There's been some recent media coverage about the federal government reimbursing parents of their nanny fees and the Sydney Morning Herald reported that there was a trend from nannies to governesses on the wealthy north shore and eastern suburbs. Apparently the government is going to implement a two-year trial and fork out $246 million to pay for 4,000 nannies to look after about 10,000 kids. Why invest in after school care when you can have a nanny, or a governess? It seems everything old is new again. Sydney used to be awash with governesses in the 19th century. And of course, we have an entry in the Dictionary of Sydney all about it. The article is written by Kate Matthews a PhD student at the University of Western Sydney. Kate tells us:

"Governesses held an important place in Sydney's economic and social life during the nineteenth and very early twentieth centuries. As the main providers of female education and accomplishments, governesses occupied an interesting social position."

They worked for wealthy families and often lived with them, but they were not considered part of the family. They attended social functions, but were chaperones not participants. Working as a governess was one of the few respectable occupations for women in 19th century Sydney. Single women often pursued this career to earn a living before marrying. Many a child's education was curtailed by the governess going off and finding a husband. Occasionally women engaged in Britain in a governess role met a man on the voyage out and didn't even take up the position. The first governess in Sydney that we know of is Penelope Lucas, who came out to Sydney in 1805 to be the governess of John Macarthur's family. At 37 years old, Miss Lucas was probably seen as quite matronly with no danger of developing romantic designs on the Macarthur sons. But she got on really well with the family and was well looked after. Quite unusually, they built a her a cottage on the Elizabeth Farm estate at Parramatta. Hambledon Cottage, as she named it, still exists - you can see it at 63 Hassall Street Parramatta. Governesses usually taught music, drawing and languages as well as a basic grounding in English literature and history. Women from Britain and Europe were highly sought after as governesses, but colonial-born women also worked in this field. In the 1860s the quaintly named Female Middle Class Emigration Society was formed to provide interest-free loans to encourage educated women to emigrate to Australia. In 1861, the first five governesses arrived in Sydney under the auspices of the Female Middle Class Emigration Society. Between 1861 and 1888, 30 FMCES emigrants arrived in Sydney - of which over 80 per cent worked as governesses. The number of governesses working in the immediate Sydney area started to decline slowly from the 1880s, and significantly from the turn of the century. Better quality schools, including Ascham in Darling Point (now at Edgecliff) and Arnold's College for Girls (later Redlands) in North Sydney meant that wealthy families could provide good educations for their daughters without the inconvenience of teaching them at home. If you missed Lisa's segment on 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt this morning you can catch up on the podcast here. Don't forget to listen in next week for more Sydney history courtesy of the Dictionary and 2SER.