• Minute books, 1931-1987 (10 vols).
• Cash books, 1945-1956, 1960-1965 (3 vols).
• Country Women's Association: correspondence, 1956-1984 (5 bundles, 2 bags).

• Photographs, newspaper clippings, letters and profiles of the founders of the Country Women's Association (CWA), 1924-1953 (4 folders).
• Minutes of current branches, groups and statse committees, 1926-1985 (12 metres of shelving).
• Report books of the State Committee of the CWA, 1929-1987 (1 metre of shelving).
• Correspondence, plans, minutes of the State Property Committee and branch property officers, 1931-1988 (3 metres of shelving).
• Certificates, photographs and sketches of the founders of the CWA and its activities, 1931-1984 (30 items).
• Minutes, receipts, accounts, donor lists of the Outback Relief Scheme, 1931 (1 packet).
• Minutes, scrapbooks, newspaper cuttings, maps and correspondence held by the Country Women's Association of South Australia relating to the Association of Country Women of the World, 1933-1988 (15 metres of shelving).
• Booklets noting the changes to the CWA constitution, 1934-1987 (1 metre of shelving).
• Minutes, notes and photographs of Handicraft Committee and the Schools of Instruction conducted over the years 1936-1988 (5 metres of shelving).
• Minutes and treasurers books of defunct branches, 1936-1988 (9 metres of shelving).
• Annual reports and newspaper reports regarding the Australia wide organisation, the Country Women's Association of Australia, 1936-1986 (1 metre of shelving).
• Minutes, directives, receipts for the making of camouflage nets, airmen's and merchant navymen's sheep skin vests, lifeboat slippers and mittens during the war, 1940-1945 (2 packets).
• Illuminated address books and the 'Book of Honour' dealing with luminaries in the CWA, 1941-1987 (3 vols).
• Details of fundraising for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, United Nations, National Trust, also includes surveys and submissions to Parliament as well as a history of the Northern Territory CWA, 1942-1988 (4 metres of shelving). Notes, minutes and correspondence regarding Housekeeping Scheme and flood relief during the 1956 flood on the River Murray, 1945-1980 (2 packets).
• Radio scripts and notes of radio broadcasts, 1949-1973 (1 folder).
• Publications relating to the history of the CWA in various country districts and on a State level, includes recipe books and home hints, 1950-1988 (2 metres of shelving).
• District and town histories prepared by branch members, 1951-1969 (8 folders).
• Photographs, press clippings, programs of Royal visits prepared by branch members, 1954-1956 (1 metre of shelving).
• Histories of branches and divisions, 1967-1987 (1 metre of shelving).
• Scrapbooks prepared by members in 1969 to mark the golden jubilee of the CWA in South Australia, material used dates from 1929 (2 metres of shelving).
• Newspaper clippings and photographs of various activities of the CWA, each volume devoted to a separate topic, 1969-1988 (22 vols).
• Correspondence and photographs relating to the preparation of branch banners, 1985 (1 metre of shelving).

Recorded on 12 May 1994. 3 cassette tapes, 2 hours 20 minutes. Full transcript available (34 pages) .
Joyce Candy, nee Cope, was born in Magill, South Australia, where she grew up much involved in community activities, particularly sport and church. She met her future husband at a Liberal Country League meeting. They married in 1942 and Joyce left her job with the Government Printing Office to move onto the Candy family property at O'Halloran Hill. She maintained her community interests and was a foundation member of the Happy Valley Branch of the Country Women's Association. The Candy's began to subdivide the property in the late 1960s. Joyce and her husband Dick had a daughter and a son.

Perceptions of Lifestyle and Leisure of Rural Women in South Australia, 1940-1960

Kay Harding, nee Cowan, was born in Adelaide, South Australia and grew up in her family's large home in Tranmere in the eastern suburbs. After finishing high school she trained at the Adelaide Kindergarten Teachers' College for three years and then worked briefly in the country as a governess. She found that she enjoyed teaching older children and asserted her independence by gaining primary school teaching qualifications after a further year studying at the Adelaide Teachers' College in 1939. She was appointed first to Burra, where she recalls refugees from the Darwin bombing, and then to Black Springs where she was the only teacher. Ilsa met her future husband at a local dance. They married in 1944 and settled in the district. Ilsa joined the Country Women's Association, an involvement which has led to her taking up writing as well as participating in CWA activities on an international level. Kay and her husband Gordon had a daughter and a son.

Recorded on 20 July 1994. 1 hour 44 minutes.

Full transcript available (27 pages).

Recorded on 18 May 1994. 2 cassette tapes, 1 hour 51 minutes. Full transcript available (35 pages).

