CWA Rest Rooms

Over the history of the Association a variety of places have been used for branch meetings; bough sheds, a spare room in a cheese factory, a former timber magnate's mansion, a teacher's office, tiny sheds at railway sidings, the verandah of a general store where members perched on bags of potatoes, tractor tyres and piles of plough discs.  These were just some of the meeting places.

The establishment of a Rest Room became the main objective of most branches, not only for a meeting room but to give much needed facilities to farming families.

For most country folk, the trip by horse and cart or open truck into the nearest town was a major event.  This often meant setting off early in the morning because what is now a trifling distance, in those days, took hours.  Before the day was half over many a mother sighed for a place where she could feed a baby or sit in sheltered comfort while waiting for her husband.  

Almost as soon as a branch was formed members began planning and working for a Rest Room. Governments have been generous in granting land in country towns for this purpose.  How wonderful when it became a reality; a place of their own.

Over the 100 year history of the Association many small branches have lived very happily in rooms attached to local halls, Shire or Church buildings. 

In 2024 the majority of branches occupy a mixture of freehold properties, properties on crown grants and property leases of either Shire, Railway or Reserve leases held by the Association.  They continue to be used to meet the purpose of the Association for:

• Branch meeting centres; 
• Where women with young children can use the facilities, meet and form friendships and receive mutual support; 
• Where members and the public can partake in activities such as craft and cooking, running thrift shops etc; and,
• Where branches can raise funds to support their local community.  

Branch histories tell their own stories.

(Information from "Her Name is Woman" and Association records.)