Forty open reel audiotapes of interviews, transcripts and documentation about the project, and accompanying posters.

From Lunchroom to Boardroom was an oral history project by historian Therese Collie and visual artist Judith Hewitson. The objective of the project was to record the stories of a wide variety of women who participated in the Queensland labor movement from the 1930s though to the 1970s. Funded in 1991 by the Australia Council, and supported by the Oral History Association of Queensland, the Union of Australian Women and the Trades and Labour Council. Interviews were conducted by Therese Collie. Transcripts of the interviews were compiled by Sue Pechey. Interviews with Joyce Murphy, Ivy Willey, Jenny Prohaska, Alice Hughes, Ivy Neilsen, Jean Bowden, Marie Crisp, Constance Healy, Jean O'Connor, Ida Welsh, Vi Cox, Susie Dickson, Frances Bishop, Julba Julba Woman Dance Troupe, Loma Thompson, Pat Bowe, Bessie Lymburner, and Elena Timms.

Therese Collie interviews Jenny Prohaska, who was a member of the Union of Australian Women, Communist Party of Australia, and Australian Labor Party.

Interview continues from Reel 8, Interview with Alice Hughes, Grange, Brisbane, 25 Nov 1991 UQFL300, Series A, Item 3). Alice Hughes is joined by her friend Ivy Neilson, who was the secretary of the Innisfale Branch of the Communist Party. Ivy talks of her early life growing up in a militant family in Queensland; Alice and Ivy talk about the Communist Party's political school they both attended in Alexandra Headlands in 1945; their relationship with their husbands and their resentment to the women's political activities; working relationship between women and men in the Communist Party; and sexual harassment in the meat industry.

Therese Collie interviews Jean Bowden, an active member of the Australian Telephone and Phonogram Officers Association (ATPOA). In this interview, Bowden talks about her early life growing up on the Maroochy River where her father was a sugarcane grower; her school years; her first job at the Gympie telephone exchange and being encouraged by her father to join the union; boarding at the Convent in Gympie; working at the Nambour and Yeronga telephone exchanges; joining ATPOA; her involvement in the campaign to have the Bill that barred the employment of married women in the Commonwealth Public Service; Joyce Williams (Secretary of ATPOA); and her involvement with ATPOA.

Therese Collie interviews Susie Dickson.

Susie talks of her early life growing up in Blackpool, England, with a single mother, who came from a strong socialist family; high school education and teachers college; her first teaching job in Manchester, being evacuated, with her school, to Blackpool during the second World War; matron of a home for boys with mental disability during the war; teachers union; reasons for joining the Communist Party; emigrating to Australia in 1957 with her husband Ian and four children; first impressions of Townsville and Queensland; the formation of a branch of the Local Government Women's Association (LGWA) in Townsville by Lady Jessie Groom; being Chairman of LGWA, other women involved in the association; working for the Prisoner's Aid Society; LGWA folding after 11 years and its activities over the years; working on an oral history project, for Margaret Reynolds office, on women who've been involved in the labour movement in north Queensland; being the first female juror in Townsville in the 1960's; working as a tutor for Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander students at the Boys Grammar in Townsville.

4 posters.

Poster includes text with a gold photo frame boarder. Inscribed on poster, black text with gold shadow: I Wasn't Born Yesterday. Inscribed behind main text: Women Stand out, Talk Now. Right to Drink in Bars. Right of Married Women to Work. Equal Pay. Right of Women to Work on Juries. More Women in the Top Order. Paid Maternity Leave. Changed Public Attitudes to Child Care. Women's Right to Choose What Happens To their Bodies. Solidarity with Women From Round The World. [illegible text behind main text] Right to Work. Solidarity with Women From Round the World. Brought Women's Issues into the Trade Union Movement. Affirmative Action Act. Right to Vote. Sex Discrimination Act. Women's Refuges. Better Jobs. Widow's Pension. Supporting Mothers' Benefit. Recognition of Women's Right to Work. Thank Heavens!
Bottom of poster: [Australia Council logo] From Lunchroom to Boardroom Labour women's oral history project was assisted by the Australia Council, the Federal Government's funding and advisory body and hosted by the TLC Women's Equal Opportunity Committee and the Public Sector Union, Qld. Artworks: Therese Collie / Judith Hewitson. Feb 1992.

Forty open open reel audiotapes of interviews as part of the project From lunchroom to boardroom : records of oral history project, Women in the Labor movement, 1930-1970.

Therese Collie interviews Joyce Murphy and Ivy Willey (née Morgan) on the history of Ipswich and West Moreton Miners' Women's Auxiliary of the Queensland Colliery Employees Union (QCEU) and their involvement with the Auxiliary and QCEU.

Therese Collie interviews Vi Cox.

Vi talks of her early life growing up in Townsville and going to school during the second World War at Bohlevale State School; her husband Norrie Cox and his family, the Australian Railways Union; joining the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and supporting Norrie in his union activities; the difficulties women face when it came to women's issues like rape; issues she and other women in the ALP fought for; how she first became involved in the ALP and her 2 year role as secretary for the Currajong branch; her views on why ALP isn't attracting young people and what needs to be done, and what the ALP has done for women; her dedication to ALP; and her advice for young people and younger women.