Interview Transcript from Illawarra Stories Wollongong City Libraries Oral History Project – Ada Raynor
Interviewer: Jo Oliver
Interview date: 14 March 2022
Jo Oliver: The following interview was conducted with Ada Raynor as part of Wollongong City Council Libraries Illawarra stories oral history project. It took place at Ada’s house at Church St, Wollongong on the 14th of March 2022 and my name is Jo Oliver. So thank you so much Ada for being willing to be interviewed today.
Ada Raynor: That’s my pleasure.
Jo Oliver: Good. So, we’re going to talk a little about the CWA first of all, so tell me about your involvement in the CWA. How far does that go back?
Ada Raynor: My involvement goes back into the into the 1950s when we had the Wollongong younger set. But at a particular stage we decided. That it might be a good idea. Because most of our membership came from Keiraville and we had a good number of members that we become a full branch. But call ourselves Keiraville. and that, of course, over the years In between times there’s people that had gone to God or have moved away for whatever reason and, but our membership is still remains very good and, but it embraces everybody. It doesn’t matter where they come from. The important thing is they are joining the Country Women’s Association. So that really is the name of the game.
Jo Oliver: So originally you were part of the original Wollongong branch, were you?
Ada Raynor: No not the branch, the younger set.
Jo Oliver: The younger set. Yes Can you describe what that was?
Ada Raynor: I’m not sure there was an older set. The younger set was the group of people who could come together, generally speaking that we met of a nighttime and mainly in those particular days of our husbands would be at work, but then they would be home to mind the children, while we were able to go out and be able to enjoy the company and socialise with other people.
Jo Oliver: And how old would you have been in the fifties later, roughly?
Ada Raynor: Oh well, at that particular stage I suppose I would have been in. Yeah, I gotta try that up. It’s a long time ago, I would have been in my late twenties, I’d say somewhere around about there. Yes, and my mother thought that it would be a good idea if I were to join in – whether it is that she you know she was a great reader of the newspapers, et cetera and I think too that she thought that the Country Women’s Association was a very worthwhile organisation to be part of. And so she actually was the one who encouraged me to become a member.
Jo Oliver: And was she, had she been a member?
Ada Raynor: No, no, no, no, no.
Jo Oliver: And whereabouts did you meet then in the fifties? Where did you have?
Ada Raynor: We used to meet at in the park. Which is at the back of, and you can come in from Burelli St. That it came up to, I don’t know. I can’t remember the name.
Jo Oliver: Is it Globe Lane?
Ada Raynor: Yes, yes, yes, yes. The building was in there, but it was also, and this would have been another part of why my mother would have thought that it was a good idea because it had the baby health centre. And so, it could take our children along there. To have them wait and have whatever information we were required to. Have and that it would be a good idea. Well that all happened there, but it was also where the younger set have said CWA meet. Yes.
Jo Oliver: And you would meet in the evenings?
Ada Raynor: In the evenings, yes.
Jo Oliver: What would happen at a meeting?
Ada Raynor: Oh well, we would have our – there is always a monthly meeting, but besides that too, we did always organise something social so that, we wouldn’t have that long break between a meeting for one month and then we have to wait right around until the next meeting, that we had something social in between times to be able to come to. And it could be made up of a of a variety of things that it might be card games or even a little bit of a concert or whatever it might happen to be anyway, but it was a social time to be head between the meetings.
Jo Oliver: And was that held on the same night of the week, the social gatherings as well?
Ada Raynor: Oh it – the meeting was wholly contained. So that it would be, and we’ll say a Tuesday and so on. On the night of the meeting, which would be a Tuesday. It would be roughly 2 weeks later. Yes, there would be the break in between.
Jo Oliver: Yes, yes. On the same night of the week?
Ada Raynor: Yes, that’s right. Yeah
Jo Oliver: And were you involved, I understand you were a violinist, so were you involved in the concerts?
Ada Raynor: Yes, but the thing is my main interest in music is classical. Is so while I um you know, enjoy and certainly, at that particular time we we we are still talking younger set, we had there’s one night I can think of, particularly when it was a wine and cheese night. Now this was when it was very new to be have, to be having this type of a function, that everybody enjoyed it. And of course, we could bring our husbands to that one too. Yes, so that was the beginning of wine and cheese nights.
Jo Oliver: Yes, that was very avant garde! I didn’t think that sort of started till the seventies, but you were you were ahead of the game there.
Ada Raynor: Well, it was, it was definitely younger set at that time that we did that, yes.
Jo Oliver: And with the meetings was there activism involved? I understand the CWA was quite politically active in pushing for certain things in society, social reforms. Were there things that?
Ada Raynor: Oh yes, that is right, it was one thing to go to the state conference of younger set. But we got the real deal once we became a, uh, fully a branch and when they would be the at state conference and all the nations would come from various branches and they were very, very into knowing what the situation was right throughout the state and it was always just so interesting to hear about the problems that people from other branches had to deal with.
