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From lunchroom to boardroom : records of oral history project, Women in the Labor movement,1930-1970
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From lunchroom to boardroom : records of oral history project, Women in the Labor movement,1930-1970

  • UQFL300
  • Collection
  • 1991-1992

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.

Trades and Labor Council of Queensland, Women's Equal Opportunity Committee

Interview with Vi Cox

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.

Interview with Susie Dickson

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.

Interview with Frances Bishop

Therese Collie interviews Francis Bishop, born in Brisbane in 1918.

Francis talks of her early life growing up in Brisbane in a Liberal family; joining the Communist Party and Union of Australian Women, and her involvement with both organisations; her husband Frank, who was the Communist Party Secretary of the Townsville area; Labor Day marches in Brisbane; her opinion on the changes in political activity over the years and lack of interest in unions and the Labor Party; women's issues and work for women's rights; Flo Milburn and Betty Clason.

Interview with Loma Thompson

Therese Collie interviews Loma Thompson, born in 1922 in Lismore, Victoria.

Loma talks of her early life in Camberdown and Colac, and her parents; leaving school at 14 or 15 years old; training to be a nurse at Geelong and joining the Student Nurses' Association, and later the Professional Division of the Hospital Employees' Union; moving to North Queensland in 1948; meeting her husband Fred Thompson at a Communist Party meeting; joining the Communist Party in 1944 and why she joined; working for the Legion of Ex-Servicemen; Union of Australian Women (UAW); Freds work and his involvement with the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU), Loma being a founding member of the AEU Women's Committee; 1964/65 dispute at Mt Isa Mines and the work that the Women's Committee did; returning to the workforce at the age of 49 and the changes in the workforce for women since she last time she worked; her involvement with Kindergarten Headstart; child care; some issues faced by women today; activities, politically or otherwise, she is involved in now, and her family being involved in arts activities as a political tool of communication.

Interview with Pat Bowe

Therese Collie interviews Pat Bowe, born in Herberton, Queensland in 1938. In 1991 she was in teachers staffing, having previously been a teacher and principal.

Bowe talks of her family, moving around Queensland due to her fathers job at BHP (tin exploration); her education including going to primary school during the second World War at Innot Hot Springs; being female in the 1950's and having a tertiary education with the help of her family; her father being a member of the union and Labor Party; being influenced by her family; union activities in Queensland and being the only female at meetings; equal/women's rights in the education field; some of the locations she was a Principal at - Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic island, Homestead, Hayman island, Majors Creek, and Long Pocket; discrepancy between single and married women's conditions or opportunities; her experiences teaching in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; lessons learnt from her experience working in remote Queensland schools and as a woman; her work with the Teachers' Union - State Standing Committee of the Union and State Accommodation Committee, and how her work with the committees affected her job as a teacher; what the Queensland Teachers' Union has done for its women members, what it has achieved, and current issues; how far women teachers have come; and where her dedication to keep on fighting and struggling for better conditions for teachers, and for equal opportunities for women.

Interview with Bessie Lymburner

Therese Collie interviews Bessie Lymburner, born in 1919 in Patana (Wenlock), Cape York.

Bessie talks about her early life in Palm Island and Townsville; working as a nurse and for the settlement Matron and Superintendent; housing; her husband Eric Lymburner's involvement in the Palm Island strike of 1957 where him and others protested againsts the injustices of living under the act; Second World War; her children; her concerns about Aboriginal health and Comalco Mining; Aboriginal people and women.

Interview with Elena Timms

Therese Collie interviews Elena Timms (née Raccanello) born in 1941 in Stanthorpe.

Elena talks about her parents, who were Italian migrants; her experiences of growing up in Stanthorpe as a child of migrants; her and her fathers involvement in the peace and anti-war movements; working in an aluminium tube factory in Port Kembla in 1963 and school cleaner and trade unions; Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union of Australia and Trades and Labor Council; women labor union members.

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