ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collection
HMSS 0154 Majura Women's Group Records
Scope and content notes
Call Number | HMSS 0154 |
Collection | Majura Women's Group Records |
Date Range | 1986-2005 |
Quantity | 5.00m (6 manuscript boxes, 3 oversize containters, hatbox, 2 rolls) |
Access Conditions | open |
Copying Conditions | unstated |
Related Collections |
In 1982 the Downer Women’s Community Group was formed, in 1987 changing its name to the Majura Women’s Community Group. The Group was incorporated as the Majura Women’s Group in 1989.
It is a self-run community group that helps reduce the isolation of women who choose to stay at home with their young children. It provides women with an opportunity to meet regularly, exchange information and learn new skills. The Group is funded by the ACT Government through agencies such as the Children’s, Youth and Family Services Bureau and HealthPact. The grants are used mainly to run a licensed adjunct childcare facility and to fund speakers and session leaders.
From 1989 to 20-09, the Group ran an annual community arts project, originally called the Backyard Project, later the Community Arts Project. Each project employs a community artist to help participants explore themes relating to the lives of women at home with young children. The projects have included ceramics, silk screening, textiles, terracotta sculpture, writing and performance. Some examples are the tile murals at the Dickson Library and the Dickson Aquatic Centre, sculpture and other art works for places such as the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital for Mothers and Babies, and oral histories with some of Canberra’s older women, women from different cultural backgrounds, and the Chorus of Women which came together to protest the Iraq War. Exhibitions of the smaller works have been held from time to time. Several books of writings have also been published and donated to libraries and other community groups.
The final project in the formal series was an exhibition at the Belconnen Arts Centre in January 2010 and creative writing, print-making and bookbinding projects. The projects continue informally and in 2011-2012 wall hangings were produced and donated to a school and to the Downer Community Centre where the Group meets. For Canberra's centenary year in 2013, the Group researched and recreated women's fashion from the 10 decades of the city's existence as the national capital and presented the result as an exhibition.
The collection consists of minutes and other administrative documents, funding applications and acquittals, correspondence, publicity material, project management and examples of output, and photographs.
Box List
BOX | DESCRIPTION | QUANTITY | DATE RANGE |
1 | CONSTITUTION | 1 sleeve | 1992 |
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1 | MEMBERSHIP | 1 file | 1990 – 2000 |
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1 | MEETINGS | 8 files | 1986 – 2001 |
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1 | CHILDCARE | 1 file | 1989 – 1995 |
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2 | CORRESPONDENCE | 3 files | 1989 – 2000 |
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2 | PUBLICITY | 3 files | 1987 – 2000 |
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2 | PROGRAMS AND EVENTS PLANNING NOTES | 1 file | 1989 – 1995 |
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2, 3, 4 | GRANTS | 14 files, 1 sleeve | 1990/1991 – 2000/2001 |
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4 | LINOPRINTS | 1 file | 1990 + |
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4, 6, 7, 8, 9 | BACKYARD PROJECTS | 6 files, 1 album, 2 rolls, 1 oversize | 1989 – 2013 |
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4 | WRITING PROJECTS | 2 files | 1992 – 2005 |
| - Home grown anthology. 1992. Group leader Sara Dowse |
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| AUDIO WOMEN |
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5 | Project documentation | 2 looseleaf books | 2003 – 2004 |
10 | Hat box, circular, 60cm diameter, decorated with linocut prints; this originally held the recordings and related material collected during the project | 1 box |
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5, 6 | Audio cassette tapes, minidisks and related documentation: includes cassette tapes or minidisks, production sheets and some related materials. Some tapes were broadcast, most were created as an archival record of the thoughts and concerns of women with young children at the beginning of the 21st century. | 9 files | 2003 |
