Countless hours spent studying and documenting changing cultures, rustling through dusty books saved from fire and flood was all part of the local Country Women’s Association (CWA)’s eight-year campaign to document Macquarie group’s history in celebration of an important milestone.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The result of the tireless work of ever-dependable CWA volunteers is a book documenting the group’s history and its work servicing the community to recognise the 80th anniversary of the Macquarie group.
Further, the group’s archival records have been donated to the Macquarie Regional Library’s local history repository and a collection of CWA heirlooms on display for the next month.
Former Group President Heather Howe compiled the book, writing it is a history of a place, the history of the local people.
“(The records) are set in a time frame and relevant to the state of the world at large,” Ms Hower writes in the book’s forward.
With up to 40 branches forming the group since it formed in 1930, members have pooled together to establish and run baby health centres, community halls and rest rooms, a CWA group for younger generations and have supported the Robinson CWA Hostel, often backbones for many communities.
This adds to hosting the traditional cooking and craft exhibitions and competitions for which their organisation is known for.
Launching the book and exhibition at Macquarie Regional Library yesterday, CWA Macquarie Group President Joan Yeo acknowledged the importance of marking the association’s place in the community.
“The girls kindly put together the book to cover the history of the group’s branches,” Mrs Yeo said. “It’s important to have a history of our branches put together … and the work we do with the state and national groups as well.”
Mrs Yeo and Macquarie Regional Library Service Director John Bayliss hoped profiling the work of the CWA would help to re-establish the image of the CWA’s current 14 local branches in the community as well as the national brand. The Macquarie group supports national communities by fundraising and assisting environmental, cultural and political causes, medical research, school scholarship programs and the ways the association lobbies political bodies to support them.
Recently local ladies have been organising to support victims of the Queensland floods by putting together care boxes filled with linen goods, personal items and baby needs. “We work in many areas,” Mrs Yeo said.
“We have more say than any other community group with the government.”
Mrs Yeo said many CWA members are in influential parliamentary positions, which helps to get their causes addressed.
“Many people think the CWA is just about beautiful food and handicrafts but there is much more to the association than that,” Mr Bayliss said.
“The organisation acts as a big pool of people to support the wider community … it’s about power in numbers.”
The CWA records are available for public viewing in the Macquarie Regional Library at request of staff, with the book available in the local history section.