Jo Oliver: What sort of things were they?
Ada Raynor: Roads, that’s always an ongoing one, and mainly because the ladies, wherever it was that they happened to be, would always have the difficulty of getting from here to there, and when it came to talking about you know the road conditions and this is ongoing, even today. When there’s the elections, even for council, and it can be this person think about the roads in this particular area or not. Not so much in other areas, wholly and solely, depending on what their own particular interest it is, even though it’s supposed to be across the board.
Jo Oliver: So was the roads interest to do with women having transport and access to facilities?
Ada Raynor: Well, there was a number of different things. Now one of the two things that I can think of immediately that came out from this is you know the left-hand side of the, of the road, you couldn’t always know where the edge of the road was. It was through CWA that it came up in conference and that the marking for the, for the road on the left-hand side would be a guide so that people could know where the edge of the road was that was very big, and I’ve had the very real knowledge of that myself. One time when one of my sons had to have surgery and I had to be able to go to Sydney and the line in the middle of the road is there, but not all the time, it’s there for part. Then you get the break before it starts again. Now if the cloud cover or whatever the weather condition is then you get lost on that right hand side until you know where the line comes again, so in CWA, the line was put on the left-hand side for the edge of the road so that you could have that all, all the way, yes and another one that came up to do with roads is that sometimes, and sometimes many times, trucks would get in into bother and had to stop and it was the CWA that brought the nation forward for the for the people to have to carry with them the danger light you know so that cars could be aware of what was happening. Yeah
Jo Oliver: Great and I understand they were active in pushing for compulsory seat belts as well.
Ada Raynor: Yes, yes, yes in many ways you know CWA has got it right there. They whatever can be of benefit for people, whether it be women, children, and their husbands. All the time, things that is worthwhile and beneficial to the general community.
Jo Oliver: And did you have young children when you were part of the younger set?
Ada Raynor: Yes.
Jo Oliver: And did you make use of the childcare?
Ada Raynor: Oh yes, I did. Yes
Jo Oliver: Can you talk about what that was like for you?
Ada Raynor: Oh Um Just simply having a place to be able to go to that, ah, not to not having to wonder where I could go? Probably what would happen generally is that we would just go to the doctor to see about the progress of our children, but we didn’t have to do that when we had the baby health. And the baby health minding place there that there was always a, I think she was called a matron and so you know we would go in according to our turn and have everything looked at and seen to. And yes, and whatever advice we might require, we were given.
Jo Oliver: Right? And did you ever make use of the child-minding facility there? Norma explained that she was able to leave her children while she went shopping. Did she set something new?
Ada Raynor: No no no no. The time that I’m talking about is ahead of the time that Norma started, that that’s not to say that children might not be somewhat of an equal age, age grouping, but no.
Jo Oliver: So the younger set became the Keiraville branch, is that correct?
Ada Raynor: Yes
Jo Oliver: And did you continue to meet in Wollongong?
Ada Raynor: Ohh yes yes yes yes yes yes we we did and, but of course once changes were made, it was Council. Then we went out to we had to find some where to meet differently and by the time we became the Keiraville CWA the President at the time she was our first president and she had a daughter who was in the guides, in the girl guides, and so we went we were able to with their help, they are able to meet at the Girl Guides hall in Follies Rd.
Jo Oliver: Yes
Ada Raynor: Yeah.
Jo Oliver: And was there any protest about the Council taking back that land and demolishing the centre that was in Rest Park at the time? Because it sounded like it was a very important hub.
Ada Raynor: It was an extremely important hub. Um I, I can’t, I can’t define too much about the various politics that was involved in all of that. Just simply It happened, it got changed and yes.
Jo Oliver: And you adjusted?
Ada Raynor: We adjusted. Being good CWA people we were able to do that,
Jo Oliver: Yes, yes. And did you ever go to conference, were you, I understand that was delegates? Were you a delegate at conference?
Ada Raynor: Yes, in Sydney. In in Sydney I was able to go to conference and one of the, for me, one of the very telling things about CWA. Thelma Bate happened to be the state president at the time, and she told the story about meeting a person, and in the course of the conversation, and this lady said Oh I wouldn’t be good enough, there isn’t anything that I can do to be a member of the CWA and Mrs Bate then asked her, do you know how to pour out a cup of tea, and she said, Oh yes, I can do that. And so Mrs Bate said, well you can do that in CWA. You don’t have to be you know particular about all of these variety of things that we can do because there’s always something. Now if it happens that when it is time to get a cup of tea, whether it be a morning tea or afternoon or whenever, then your job will be to pour out that cup of tea so then that It made the lady just sort of take a step back and think to herself, Oh well maybe then I can be part of CWA.
Jo Oliver: Yes, everyone can contribute.
Ada Raynor: Everybody can contribute in their own particular way. Yes, one of the things – once we did become a full, have full membership of CWA that I have always been extremely proud of is that one of the very first things that we did was to think about what we could do in the community and so we joined in with Meals on Wheels and we did that as a Keiraville CWA, and we did that for three decades.
