MY GRAN may not be one of the "Women find a place in history", (WT, March 10), but she is my heroine, anyway.

She won't be remembered for any outstanding feats.

But she will be remembered for her courage, her endurance of incredible hardship without complaint, her thoughtfulness and devotion to her family, all of which cements her place for me in the history of this nation.

She married my grandfather in 1915 and as a young bride went to live in the bush out from Tibooburra in NSW.

The accommodation was rough shelters and tents, and she and her two sisters-in-law cooked for a team of men who were sinking dams for station owners in the surrounding country.

There was no running water, meat was purchased on the hoof from the station owner and salted to preserve it, and flour, sugar and tea were purchased on infrequent long trips to Broken Hill.

Gran made yeast for bread by fermenting potato peelings in a bottle, and butter from milk purchased from the station owner.

During the five years they were there, she had three children.

She travelled to Broken Hill each time in a horse and buggy and caught the train to Adelaide where she gave birth before returning with the babies to resume her work in the camp.

As there were no made roads from Tibooburra to Broken Hill at the time, it is a wonder that she did not give birth en route!

After buying a farm at Lameroo, in the South Australian Mallee, my grandparents experienced two droughts in a row and the bank foreclosed on them.

They were back building dams again, and living in rough shelters in Victoria's sunset country.

By now, Gran had five children to look after, as well as team of men.

As two of the children reached school age and there were no schools available, they were sent down to relatives in South Australia. This must have been traumatic for them all.

After a levee contract collapsed at Frenchman's Creek, the family was allocated a bush block at Tarrango, southwest of Mildura.

Gran helped clear and burn the scrub block for farming.

She would return to the shelter each night, blackened with ash, and prepare a meal and put the children to bed.

By this time, the two eldest children had returned, another had been born, and Gran suddenly had a family of six children.

When built, the house at first had interior hessian walls.

You can imagine Gran's disappointment when, after unpacking her previously-stored wedding china, the pine cupboard containing it was knocked through the bag walls by her boys.

To supplement the family income, she would drive a horse and buggy 40 miles (64km) into Mildura in order to sell dressed turkeys she had raised, and butter she had made.

Once when she invited some politicians and their partners to stay, when Grandad was lobbying for a better deal for farmers of the area, she was embarrassed by having to put muddy dam water into the jug and basin in their bedroom.

However, they were amazed, as was everyone, how she could serve a good meal, "making something out of nothing", as she would say.

She made all her children's clothes, helped with the farm chores, and was always willing to help with community work.

After 20 years of struggle through the Depression years, my grandparents had to walk off their farm and began share-farming in South Australia.

When the owner sold the farm and they were homeless again, they packed up everything and went to convert another bush block into a dairy farm in southwest Western Australia.

They were more than 60 years old at the time. This time they were successful and they stayed until they retired, when they moved back to Mildura.

My grandmother, and those like her, who "For love faced the wilderness", and truly "The hearts that made the Nation", the "Women of the West" (George Essex Evans).

Melva Graham, Harcourt

Congratulations Melva, your letter has won you a gift pack of Alice Langton's Sauces.