north east regional extra | November 27 - December 3, 2019
nemedia.com.au
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November 27 - December 3, 2019
Alana an agent of change
◆ NEW KIND OF WOMAN: After completing her university studies, Alana Johnson was never going to ‘just be’ a farmer’s wife. PHOTO: Mel Guy
By BELINDA HARRISON THE unquestioned privileging of males over females by the Catholic Church and school system that Alana Johnson attended in her formative years worked to create a young feminist before she even knew what the word meant. “Back in the early 1970s the boys were definitely sexist and the belief that girls were not as smart as them was still pervasive,” said the North East resident. “I think this was actually an added incentive for me to ‘show’ them and it became a driver for me to achieve.” And achieve she has, with Alana recently being awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from La Trobe University which ‘recognises alumni who have demonstrated significant accomplishments for the service of their community, state or nation’. When Alana was completing year 12, the Whitlam Government introduced free tertiary education which saw thousands of young women, including Alana, flock to Australian universities as first generation tertiary students. “I come from four generations of farmers on both sides of my family,” she said. “My parents were both lifelong learners, my father a very progressive farmer and my mother a voracious reader and interested in diverse social issues. “My two sisters and I were encouraged by both our parents to continue our education and create choices in our lives.” At La Trobe University in Bundoora, Alana studied for an arts degree because she ‘didn’t know what else to do’ but she enjoyed university so much that she stayed on and completed a second degree in social work.
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