This film covers part of our real-life heroine's young life in rural Australia and Sydney, leading to her escape from an unsatisfactory future, after her graduation from Sydney University circa 1960. It is an insightful study of a smart and ambitious woman in Australian rural and city life, and a powerful example of escape from emotionally stifling circumstances (and a substandard country, which Australia was back then). The book from which the film comes is the first of three volumes of autobiography. I write about this, not simply because the books are a luscious read, but because there are parallels with my life, and ideas I find myself using again and again. I too left Australia when I found it unsatisfactory.

I call one concept the "Ker-Conway Tractor". This is the idea that once one commits to a decision, such as buying an air ticket or selling a house, the stress reduces because you know an exact day is coming when you will be dragged away from the present into a new future. Jill described this as feeling as if there is a tractor that has been set in motion and to which you are connected, so now you know no matter what happens, you are to be pulled into a new situation. You just have to hang on, and you will be on your way.

Volume two of Jill Ker Conway's autobiography is "True North". This book covers "finding her tribe" (my phrase), marrying her soulmate (my summary), having a year-long honeymoon, and becoming a serious feminist academic and university administrator. Jill uses phrases like "realising that [North] America was my home", though the detailed descriptions are simply delicious. Divorce lawyers consider the idea of a "soulmate" to be god's gift to their profession. Kay told me she was seeking a soulmate; I am very glad she settled for me, I hope it was as good for her as it was for me. Nevertheless, Jill found her soulmate. Their relationship survived despite John being 18 years her senior (considered bad juju then), a disabled veteran and a serious manic-depressive, and despite Jill not being able to have children.

In the 1970s at Toronto University, Jill writes 'I tried to imagine a situation in which it was not necessary to say to my brightest fourth-year students who came to consult me about graduate study... "Well, of course, you've got to get away. The big question is whether you want to go to England or the United States."' I thought that before we left Australia, and I felt it as a professor in New Zealand in the 21st century. Canada and Toronto were both rising; much of my time has been spent in places falling.

Sadly the rising tide did not last. Canadian economics forced focus onto other areas, and Jill saw "departments or services merged or closed down", and she felt "the exasperation of watching the talented leave and the less-gifted remain." Much as happened to Sydney University in the 1980s and 1990s, and Waikato in the 2010s.

Volume three of Jill Ker Conway's autobiography is "A Woman's Education". It starts with her weighing the pros and cons of leaving U Toronto to become head of Smith College, a private, girls-only college, at a time that saw Ivy league universities turning coeducational. One line was enough for me to know the correct decision: At a time when Toronto is feeling the onset of budget cuts, Smith, as a private college in the USA rather than a public institution in (British-style) Canada, is well funded. Economics always wins. Jill makes the choice to jump.

Jill says she had by then learnt that "an adult life can be made a work of art". She moved to Smith, and her life became a work of art. In my life, I think my only mistake was staying in NZ about 10 years too long. I wish I had read books such as these 30 years ago.

Jill became a magnificent, hand-on, compassionate, energetic president of Smith College. She worked with and knew staff at every level, fundraised with alumni groups, interacted with students both teaching and joining their wild celebrations. She orchestrated a program to let adult women, even raising children, attend and graduate, right down to strategies that allowed them to be on welfare and indirectly receive college assistance at the same time. Vice-chancellors in Australia and New Zealand pale in comparison.

She also said "To depart is to die a little..." and by that logic I too have died a little many times on city and global scales.

These days, Australia is rising, or at least falling less fast than the UK, the USA, and even NZ. I may be in the right place.