THE MURRAY Valley Country Women’s Association branches celebrated their ninetieth birthday with a Mad Hatter themed high tea, catered with the organisation’s famous home baked goods.
While CWA has established its reputation as experts of hand and home crafts around the country, attendees reflected on the importance of the organisation in their lives, from the time many joined as teenagers, through starting and raising their own families, and beyond.
Group president Sue O’Halloran said the birthday celebration was an opportunity for the members to get out and get talking, sharing their stories with each other and younger women in the community.
“The CWA was formed for country women living out on properties to have access to a community,” she said.
“Women were able to support each other through shared life experiences, like marriage, childbirth and parenthood, and give them that sense of belonging that makes you strive and go to things and try new things.”
The oldest MVCWA member Leela Wood joining the Sea Lake branch at 15-years-old.
It opened her up to a nationwide network of women supported her wherever she went, alongside the friendships she formed at home.
“The friends I have here are my community, and I know that if I need help, they’ll be there,” she said.
Life member Elaine Glen was 17-years-old when she joined the organisation, and throughout the 68 years since, CWA has been a cornerstone of her identity, outside of her duties as mother and wife.
“I’m the mother of three children, and you get swept up in everything that they need and do, so the CWA was my thing for me to do, my organisation outside of my husband and children,” she said.
“CWA enabled me to grow as a person, do things that challenged me and gain confidence in taking leadership.”
Through group fundraising, the MVCWA has supported projects such as the High School Hostel, Aboriginal scholarships, Alcheringa, Swan Hill street beautification, Nyah District Bush Nursing Hospital, bushfire appeals and Mallee Family Care Agency, among others.
Members offer help with catering, collections of aid items and funds to relieve disasters at home and further abroad, being active contributors to the 1956 flood relief, war efforts and lobbying for country people’s rights.
Currently, MVCWA is supporting the Women’s Domestic Violence Shelter and fundraising for the Mallee MRI Appeal. It still offers scholarships to assist students and their families with school fees, uniform costs and learning materials.
