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y separately published work icon Country Women and the Colour Bar : Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association single work   criticism   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2015... 2015 Country Women and the Colour Bar : Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Country women and the colour bar is a timely corrective to established ideas about race relations in rural New South Wales. It reveals the untold story of grassroots efforts by Aboriginal and white women working together to make significant gains for Aboriginal communities prior to Aboriginal people’s widespread access to citizen’s rights.'

'In the 1950s and 1960s, in towns across New South Wales, specially created Aboriginal branches of the Country Women’s Association were established. Country women and the colour bar offers insights into the experience of ordinary Aboriginal and white rural women as they participated in beauty contests, cookery, handicraft lessons and baby contests. It reveals how Aboriginal assimilation policy met everyday reality as these rural women broke the rural colour bar in an unprecedented fashion and fostered cooperative campaigns for meaningful change in race-relations.' (Source: Publishers website)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,: Aboriginal Studies Press , 2015 .
      image of person or book cover 6398599859687518377.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: xvii,229p.
      Description: illus., map, ports.
      Note/s:
      • Includes bibliography and index.
      • Published 1 October 2015
      ISBN: 9781925302967
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

[Review Essay] Country Women and the Colour Bar: Grassroots Activism and the Country Women's Association Bronte Gould , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Lilith , no. 23 2017; (p. 122-124)

'Jones’ history of Aboriginal Country Women’s Association (CWA) branches in New South Wales (NSW), from 1956 to their disappearance in 1972, offers a new chapter in the organisation’s history. Jones uses both archival sources and oral history in her well researched and insightful book, Country women and the colour bar: Grassroots activism and the Country Women’s Association. Her book’s central focus is the ‘tracing of cross-racial mixing in CWA branches on Aboriginal stations and reserves’. Referring to the inauguration of these branches as an ‘experiment’ and ‘bold’, her research covers a seventeen year period.'  (Introduction)
[Review Essay] Country Women and the Colour Bar: Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association Emma Dortins , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 48 no. 1 2017; (p. 136-137)

'The point of departure for Country Women and the Colour Bar is the contrast (and friction) between the now fairly well-known Freedom Rides, which toured New South Wales (NSW) in 1965 – drawing attention to the racism and segregation still rife in many country towns – and the ‘quiet activism’ in which many country women had been engaged for a decade or more, working together with sympathetic white people to create networks of support and improvements in living conditions for Aboriginal communities. Country Women and the Colour Bar immerses the reader in this world of country women, and the local concerns and relationships of women in six NSW towns where branches of the Country Women’s Association (CWA) open to, or expressly for, Aboriginal women existed between 1956 and 1972.' (Introduction)
[Review Essay] Country Women and the Colour Bar : Gassroots Activism and the Country Women' Association Simonne Alcorso , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Aboriginal Studies , no. 2 2016; (p. 128-129)

