Taylor - Community buHding and empowering experiences Community building and empowering experiences? A thematic study of women's voluntary work in Queensland and its place-based dimensions, 1859-1959 Barbara Taylor Recent international scholarship has placed new emphasis on women's formative role in the social, economic, political and cultural lives of their respective communities. However, there is considerable debate between those who see women as passive victims of social structures and processes with associated connotations of exploitation, and others who view them as empowered and proactive 'nation builders' and historical agents. Some researchers have also suggested the greatest legacy of women's organised contribution to building communities can be found in the history of their voluntary work and urged greater acknowledgement through landmark recognition and historic preservation programs.* To date, women's voluntary work in Queensland has drawn only limited scholarly interest and it is not well represented on the State Heritage Register. Attempts to establish links between place-based cultural heritage and women's history have been limited to national heritage agencies in North America and Australia. However, methodologies have tended to rely on existing historiography that is traditionally non-inclusive of women and gaps in the record remain a problem. This paper summarises the results of a comprehensive thematic study designed to address these issues. That study adopted a gender-sensitive approach to explore women's voluntary work across 94 groups in Queensland between 1859 and 1959 and identify its associated place-based dimensions. To meet the criteria for inclusion, groups had to be established by women or rely predominantly on their voluntary labour. The study's central argument asserted women's formative role as historical agents and community builders. Emphasis was also given to the dynamics of women's volunteer experiences - their impact on gender relations and capacity for empowerment, as well as their manifestation in the built environment. The ability of place-based cultural heritage to effectively and comprehensively represent those experiences and map women's key contributions to community building through voluntary work in groups was also tested. Despite limited sources, the study identified the following six major themes in the history of women's voluntary work in Queensland between 1859 and 1959. 1. Providing welfare and health care services, early childhood and mothercraft programs. 2. Seeking social amelioration through Christian salvation. Gail Lee Dubrow, 'Preserving her heritage: American landmarks of women's history', in Page Putman Miller, ed.. Reclaiming the past, landmarks of women's history, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1992, p. 83 and p. 85. 251 Taylor- Conimunity buJidlng and empowering experiences 3. Venturing into the political arena. 4. Responding to the impact of isolation and distance 5. Mobilising women's voluntary labour in support of the war effort. 6. Accommodating women's self-development interests. They are expressed as action oriented human activities, in keeping with the Australian Heritage Council's approach to managing the National Estate and identifying places the community values based on major historic themes.^ For research purposes, all 94 groups were allocated to one of these six themes based on their key objectives (see Appendix 1). Welfare oriented groups dominated, in keeping with national trends. SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS BY THEME^ Women's formative role as historical agents and community builders The sorting of all 94 groups by type along a timeline from 1859 to 1959, based on the year established, suggested a direct correlation between their emergence and broader historical developments and events (see Appendix 2). Most noticeably groups emerged during difficult economic times and both world wars. Closer examination by theme subsequently confirmed this correlation and validated the central hypothesis of the study. That is to say, the findings confirmed women's formative agency role and their contribution to community building through group-based voluntary work - a contribution that knew no geographical boundaries and was consistent over time. Women in urban and rural areas throughout Queensland took the initiative and embraced a collective approach to address issues of concern and bring about change. Theme 1: Providing welfare and health care services, early childhood and mothercraft programs Prior to 1901, Queensland was the leading colonial borrower and attracted more migrants than any other colony, drawn by government-funded inducements including land grants.'* This was a time of boom and bust, severe droughts and economic foundations that were 'shakily constructed' within an 'atmosphere of optimism'.® Publicly-funded institutions were ^ 'Australian Historic Themes' focus on action oriented human activities that produce places valued by the community. They provide a national framework for use in heritage assessment and management. See Australian Heritage Commission, Australian historic themes: a framework for use in heritage assessment and management, Canberra, Australian Heritage Commission, 2001. ® See Appendix 1 for a list of all groups allocated by theme. '* W. Ross Johnston, 7^76 call of the land: a history of Queensland to the present day, Milton, Jacaranda Press, 1982, pp. 88-90. ® ibid., pp. 79-86. 252 Taylor - Conimunity building and empowering experiences non-profit facilities limited to removing from society the mentally insane or retarded, and those suffering chronic infirmity, leprosy, venereal disease or alcoholism.® Between Separation and Federation women responded to the needs of their settler communities by establishing 16 major non-denominational organisations in Queensland to provide much-needed welfare and health care services. They ranged from maternity and children hospitals and orphanages, to training institutions for unemployed women and girls, and refuge facilities. Their emergence and focus was directly related to government policies that gave priority to expenditure on regional development, building infrastructure and immigration, rather than welfare services, an approach which prevailed until the early twentieth century. Subsequent generations of women in Queensland had similar intentions, establishing another 14 major non-denominational groups between 1901 and 1959. Again most had a welfare emphasis. Others like the Creche and Kindergarten Association, Playground and Recreation Association, Mothercraft Association and Kindercraft Day Nursery broke new ground. Women initiating the early childhood education programs were responding to the circumscribed view taken by governments of the day and the Roman Catholic Church in Queensland, both of which gave priority to primary education and a low minimum school leaving age so children could participate in the workforce quickly or help out on the farm.'' On the other hand, longstanding funding and resource shortages and an inadequate infant and maternal welfare system based on the British model, motivated the founders of the Mothercraft Association. That system did not entirely fit Queensland's climate, geographical spread or decentralised population.® Women also tended to have large families, and infant mortality rates in the State were at unacceptably high levels - 76.1 per 1000 live births in 1904 and between 77 and 63 per 1000 for the next decade.^ In 1942, it was the impact of the war on Brisbane mothers with young children forced to stand in queues for essential rations that prompted the establishment of the Kindercraft Day Nursery, the first of its kind in Australia. Sixty women and children lined the staircase to the Raymond Evans, 'Charitable institutions of the Queensland Government to 1919', MA thesis. University of Queensland, 1975, p. iii. Ross Fitzgerald, From 1915 to the early 1980s: a history of Queensland, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1984, p. 12 and p. 141. Phyllis Cilento, Mothercraft in Queensland: a story of progress and achievement, Brisbane, s.n., 1967?, p. 7. ' ibid. 253 Taylor- Community building and empowering experiences top floor when the nursery opened for business. It operated Monday to Friday from 10am to 4.30pm, and relied entirely on voluntary labour.*® Between 1901 and 1959 women also initiated several new welfare oriented groups in response to events at home and overseas. In 1912 founding members of the Queensland Wattle League set about raising funds for young art students wanting to study overseas.** With the advent World War 1, their focus shifted quickly to assisting returned servicemen and their families. World War 2 provided the catalyst for the formation of the War Widows' Guild in Australia in 1945, and in Queensland two years later. The human cost to the nation is well documented and the history of the Guild reflects the impact and injustice of that cost on many families. Its Queensland-born founder, Jessie Vasey, took up the cause when she suddenly found herself widowed and among the disadvantaged. 'I was not aware', she said, 'that death had run its finger down the social register, and that by losing your husband in defence of his country, you lost all social standing'.*^ On the other hand, the emergence of the Women's Emergency Corps in Brisbane in 1919 was a direct response to the local impact of the Spanish flu pandemic.*® In 1929 women established the Travellers' Aid Society in Queensland to assist settlers arriving