April 22, 2022
Australia Post has released a stamp to celebrate 100 years of work by Country Women’s Associations across Australia to improve the lives of rural and regional women.
The first CWA was formed in April 1922 in NSW, and today it is estimated there are more than 21,000 CWA members nationally in more than 1100 branches Australia-wide.
The stamp, designed by Stacey Zass, features the CWA of NSW’s foundation president, Grace Emily Munro MBE (1879-1964) who lobbied government to build and staff maternity wards, hospitals and schools, raised funds for bush nurses and a Royal Flying Doctor’s Service base at Broken Hill, and was the first woman to serve on a hospital board in rural NSW.
“The release of this stamp acknowledges the work of all CWAs, but as the first association, it is a particular highlight and honour for the CWA of NSW as we embark on the next 100 years of representing the interests of rural and regional NSW,” CWA of NSW president Stephanie Stanhope said.
The CWA of Queensland was founded in August 1922 and the rest of the mainland States had formed associations by 1929.
A branch was created in the Northern Territory in 1933, in Tasmania in 1936 and the ACT in 1946.
The $1.10 stamp and associated collectables will be on sale from April 26 at Post Offices, online, and via mail order on 1800-331-794 while stocks last.
Footnote: The first South Burnett branch of the QCWA was established in Kingaroy in 1922, and it will be celebrating its own centenary with a semi-formal two course dinner dance at Kingaroy Town Hall on August 27. Tickets are $70 for QCWA members or $80 for non-members and they can be obtained from Kingaroy Office Central at 163 Haly Street.