| Three women compiled collections of their work: Frances Byers, Katherine Chan and Sue Hoffmann. One item in Sue Hoffmann’s collection, Sandra’s interview with her on her life in Tarrington, has been recorded on a minidisk in Frances Byers’ collection. |
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6 | PHOTOGRAPHS | 3 albums, 1 wallet |
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Backyard Projects
BOX | DESCRIPTION | QUANTITY | DATE RANGE |
1 | CONSTITUTION | 1 sleeve | 1992 |
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1 | MEMBERSHIP | 1 file | 1990 – 2000 |
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1 | MEETINGS | 8 files | 1986 – 2001 |
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1 | CHILDCARE | 1 file | 1989 – 1995 |
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2 | CORRESPONDENCE | 3 files | 1989 – 2000 |
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2 | PUBLICITY | 3 files | 1987 – 2000 |
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2 | PROGRAMS AND EVENTS PLANNING NOTES | 1 file | 1989 – 1995 |
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2, 3, 4 | GRANTS | 14 files, 1 sleeve | 1990/1991 – 2000/2001 |
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4 | LINOPRINTS | 1 file | 1990 + |
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4, 6, 7, 8, 9 | BACKYARD PROJECTS | 6 files, 1 album, 2 rolls, 1 oversize | 1989 – 2013 |
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4 | WRITING PROJECTS | 2 files | 1992 – 2005 |
| - Home grown anthology. 1992. Group leader Sara Dowse |
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| AUDIO WOMEN |
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5 | Project documentation | 2 looseleaf books | 2003 – 2004 |
10 | Hat box, circular, 60cm diameter, decorated with linocut prints; this originally held the recordings and related material collected during the project | 1 box |
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5, 6 | Audio cassette tapes, minidisks and related documentation: includes cassette tapes or minidisks, production sheets and some related materials. Some tapes were broadcast, most were created as an archival record of the thoughts and concerns of women with young children at the beginning of the 21st century. | 9 files | 2003 |
| Three women compiled collections of their work: Frances Byers, Katherine Chan and Sue Hoffmann. One item in Sue Hoffmann’s collection, Sandra’s interview with her on her life in Tarrington, has been recorded on a minidisk in Frances Byers’ collection. |
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6 | PHOTOGRAPHS | 3 albums, 1 wallet |
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Backyard/Community Arts Projects
Box no | Artist or Group Leader | Activities | Objects included with documentation of the project | Date |
4, 11 | Franki Sparke | Relief printing, monoprints, linocuts, screen printing | Frieze-booklet Wet patch on carpet, 1989 1 screen print | 1989 |
4, 12 | Jenna Smith | Drawing, relief printing, screen printing |
| 1990 |
4 | Annie Trevillian | Screen printing, writing, quilting, papier mache, linocut, printing | Our hidden lives | 1991 |
8 | Bev Hogg | Ceramics, sculpture, found objects, screen printing | 1 teatowel with a bag of game pieces, comprising The MUD Game (Mothers’ Uppers and Downers) | 1992 |
4 | Franki Sparke | Drawing; the group produced a collage map which was framed and hung at Megalo Print Studio |
| 1993 |
4, 8, 9 | Suzanne Knight | Screen printing, painting, book making | 5 screen printed teatowels | 1994 |
4 | Sharon Peoples | Embroidery | Heart felt, a book of textile pieces, photographs and documentation of the project | 1995 |
4, 11 | Kayleen Watts | Terracotta sculpture ‘Diving into Motherhood’ | Photographs | 1996 |
4, 11 | Simone Penkethman | Writing for performance | Spoken images | 1997 |
4, 11 | Nancy Tingey, Penny Jacobs | Works on paper, visual diary | 7 watercolours, 10 pastels Mounted newscuttings | 1998 |
4 |
| Tile mosaic for Dickson Swimming Pool | Artwork | 1999 |
4 |
| Quilting | Photographs | 2001 |
5, 6 |
| Recording social history and making radio documentaries | Audio Women [see separate listing] | 2003 |
4, 7 (oversize) | Amanda Bruhn | Tile mosaic for QE II Hospital | DVD of project by Helen Martin Album of sketches, design notes and photographs | 2004 |
11 (oversize) |
| HealthPact display | 1 packet of A2 black and white enlargements of mothers and babies at Majura Women’s Group 3 posters | 2003 |
6 |
| Retrospective exhibition at Canberra Museum and Gallery | Majura Women’s Group celebrating 25 years: a selection of recollections, reflections, images and quotations | 2006 |
