What’s happening?
A small Central Queensland town is coming together to bring back a long-standing women’s organisation.
Community members in Theodore are leading a push to relaunch their local branch of the Queensland Country Women’s Association after it closed in recent years.
The relaunch began with a large afternoon tea event designed to introduce the idea, explain the vision and encourage women to get involved.
Local resident Sarah Wilson said she attended for connection and time with other women.
“I came out to catch up with friends and have an afternoon where it’s the ladies,” she said.
“You can mingle with the ladies, but it’s an opportunity where we can just be us and we can leave the kids at home and just have a really lovely afternoon mingling with like-minded people.”
She said it was encouraging to see younger women leading the effort.
“It’s great, when we first moved out here it was sad to hear the CWA had actually just closed and to see the next young ones coming through and to push that again, I think it’s great,” Ms Wilson said.
“I’ve had a lot to do with QCWA over the years and to have that young next generation come up and push it, I think it does. It needs that younger, the thoughts and the opportunities for the people to get together.”
Why it matters?
Organisers say the focus is clear.
“It’s about friendship and connection and community,” organisers said.
“Our vision is simple. QCWA provides a space for Queensland women to connect, collaborate and create an impact in their communities.”
For many women, especially in rural and regional communities, CWA is about support and connection.
“As we always say, CWA is no longer about the coffee and the scones,” Ms Wilson said.
“It’s about getting together and interacting.”
She added, “They say it does take a village to raise children, I think it also takes a village to build that gap and for women to have other like-minded women to reach out to and have as a support base in the rural area, in the regional area, that’s what we have the ability and the opportunity to reach out to women and ask for advice and help and assistance whenever we need it.”
Theodore local Bron Christensen said the youth focus was key to the branch’s future.
“I think it’s fantastic, and I really think it’s fantastic that the youth focus of it as well,” she said.
“We’re having that group of women who effectively you’ve got a peer-to-peer support network.”
Ms Christensen said she found CWA valuable when her children were younger.
“I found the CWA very valuable when my children were younger, even for the facilities that they provided when you were in a different town, the support they provided when you were travelling through a town and you needed some help with kids or just somewhere to let them play or change them or whatever else,” she said.
“But I think bringing it back to Theodore is really vibrant, and I think they’ll form a really vibrant committee where, yeah, they will have each other’s backs, and it will provide that support for rural and regional and remote women.”
She said the event showed organisers understood what local women wanted.
“I think the young ladies have just hit the mark about what women are looking for here in this type of community,” Ms Christensen said.
“It is going to be some really important issues that CWA will get behind and that these women will provide support to each other and not just the young ones, but I’m sure the older ones, like myself, will get involved as well.”
Local impact
The relaunch is being driven by five young women in Theodore, including Ella Clare Lebsanft, who works at the Theodore Council on the Ageing aged care home.
“I’m so happy with what’s happening here today. This is exactly what I wanted, what we wanted as a community,” MsLebsanftsaid.
“I think everyone coming together, it doesn’t happen that often. We’ve got plenty of other events around town, but something just for us women, it’s great to see. People have been so supportive with the whole event, of course.”
She said elderly women in town were excited about the return of CWA.
“Speaking to all of the elderly ladies, they have been so excited, they can’t wait to hear all about it. They want to see the photos. They’re not here today because they’re past that. But yeah, I think they’re very excited to see that Theodore is going to continue, the CWA.”
Ms Lebsanft said the event brought together women across generations and communities.
“We’ve got people from Rockhampton supporting, we’ve got people from maybe Taroom, yeah, Ralston, we’ve got quite outer communities,” she said.
“What’s really important is the Theodore women wanting to continue and begin it really, because it’s a relaunch.”
She said the goal is to work alongside the wider community.
“This event today is just to bring everyone together, tell them what we want to do, get them together, and continue these events. This event today is something that we want to continue each year,” she said.
“We don’t just want to be our own little sector, we want to work with the community in different ways. There’s obviously more things to come. But yeah, it’s just really getting everyone interested and wanting to continue it.”
By the numbers:
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Around 140 to 150 women attended the afternoon tea in Theodore, with the majority under 40, reflecting strong interest from younger generations.
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Five young local women are leading the relaunch effort, forming the foundation of a new organising committee.
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The CWA is 103 years old, highlighting both its history and the need to attract new members to secure its future.
Zoom in
For many, the event offered rare time out and personal connection.
“It’s a reason to leave home. It’s a reason to give dad the kids, coming out and having a nice drink, talking to everyone that a lot of the women have a lot in common, being country women,” Ms Lebsanft said.
“And there’s some women that are from the city, and they love it too. And we all just intertwine really well. It’s a great community.”
Lyn Tucker said the turnout was encouraging.
“Yeah, that’s wonderful, actually. Really good, yes. I don’t think I have seen a group of ladies in that age group like that for a long time,” she said.
She said many attendees were there to support the idea, even if not all would become members immediately.
“I can acknowledge though, that most of them probably aren’t here to become members, because I mean I don’t know how they’d ever cope with that many members in one hit, but they’re there to support the ladies that do want to become members,” Ms Tucker said.
Zoom out
Ms Tucker said branches must adapt to remain relevant.
“If we want to be here for the next 100 years or even the next 50 years, we’ve got to get new younger members, because all of the older ladies, me included, we’re not going to be here,” she said.
Meeting times are being reconsidered to suit working women.
“I believe they’re having meetings on a Saturday morning which fits with a normal work day, it fits with kids, it fits with school,” Ms Christensen said.
Social media is also playing a role in attracting members.
“Every member that I got in as a new member had looked at it on Facebook. They’d seen it on Facebook,” Ms Tucker said.
What to look for next?
Organisers will now focus on formalising the Theodore branch and building a working board.
The next step is encouraging women to officially join and attend upcoming Saturday morning meetings.
The afternoon tea was just the beginning, with plans to make it an annual event.
