Historian role 'innocently put on myself'
A member of the Woy Woy branch of the Country Women's Association has taken on the job of documenting the history of the 13 branches in the Group.
Ms Johanna Reygersberg said her role as Group Historian was "simply one I innocently put on myself".
"Because our Woy Woy CWA Branch will be celebrating its 90th birthday next year, I got interested in its history.
"I am still working on that but then I learned that the State CWA will celebrate its Centenary next year.
"I thought it would be great to have some general historical information about the branches in our own Group. Just for ourselves, our own branches.
"It became a big job, as information was not always easily available.
"Many branches had closed.
"From the earlier 26 branches in the 80s or 70s, there are now only 13 left.
"But I thought that it would be interested to know about them too.
"So, I started off going to the head office in Sydney to dig in their archives.
"Then I visited branches, libraries, emailed, and telephoned members from all the different groups.
"It takes a lot of time.
"Nevertheless I enjoy learning about the different branches and listening to the stories of the older members, some who have been involved for over 50 and 70 years.
"I haven't finished yet but my aim is to share this little bit of Central Coast CWA history.
"At the moment I do all the printing myself, but I will have to find a printer who can print about a minimum of 30 booklets."
SOURCE:
Media statement, 13 Nov 2021
Johanna Reygersberg, CWA Woy Woy