6 |
| Libertea, Maternitea, Realitea; celebrating 20 years of Backyard Projects; exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre 16 January 2010 | Exhibition flyer | 2009 |
6 | Philippa Leask, Jan Hamilton, Carole Thompson, Carol Sweetapple, Margaret Young | Textile art with a garden theme, to create a wall hanging, later given to Lyons Early Childhood School. Surplus textile squares were assembled into a second hanging installed in Downer Community Hall | Report on project with colour illustrations | 2011 or 2012 |
6 |
| Women: celebrating a century of Canberra’s women; an exhibition of women’s fashions over the previous 100 years, at Belconnen Arts Centre | 10 caption cards from the exhibition, with an A4 colour photograph of each era Exhibition flyer, opening speech and comments pages from viewers | 2013 |
Audio Women
The Majura Women’s Group is shown as MWG
Interviews recorded at the Downer Community Centre are shown as DCC
ID consists of C for audio cassette, M for minidisk, and an item number
ID | INTERVIEWEE/S ON EACH CASSETTE OR MINIDISK | TOPIC | RUNNING TIME | ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION | INTERVIEWER | DATE RECORDED / BROADCAST |
C1 | Sue Hoffman and Frances Byers | Audio Women Project and the Majura Women’s Group | Not stated | Production sheet, with note that this was the first interview and was broadcast to publicise the project | Louise Maher | 2003; broadcast 2003 |
C2 | MWG members | What they like about the Group | Not stated | Production sheet | None | 2/07/2003 |
C3 | MWG members | Oddball knitting and knitting traditions | Not stated | Production sheet, correspondence | Louise Maher | 2003; broadcast 9/09/2003 |
C4 | 1. Roxanne Lambie, ArtsACT | 1. Preparation of 2004 grant application | 1. 15 min | 1. Production sheet | 1. Francis (Frances Byers) | 1. 24/06/2003 |
C5 | 1. Robyn Banks | 1. MWG in the late 1990s | 1. 10 min | 1. Production sheet | Casuarina Dalton | July 2003 |
M1 | MWG members | Gardening; members’ children | Not stated | Production sheet | None | November 2003 |
C6 | Simone Penkethman | Spoken Images: MWG and community art | Not stated | Production sheet | Not stated | 2003; broadcast 2003 |
C7 | 1. Mary Quilty and family | Informal chat about home life | Not stated | Production sheet | None | April/May 2003 |
C8 | Katy Gallagher, Dickson Library staff, MWG members | Launch of Backyard Project 2002, an animal mural in the children’s area at Dickson Library | 30 min | Production sheet, correspondence, background on the mural and radio history projects, launch flyer | None | 29/04/2003 |
C9 | Claudia Cresswell, Northside Community Service | Parenting workshop | Not stated | MWG Term 3 program sheet | None | 17/03/2003 |
C10 | MWG members (listed on the production sheet) | Thoughts on the ACT Children’s Plan | Not stated | Production sheet, brainstorming notes, summary of the conversation | None | 24/09/2003 |
C11 | Tarrington, Victoria, 150th celebrations | Excerpts from recordings made by Sue Hoffmann: 1. Tarrington Trial 2. Robert Paech | 1. 4 min 27:50 sec | Correspondence, biographical information for Sue Hoffmann, flyer, newscutting, production notes | Sue Hoffmann | 3/10/2003; broadcast 6/10/2003 |
| Sue Hoffmann | About growing up in Tarrington, Victoria; birth family, etc.
| See M7 | Production sheet | Sandra | 5/11/2003 |
| Libby Bailley | Fertility issues, experiences of IVF and adoption of two children | No recording received | Production sheet | Sue Hoffmann | 3/06/2003 |
| Sue Hoffmann | A Chorus of Women | No recording received | Press release, letter of protest, program of performance, newscutting | Sue Hoffmann | 6/02/2004 |
| Frances Byers | Overview of project and her interviews | 3.5 inch floppy disk | 2 pages of text |
| 10/12/2003 |
M2 | 1. Rosie Byers, Dan Pope, James Bryan, David Pope 2. Katherine Chan, Frances Byers, Anita Scherrer, Cassandra Freeman, Giselle Bahr, Ellen Onruh, Megan Nutt 3. Sue Hoffmann | 1. Group interview with four children about a weekend trip to the beach on the NSW south coast during winter 2. Group interview with seven women on family size and spacing of children 3. Having a first child at 45 | 1. Tracks 1-2: 10 min 2. Tracks 4-17: 50 min 3. Last track: not stated | 1. Summary of interview 2. Summary of interview 3. Notes on envelope | 1. Frances Byers 2. Frances Byers, Giselle Bahr 3. Not stated | 1. August 2003 2. 26/11/2003 3. Not stated |
