A 26-year-old Canberra woman has just returned from an epic, solo driving trip (with her dog) around Australia, collecting stories about forgotten women who have shaped history.

Founder of Canberra’s She Shapes History tours, Sita Sargeant, has landed a publishing deal with Hardie Grant to write a ground-breaking travel book.    

For the past six months, Sita and her trusty Subaru Forester have circumnavigated Australia (whilst listening to a podcast of Matthew Flinders’ circumnavigation of Australia).  She’s selected 26 towns and cities that each feature 15 to 20 stories of incredible (but largely unknown) women.

Sita had no set itinerary and only a rough idea of potential stories, so there were many dirt roads and U-turns (remarkably no flat tyres, only one flat battery and a bout of sea-sickness on the ferry to Tasmania).

The eye-watering cost of petrol ($3 a litre in some remote places) tested her budget but the rough camping trip and monotonous Nullarbor crossing paid off.  Sita has unearthed incredible tales.

“It’s going to be presented as a travel guide because people are more likely to pick up a travel guide than a history book,” Sita said. “It will be a self-guided walking route for each town, telling the stories of places that women have shaped history. I’ve chosen a diverse spread including Aboriginal women and my hope is that by the end of this, people will have a much more nuanced understanding of Australian history.”

To give you a teaser, Sita has uncovered an incredible story of a 28-year-old woman who came to Western Australian from the UK to teach music in 1909. Her name was Margaret Bale.

“Part of the deal for getting teachers to come to Australia, her return trip was paid for,” Sita said.

“She’s teaching at Kalgoorlie for a year and then her contract is running out and she has nowhere to go, so she goes to Fremantle and is having the time of her life.

“She’s supposed to leave the next day but she didn’t want to go home. In a spur-of-the-moment decision she goes into a store, buys men’s clothing, gets her hair chopped off, changes into the clothing of the man and starts living as Martin Able.  She spends the next seven months successfully living as a man and ends up opening an art studio because it’s what everyone else is doing in Fremantle.”

The only reason Martin was found out is because police had placed a missing person ad in the newspaper and someone recognised her.  Martin resumed living as Margaret and went back to the UK, only to return soon after and ended up marrying the newspaper’s owner.

“There’s so many stories like that that just make you ask, what was happening in Australia?,” Sita said. “I think a lot more fun was had than people expected.  I wanted to be very honest and to take people on that journey.”

To help illustrate Sita’s travel book, Hardie Grant Publshing hired a cartographer and graphic designer to depict her journey. Her deadline is next month and the publication date is set for April 2025 – just in time for mothers’ day.

“I think that’s the pro of being a well-practiced tour guide,” Sita said. “I know what people enjoy in a story. Whereas I feel like someone who’s only experience is in academia, you don’t necessarily see how people respond to storytelling in person, and what makes people feel emotional. The trip has made me a better Australian because I have a much better understanding of all the small moments that have made us who we are. “