www.firstnationstelegraph.com
Country Women Association and the Colour Bar by Laura Rae 29 September 2015
T
he Country Women’s Association (CWA) is well known throughout Australia, comprising of conservative women who specialise in scone making and various arts and crafts. But what is scarcely known is that these women of the 1950’s and 60’s were miles ahead of their time, working alongside Aboriginal women and treating them as equals. Together, they began changing the course of history. Country Women and the Colour Bar by Jennifer Jones is based on original research into the history of race relations, focusing upon collaboration between the Country Women’s Association and Aboriginal women. The book examines the role of conservative white women in questioning or promoting the welfare of Aboriginal Australians in rural areas. Country Women and the Colour Bar considers the involvement of Aboriginal women in a significant community organisation. The CWA, established in NSW in 1922, is both well-respected and influential, and has long been the largest women’s organisation in Australia. The book presents the micro-histories of six different rural communities where Aboriginal women joined specially created Aboriginal branches of the CWA. Jones’s book offers insight into the experience of ordinary Aboriginal and white rural women as they participated in beauty contests, handicraft lessons and baby contests. These cross-racial collaborations broke the rural colour bar in an unprecedented
fashion and fostered cooperative campaigns for meaningful change in race-relations in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The book challenges preconceived notions about race relations in rural communities by revealing how Aboriginal assimilation policy met everyday reality in rural areas. Some
prominent Australians feature in these extraordinary stories: including Jessie Street (leading feminist and Aboriginal rights activist) and Charles Perkins, Rachel Mundine (sister of former NRL player turned boxer Anthony Mundine) and Purth Moorhouse (mother of novelist Frank Moorhouse).
Page 1
www.firstnationstelegraph.com
The book represents new research in a neglected area of study. Confronting the sconebaking stereotype the CWA is known for, Country Women and the
Colour Bar examines the grassroots activism of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CWA members who broke the rural colour-bar and campaigned together for
meaningful change for Aboriginal communities prior to the 1967 ‘Yes’ vote.
Mrs Ella Simon addressing Purfleet Country Women’s Association Branch, 1961. Courtesy The Australia Women’s Weekly, 1 February, 1961, p 7
Grafton Queen of the Jacaranda Festival contestants, 1969. Courtesy Eleanor Powell
Page 2
www.firstnationstelegraph.com
Maggie Morris. Dawn, vol. 10, no. 7, July, 1961, p 2. Courtesy AIATSIS.
CWA Mrs Una ‘Bubbie’ Armstrong, 1958. Courtesy Mick and Margot Armstrong
Murrumbidgee–Lachlan Group Leaders at Country Women’s Association Group Handicraft exhibition, 1962. Courtesy Griffith Country Women’s Association Branch
Page 3
www.firstnationstelegraph.com
Baby Health clinic in Kempsey, 1959. Courtesy National Archives of Australia, Barcode11493129, Series A1200, control symbol L31939
CWA Lady Amy Woodward, wife of the Governor of New South Wales, with Leila Dennison and Susie McGrady at the opening of CWA State Conference, 3 June 1958. Courtesy The Sydney Morning Herald
Page 4