M3 | 1.Robert Bryan, Rosie Byers, Frances Byers, James Bryan, Peter Bryan 2. Tom Scott, Rosie Byers, James Bryan 3. MWG members 4. Rosie Byers, Dan Pope, Jack Black, Maihi, Rowen Evans | 1. Family life and piano practice 2. Soccer and school 3. Group interview on exercise and how to fit it into the routine with work and small children 4. Fun Day at Turner Primary School for school’s 50th anniversary | 1. Tracks 1-3: 10 min 2. Track 7: 5 min 3. Tracks 8, 10, 11: not stated 4. Tracks 12-13: 6 min | Four summaries of interviews | 1, 2, 4. Frances Byers 3. Frances Byers and Mary Quilty | 1. 1/08/2003 2. 2/08/2003 3. 5/08/2003 4. 28/11/2003 |
M4 | 1. Peter Bryan, James Bryan, Rosie Byers, Robert Bryan 2. 13 MWG members 3. 17 MWG members | 1. Family life, temper tantrum at bedtime 2. Group interview on knitting 3. What did you intend to do with all the free time that you thought you would have when you were home with a baby? | 1. Track 1: 5 min 2. Tracks 3-18: 50 min 3. Track 20: 6 min | Three summaries of interviews | 1. Frances Byers 2. Frances Byers and Sorel Old 3. Vanessa Morris | 1. September 2003 2. 29/08/2003 3. August 2003 |
| 1. Robin Errey, James Bryan, Mark Errey, Duncan, Harry 2. Paull McKee, James Bryan, Peter Bryan 3. Rosie Byers, James Bryan 4. People at a rally of child care workers, parents and children | 1. Bonfire on a spring evening 2. Story time at Dickson Library 3. Children playing in a hailstorm 4. Sounds of the rally | 1. 20 min 2. Tracks 8-9: 10 min 3. Track 10: 5 min 4. Tracks 11-13: 15 min
No recording received | Four summaries of interviews | Frances Byers | 1. 12/11/2003 2. 14/11/2003 3. October 2003 4. mid November 2003 |
M5 | Bruce Smith | Job sharing and family life | 50 min | Summary of interview, biographical notes on an envelope | Frances Byers | September 2003 |
M6 | Sue Hoffmann and other members of MWG | MWG 2003 Annual General Meeting with sung president’s report and election of committee members | Tracks 1-3: 33 min | Summary of interview | Frances Byers, Sorel Old | 20/08/2003 |
C12 | Robin Errey | Robin’s life as a child in Kenya and immigration to Australia as a teenager | 2 sides of cassette | Summary of interview | Frances Byers | 17/09/2003 |
C13 | Rosie Byers, James Bryan, Peter Bryan, Frances Byers | Children’s voices, at night, breastfeeding | Not stated | Summary of interview | Frances Byers | 8-9/06/2003 |
C14 | Robyn Johnston | On her decision to take her family to Cambodia | Not stated | Summary of interview | Frances Byers | Winter 2003 |
C15 | Alison Smith | Job sharing | Not stated | Summary of interview | Frances Byers | 21/07/2003 |
M7 | 1. Sue Hoffmann 2. Mary Quilty, Katherine Chan, Cath Croxford, Sue Hoffmann, Vanessa Morris, Ellen Unruh | 1. About growing up in Tarrington, Victoria; birth family, etc. 2. Returning to work | 1. Track 1: not stated 2. Tracks 3-11: 20 min | 1. See file containing C11 2. Summary of interview | 1. Sandra 2. Christine Gesto, Ellen Unruh, Frances Byers | 1. 5/11/2003 2. 5/11/2003 |
M8 | 1. Vanessa Morris, Christine Gesto, Mary Quilty 2. Frances Byers, Christine Gesto, Mary Quilty, Bettina Wolpensinger, Vanessa Morris, Katherine Chan, Casa Dalton, Sarah Gillman | 1. Vermin in your life 2. How did you name your children and decide on the children’s surname? | 1. Tracks 1-3: not stated 2. Tracks 4-6: not stated | Summaries of interviews | 1. Mary Quilty 2. Casa Dalton | 1. 10/09/2003 2. 10/09/2003 |
| Katherine Chan | Biographical information and overview of interviews | No recording | Manuscript biography, typescript overview |
| 26/11/2003, 31/03/2004 |
C16 | 1. Julie Chan 2. Katherine Chan | 1. Singing with Julia 2. Diary entries 1998, Christmas letters 1997 and 1998 | 1. part of side A 2. side B and part of side A | Production sheet | Katherine Chan | 1. 19/09/2003 2. 23/09/2003 |
C17 | Katherine Chan | Background news stories and general stories current on this day, read at Radio Print Handicapped RPH | Not stated | Production sheet | Katherine Chan | 10/08/2003 |
C18 | Joan Boucher | Working holiday taken in her twenties | 45 min | Production sheet, black and white photograph of Joan Boucher and others dancing on board ship | Katherine Chan | 20/10/2003 |
C19 | Joan Boucher | Recollections of her arrival in Canberra 40 years ago and early days in Canberra | Not stated | Production sheet | Katherine Chan | 30/06/2003 |
C20 | Trevor Boucher | Recollections of early Canberra, and of growing up in country Victoria | 20 min | Production sheet | Katherine Chan | August 2003 |
C21 | Nicole Ward | Juggling motherhood and work | 10 min | Production sheet | Katherine Chan | June 2003 |
C22 | Katherine Chan | Overseas working holiday, 14 months August 1987 to October 1988 | 60-70 min | Production sheet, typescript diary of the holiday, photographs, letters, greeting cards, documents relating to work overseas | Katherine Chan | 9/12/2003 |