Far from a Low Gutter Girl: The Forgotten World of State Wards South Australia 1887-1940

Throughout Australia's history the lives of those thousands of women who have been domestic servants has always been described by someone outside or above this station. We know much about what 'upstairs' thought about 'downstairs', but not what 'downstairs' thought. The voice of the domestic servant is heard through the hundreds of letters written by the girls who were made state wards in South Australia from 1887-1940. These children were committed to state institutions because they had been abandoned or orphaned or had a parent in hospital, gaol or other institution.