For more than 30 years Museums Victoria has been working to uncover and record the untold stories of regional Victorian women and their contributions to society.
Women on Farms Gathering Collection
The development of the Women on Farms Gathering Collection has played a key role in increasing the visibility of these women and their stories.
The Victoria’s Women on Farms Gathering Collection is a community project involving the active participation of rural Victorian women in collecting, interpreting and sharing their histories. Developed through the annual Victorian Women on Farms Gatherings, the collection highlights the diversity of rural women’s experiences, documents the contribution of women to their farms and communities, and shows the changing nature of agriculture and contemporary issues affecting the future of Victorian communities.
Of national and international significance, the collection is a valuable resource for internal and external researchers and is used for exhibitions and programs. Elements of the collection are displayed annually at the regional gatherings.
Impact
The contemporary and collaborative nature of the collection has created important community links across Victoria. Ongoing collaboration has seen many of these links evolve into long-term partnerships some of which have directly influenced the development other regional collections and research such the Victorian Bushfires collection and the Invisible Farmer Project.
Through documenting and sharing the stories of these women the collection has the capacity to facilitate conversations about where our food and fibre comes from, who produces it, and why gender equality is so fundamental in addressing issues such as climate change, rural decline, globalisation and urban sprawl. Women contribute half of the world’s food supply, so it is vital that we understand and recognise their significant contributions.
