This is really asking for your opinion rather than mine. I think you need to examine the story in the right context. One of the most conspicuous traits of the drover's wife is her resignation to and acceptance of the life she has. She may occasionally dream of fashion photographs and of the things she once had, but she never complains or wishes things were different. She knows that this is her life and that if she does not work with what she is given, she will actually perish. There is no room for wavering or weakness in the bush, and whether or not this trait of resignation was inherent in the drover's wife or developed in response to her rural surroundings, it is clear that she has embraced it and that it is what gives her and her family life.