s issues were given a very low priority, and I realised that through these committees I was in a position to influence the agenda to change things in a positive way.

When you were a child, what did you want to ‘be’ when you grew up?

I had no specific ideas about what I wanted to be while growing up. I was the eldest of three children and spent my childhood on a relatively isolated and mainly self-sufficient farm. We went to town once a fortnight, received mail three times a week, had a wireless and a telephone, and had limited social interaction beyond school. We entertained ourselves with craft, family games and reading. There was no local library, so I read my mother’s old university anthropology and philosophy books, as few children’s books were available during the 1940s. I was interested at one time in being with Dr Leakey in archaeological digs in Africa, or being a cabinet-maker of fine furniture, but these were not career paths for women in the 1940s and 50s.

How did your childhood influence you in later life?

I went to a one-teacher bush primary school, and then became a boarder at the War Memorial High School in Hay. I think this is where my understanding of the importance of working cooperatively to build a community spirit was born. I was sent to business college at the age of 18, and ended up as a secretary to an importing firm. I soon realised that junior office girls usually remained just that. I knew then how important officially recognised education was, especially for girls, even if society at the time saw it as a waste of time and resources, as it was assumed women were destined for marriage.

Who are your role models?

My parents were my first role models. My father had left England a penniless migrant in 1910. In the 1920s my mother had fought her way, with scholarships, to high school and university. She became a teacher and was threatened with the sack by the headmaster for stating that women should receive equal wages to men. My parents’ code in life was: ‘If you are going to do something, do it properly or don’t bother’. I had no known role models, who were women, in the adult and community education sector, as there were so few women involved at the levels I had achieved.

What does success mean to you?

Success to me was the thrill of realising I could assist others to address the inequalities of their background, and the learning that I was assimilating in the process. During this era I completed a university degree—a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction—by eight years of correspondence study.

What has been one of the biggest barriers you have had to face, what happened, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest barriers were rural isolation, distance, the costs involved, and women’s position in society. I found that only repeated hammering the rural perspective (ad nauseam) to decision makers helped to overcome the first three barriers, and the Equal Opportunity Law helped to overcome the fourth. In those days we didn’t have easy access to technology. Faxes, mobile phones, computers and plane trips were unavailable or expensive luxuries. We would hold informal meetings, make endless phone calls, and write huge numbers of letters and submissions. We’d make sure we planned every last detail and keenly network to be prepared for all opportunities and eventualities. Regular meetings and train or bus trips to Sydney were a strain on family relationships, as even a half-day meeting meant I could be travelling for two or three days. The lack of understanding by city people is a constant ongoing challenge for rural people, as many decision makers still have little experience of the realities of country life such as distance, poor roads, access to services, drought, and no income.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? What is your vision for the future?

I’ll probably still be on committees and going to meetings! With many struggles I have become computer literate and a reasonable bookkeeper; I can run committees and do grant submissions using weasel words; and I have 50 years practical experience in child rearing and family dynamics. My vision is for equal education opportunities for all Australians, without the struggles.

What would you like to say to other women who may be just starting out on a ‘Daring to Dream’ journey?

Just keep on doing the best you can—you are better than you think you are. Cover one step at a time. Attack the problem from all angles and never give up. Remember: ‘If it’s going to be, it’s up to me’.