Eurongilly’s CWA branch in April 1945 from the then patriotic association and members started out making care packages for Australian soldiers.

It’s been a while since the branch has mailed out care packages with plenty changes over the years, but patron Helen Hillyer the need for the CWA is still as strong as ever.

One of the founding members of the branch, Mrs Hillyer said she’d always had plenty of friends in the CWA and her daughter Margaret Wright was also a member.

“The need is as great as it always was,” Mrs Hillyer said.

“Rural people are being left behind as we’re getting smaller (in number) as they’re more machines on farms,” she said.

Fellow patron Muriel Commens OAM agreed wholeheartedly with Mrs Hillyer.

She said there were two reasons for the CWA’s continued existence.

“The very first thing is friendship and talking to people in the district and the second is working towards the CWA’s goals,” Mrs Commens said.

Those are the same goals that were stated at the start of the organisation – ensuring a fair go for country people. 

“One of our jobs is to tell people in Sydney what we need,” branch president Helen Sheridan said.

“(And) as farming communities, we know what we need.”

It’s not just campaigning for more funding or extra services, Mrs Sheridan said it was also important to remind people in the city where their food came from.

“Milk doesn’t just arrive in the carton,” she said.

Eurongilly’s CWA branch is pushing for the state government restart efforts to combat Khaki weed and reclassified as a noxious weed.

“Just because there’s a lot of it around, it doesn’t make sense to ignore it.”

20 years

Ann Pratt, Jill Forsyth, Jane Sheridan, Cathy Smart, Patricia Herbert and Helen Sheridan.

50 years

Joyce Boyton, Mary Kanaley, Rita Craig and Margaret Makeham.