'Country women and the colour bar documents the role the Country Women’s Association (CWA) played within certain communities of New South Wales between 1956 and 1972. This period in Indigenous history was governed by assimilation policies set up by the Aborigines Welfare Board. The account demonstrates how Aboriginal CWA members responded to the unique circumstances of their district and community histories to develop their own agenda for assimilation (p.xvii).' (Inroduction)
Lifting the Bar Liz Conor , 2016 single work review essay
— Appears in: Arena Magazine , June - July no. 142 2016; (p. 50-52) 'Aboriginal women avoided the restrooms of the Country Women’s Association in Kempsey. Aware that white CWA members had expressed opposition to shared facilities, the women themselves elected to steer clear of the restrooms when in town. As Jennifer Jones explains in her measured and eloquent history of Aboriginal branches of the Country Women’s Association in postwar New South Wales, the segregation of public space was endemic. From 1905 Aboriginal women delivered their babies in a screened-off corner of the ‘Aboriginal annexe’ at Kempsey Hospital. This segregation of facilities was justified by accusations of lack of hygiene and ‘questionable living habits’. In 1962 the local newspaper reported on ‘appalling conditions’ on Aboriginal stations and reserves, dwellings and standards that were described as a ‘Health menace to the Shire’. It is little wonder that the women seemed ‘shy’ and unwilling to ‘mix’. Jones’ detailed study reveals the informal and banal racism encountered daily by Aboriginal women and how they lived ‘under the strain of such petty humiliations’ as their babies being weighed on the roadside from the car boot of the nursing sister of the ‘under-utilised’ Kempsey Baby Health Centre for five years.' (Introduction)
[Review] Country Women and the Colour Bar : Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association Sue Taffe , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Aboriginal History , vol. 40 no. 2016; (p. 269-271)
— Review of Country Women and the Colour Bar : Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association Jennifer Jones , 2015 single work criticism biography
Book Reveals CWA Activism 2015 single work review
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 16 December no. 616 2015; (p. 33)
— Review of Country Women and the Colour Bar : Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association Jennifer Jones , 2015 single work criticism biography 'A largely untold history of 'quiet activism' by groups of Aboriginal matriachs working with the largely conservative NSW Country Women's Associate (CWA) in the 1950s and 60s is the subject of a new book by La Trobe University academic Jennifer Jones...'
[Review] Country Women and the Colour Bar : Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association Sue Taffe , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Aboriginal History , vol. 40 no. 2016; (p. 269-271)
— Review of Country Women and the Colour Bar : Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association Jennifer Jones , 2015 single work criticism biography
Lifting the Bar Liz Conor , 2016 single work review essay
— Appears in: Arena Magazine , June - July no. 142 2016; (p. 50-52) 'Aboriginal women avoided the restrooms of the Country Women’s Association in Kempsey. Aware that white CWA members had expressed opposition to shared facilities, the women themselves elected to steer clear of the restrooms when in town. As Jennifer Jones explains in her measured and eloquent history of Aboriginal branches of the Country Women’s Association in postwar New South Wales, the segregation of public space was endemic. From 1905 Aboriginal women delivered their babies in a screened-off corner of the ‘Aboriginal annexe’ at Kempsey Hospital. This segregation of facilities was justified by accusations of lack of hygiene and ‘questionable living habits’. In 1962 the local newspaper reported on ‘appalling conditions’ on Aboriginal stations and reserves, dwellings and standards that were described as a ‘Health menace to the Shire’. It is little wonder that the women seemed ‘shy’ and unwilling to ‘mix’. Jones’ detailed study reveals the informal and banal racism encountered daily by Aboriginal women and how they lived ‘under the strain of such petty humiliations’ as their babies being weighed on the roadside from the car boot of the nursing sister of the ‘under-utilised’ Kempsey Baby Health Centre for five years.' (Introduction)
[Review Essay] Country Women and the Colour Bar : Gassroots Activism and the Country Women' Association Simonne Alcorso , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Aboriginal Studies , no. 2 2016; (p. 128-129)

'Country women and the colour bar documents the role the Country Women’s Association (CWA) played within certain communities of New South Wales between 1956 and 1972. This period in Indigenous history was governed by assimilation policies set up by the Aborigines Welfare Board. The account demonstrates how Aboriginal CWA members responded to the unique circumstances of their district and community histories to develop their own agenda for assimilation (p.xvii).' (Inroduction)
[Review Essay] Country Women and the Colour Bar: Grassroots Activism and the Country Women’s Association Emma Dortins , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 48 no. 1 2017; (p. 136-137)

'The point of departure for Country Women and the Colour Bar is the contrast (and friction) between the now fairly well-known Freedom Rides, which toured New South Wales (NSW) in 1965 – drawing attention to the racism and segregation still rife in many country towns – and the ‘quiet activism’ in which many country women had been engaged for a decade or more, working together with sympathetic white people to create networks of support and improvements in living conditions for Aboriginal communities. Country Women and the Colour Bar immerses the reader in this world of country women, and the local concerns and relationships of women in six NSW towns where branches of the Country Women’s Association (CWA) open to, or expressly for, Aboriginal women existed between 1956 and 1972.' (Introduction)
[Review Essay] Country Women and the Colour Bar: Grassroots Activism and the Country Women's Association Bronte Gould , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Lilith , no. 23 2017; (p. 122-124)

'Jones’ history of Aboriginal Country Women’s Association (CWA) branches in New South Wales (NSW), from 1956 to their disappearance in 1972, offers a new chapter in the organisation’s history. Jones uses both archival sources and oral history in her well researched and insightful book, Country women and the colour bar: Grassroots activism and the Country Women’s Association. Her book’s central focus is the ‘tracing of cross-racial mixing in CWA branches on Aboriginal stations and reserves’. Referring to the inauguration of these branches as an ‘experiment’ and ‘bold’, her research covers a seventeen year period.'  (Introduction)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (6)
Last amended 29 Mar 2017 16:35:49
Subjects:
  • New South Wales,
  • 1950-1970
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