Women Celebrate Their Strength

Aunty Jeanette Brown, the compere for the afternoon lunch, with Aunty Lillian Gray

Aunty Sandra Morgan with her colourful coat made at the Many Threads group (Photo: Supplied)

March 30, 2022

The “strong women” of Cherbourg celebrated International Women’s Day with gusto on Tuesday, with fun, fashion and a fancy lunch.

It may have been a bit late (IWD is traditionally celebrated on March 8) but that didn’t stop an enthusiastic display of purple and green in The Ration Shed precinct.

Purple and green are the colours adopted by IWD but date back to the suffragette struggles in England early last century.

They represent strong women, something which Cherbourg has in abundance – a fact pointed out by Council CEO Chatur Zala at the start of proceedings.

The day was organised by Many Threads, a group of women who meet regularly at The Ration Shed to do sewing, craft and support each other.

The members proudly displayed their latest creations in a colourful fashion parade in the morning.

Guests then adjourned to the meeting room in the old Boys’ Dormitory to enjoy lunch and celebrate the strength of women.

Special messages of support came from former Cherbourg residents who couldn’t make the big day but have gone on to be high achievers in their own fields, including Dr Jackie Huggins AM and award-winning authors Lesley and Tammy Williams.

“Break The Bias” was the official theme of this year’s IWD, but the message at Cherbourg was all about being positive and celebrating success.

Women who are leaders in the Cherbourg community were invited to stand and share their thoughts.

Message bottles on the tables contained positive affirmations which were read out.

Candles were also lit in memory of former Cherbourg residents, with special thoughts for Aunty Grace Stanley who died late last year.

A special guest was Cherbourg’s oldest resident, Aunty Eva Collins, who was presented with a gift and invited to cut the IWD cake.

Aunty Eva was brought to Cherbourg when she was just nine years old, without her mother’s consent.

After leaving school, she worked at Cherbourg Hospital for many years and was then appointed in charge of the Girls Dormitory.

She was also a foundation member of the Cherbourg Community Council and served as a JP.

Cherbourg’s oldest resident, Aunty Eva Collins – who turns 100 this year – cut the International Women’s Day cake
(Photo: Kathy Duff)

Members of Cherbourg’s Many Threads women’s group show off the items they made in a special International Women’s Day fashion parade (Photo: CASC)

Cherbourg Mayor Elvie Sandow, second from left, at the fashion parade with three of Cherbourg’s movers and shakers … Community Elders Grace Bond, Jeanette Brown and Sandra Morgan (Photo: Kathy Duff)

Aunty Irene Landers was presented with a gift from the Many Threads group by Aunty Grace Bond … Irene was praised as one of the “silent achievers” in the Cherbourg community

Arlene Langton, from the Barambah Local Justice Group, was also presented with a gift

Tara Priestley and Kimberly Barrett, from Cherbourg Radio, were given gifts, sponsored by CRAICCHS

Aunty Daisy Alberts with Aunty Eva Collins … Aunty Eva was presented with a gift when she arrived at the lunch

Aunty Grace Bond was presented with flowers by Ivy Bond as a “thank you” for her work in organising the day

And this is what International Women’s Day is all about … W-O-M-A-N; the group used each of the letters to spell out positive words such as “wonderful”, “optimistic”, “magnificent”, “aunty” and “nanna”

Some of Cherbourg’s strong women were invited to speak, including Tarita Fisher, from Cherbourg Health Service …

The meeting room in the old Boys’ Dormitory was decorated in the traditional women’s colours of purple and green while the Strong Women Shadow Boxes made several years ago by Cherbourg residents hung proudly on the end wall

Cherbourg

One Response to "Women Celebrate Their Strength"

Jeanette Brown says:

April 1, 2022 at 9:06 pm

The Fashion Parade ended with a poem read by Kimberly Barrett, of Cherbourg Radio Us Mob, which was written by Aboriginal poet Maureen Watson:

Female Of The Species

Whoever said I can’t fly?
Why, Sisters, I can — can’t I?
Whoever said, that because I’m a girl,
I’d be moulded and scolded by a sexist world.
Told me I could only be a mother,
Said I could never do things like my brother.
Well, here’s mud in your eye,
‘Cause Sisters, I can — can’t I?
Why, Sisters, you told me, I could be free,
Showed me I could be, what I wanted to be,
Told me that I could liberate myself,
That I need never be left on the shelf.
Why, I can spread my wings and fly away,
From the depths, to the heights any night, any day.
Why, the whole world is within my reach,
I can learn or I can teach,
Why, I can dig ditches or write professorial theses,
‘Cause me — why, I’m the female of the species.
And I’ve rewritten the story of the power and glory,
The wonder of being, the joy of seeing,
In every direction, my reflection,
In a million women’s faces,
And I’ve found my place in a million different places,
For a human being, the female version.
And you know what?
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,
‘Cause I like what I see, when I look at me,
And I don’t have to be, what I used to be,
I can be whatever I choose to be.
So you can throw out your book on your sexist theses,
‘Cause me, why, I’m the female of the species.