Lorna Esme Adams, nee Eames, was born in Torrensville, South Australia. She trained at the Adelaide Teachers' College and met her future husband after taking up her second teaching post at Black Hill in 1942. In 1945 they began dairy farming at Black Hill, moving to Paracombe three years later. After their infant son died of cystic fibrosis and their older boy was also diagnosed, they decided to settle at Ponde for the drier climate. Their second son died in 1955. Lorna has had three enduring interests; the Girl Guides movement and the Country Women's Association, both of which she has represented at State level, and the Holstein-Fresian dairy cattle stud that she and her husband developed. Lorna and her husband Jack's surviving daughter has had nine children.

Recorded on 28 May 1994. 2 cassette tapes, 1 hour 51 minutes. Full transcript (30 pages).

Martha Kernich, nee Scherer, was born at Cambrai, South Australia, the daughter of a Lutheran minister and one of 11 children. When she was 18 she moved to Adelaide to enter domestic service, first at Immanuel College and then private homes until she married her sister in law's brother in 1942. They moved onto his family's farm on Eyre Peninsula. Martha and her husband had three sons and a daughter and Martha became involved in the local branch of the Country Women's Association and in exhibiting at local shows. Martha and her husband separated in 1956 and she and the children settled in Freeling. She remarried in 1963.

Perceptions of Lifestyle and Leisure of Rural Women in South Australia, 1940-1960

Mary Martin, nee Moody, was born in Hahndorf (her mother's home town) and grew up as an only child on her parents' farm at Hansborough, South Australia. She went to the local school for her primary education and then spent two years at boarding school in Adelaide until the outbreak of the Second World War when she returned home to help on the property. Mary met her future husband at a ball after he had taken up a bank posting at Eudunda when he returned from the war. She goes on to compare the social attractions of nearby Eudunda and Kapunda in this era. After they married in 1947, soon after her father's death, Mary's husband took on the running of the family property. Mary remained much involved in community activities, including the Eudunda Branch of the Country Women's Association which she first joined when it reformed in 1947. Mary and her husband Alan had a son and two daughters.

Recorded on 4 July 1994. 1 hour 33 minutes.

Full transcript available (38 pages).

Oral History of Women's Political Activity

Mavis Cooper, nee Price, was born in Bairnsdale, Victoria and grew up in Melbourne. She trained as a nurse and moved to Jamestown, South Australia after she met her future husband, a farmer, on holiday there. After joining the Country Women's Association's choir in 1957, she was soon an office holder in the local branch. Mavis outlines the CWA's aims and organisation in explaining her progression from Branch President to State President in 1974 and National President in 1977. She describes her efforts in travelling to meet and speaks with women so that she could correctly represent their views, and emphasises that many social issues concerning members are far from conservative and can be closely related to the women's and environmental movements. She speaks of the growing consciousness amongst members of the CWA as a powerful lobby group. She also speaks of the organisation's Women's Suffrage Centenary activities and her hopes for the future.

Recorded on 9 March 1994. 1 hour 26 minutes, 1 photograph.

Full transcript available (24 pp.]

Recorded on 13 March 1973. 1 cassette tape, 46 minutes. Interview log available (3 pages) Note: Technical quality very poor.

Mr and Mrs A. L. Walsh were amongst the original residents of the Cabin Homes at Salisbury and have remained in the district ever since. Mr Walsh, a carpenter, came to Salisbury earlier in the war years to build munition factory buildings. He was able to bring his family to Salisbury when the first of the Cabin Homes were available. Mrs Walsh remembers Salisbury at this time as one of the 'unfriendliest country towns' she'd ever been in and they both describe the problems involved in the lack of facilities and services provided to the new residents. Mrs Walsh became involved with the Progress Association and after the war helped the migrants moving into the area through her activities with the Country Women's Association, the Red Cross and the Good Neighbour Council.

Recorded on 23 June 1994. 2 cassette tapes, 1 hour 45 minutes. Full transcript available (33 pages)

Valmai Webb, nee Glover, was born at Tumby Bay, South Australia and grew up on the family farm at Yeelanna. She attended the local one teacher school for her primary education and then went on to Cummins Area School for three years. Valmai stayed at home for the next seven years until her marriage in 1960 and describes her busy social life in the interim. She discusses the birth of her youngest sister in 1951, when Valmai was 14, and the likelihood that illegitimacy would have been suspected had she been boarding away from home at the time. Valmai joined the Country Women's Association soon after leaving school and took a great interest in home crafts. She and her husband Richard moved to a property at Ungarra after their marriage. They had one daughter and three sons.

Minutes Books, 5 vols.