Jo Oliver: And volunteered?
Ada Raynor: Yes, yes. So I think that that was a very good thing and there have been different things, joining in everything you know, craft was where people are able to knit.
any number of things, anything and be able to be part of that scene, you know that it is possible to make a contribution in so many different ways. It doesn’t always have to be the same, but the contribution to community is always there.
Jo Oliver: So, with the handcrafts were they usually, were they sold to raise money or were they given to people who needed?
Ada Raynor: Oh well, yes, that that’s why it, it involves everything. If there’s a reason to give for a particular way of, um, that that can be done, but on the other hand, contributions can be made to a hospitals or childminding places or other ones that I just can’t think of for the moment, but um there is always a reason to be able to make things and get them together and to offer them then and they are always you know regarded very well indeed, whatever the offering might be.
Jo Oliver: Yeah
Ada Raynor: Yes.
Jo Oliver: And then were there particular skills or gifts that you feel you brought to the CWA?
Ada Raynor: Um, oh well, I’m a little bit of a talkative person and it is so when it came that you know, I had been. I had been president, but the thing is that I wasn’t secretary or treasurer. One of the things that I used to be involved in was being the international officer. Now the CWA has always been interested in having a country of study, and so of course over all of the years Umm we were able to enjoy having these programs whereby a country of study would be chosen, and we would spend the whole of the 12 months learning about that particular country. At one time we used to hold the, um had the International Day and invite all of the other branches to come into it to join with us. Every month I would do a report that once a year we would have a big day and have a guest speaker and somebody who might perhaps play or play an instrument. or do a dance or, uh, something and but then gradually we got to the point where that became as something for the group. Because when we say the group, that is in New South Wales across the whole of New South Wales, the state is divided up into 30 groups of towns and cities across the state so the thing is that you can see then that lots of times it was – it turned out to be better to be able to have the function on a day when we were having a meeting for the group and in for Keiraville CWA. Of course we are part of the Illawarra group. And so on a particular day, a calendar has been made out at the beginning of the year and so this particular function would be there as part of what was happening, and all of the other branches could be invited to the one International Day.
Jo Oliver: And you would be celebrating that country that you would been studying on?
Ada Raynor: Yes, yes, yes. And they, they would provide their own they had their own guest speaker and have um types of materials and I’m thinking here in terms of one particular time when we had Nepal as our, as our country of study and they brought along a lot of different types of scarves and different types of materials that were used to make the scarves, that that was very interesting, but this is the sort of thing that happens. And of course there are a lot of countries in the world, so it takes quite a while to get to be able to do all of them.
Jo Oliver: Yeah
Ada Raynor: Yes
Jo Oliver: And do you think that promoted cultural understanding of other countries and other people?
Ada Raynor: Well, I’m sure that it does because in very many ways, now that we have the television, and it is at the ready there, um, we can be able to see a little bit, have a bit more understanding of the particular country that comes up, that there might be something about as for instance. Umm well, which country am I going to, to select from? Right, right now we would be able to say a country that gets that is in doubt for its political situation, it, it can be Poland. We’re hearing a lot about that. We did Poland as a country of study not really all that long ago, and so we already have an idea of everything of the history of Poland, how the people are, their situation, and just to think that even right now it’s on television. The role that they are playing, but we have a little bit of an extra understanding of that country because of doing it as part of our international section of our meetings.
Jo Oliver: Yes, it gives you a bit of background on the world.
Ada Raynor: Yes
Jo Oliver: Yes yes interesting. And you’re still involved with the CWA? You still attend Ada?
Ada Raynor: Ohh yes. And how do you get to the meeting? Ohh well, I am extremely fortunate um that although I can still drive the car, but it is very nice to have somebody who calls and collects me and I use my what I call my four-wheel drive, but it’s a four-wheel walker really, but to me it’s a four-wheel drive and so she very kindly puts that in the car and off I go and very recently I was given the honour of being a life member of Keiraville CWA, and…
Jo Oliver: Wonderful, and we have some photos of Ada receiving that, which I’ll make copies of to go with this interview. And is that, what’s the criteria for being a life member, is there any set criteria or is it more?
Ada Raynor: I don’t know. It was such a surprise, but a lovely, wonderful surprise and that whether it might be the length of time of being a member of the CWA, I don’t know if it was, no, I don’t know, but I do really feel honoured to have received that life membership.
Jo Oliver: Wonderful. Yes. And friends that you made through the CWA, have they been, you know, has it resulted in long term friendships for you?
Ada Raynor: Yes, yes there are some other photos.
Jo Oliver: Here, so Ada is showing me some other photos which we might.
Ada Raynor: Yeah these yeah that is a photo of appreciation that was given. By the particular president at the time, around about 2009 and she thought at that time that there were a number of us that had done different things, you know, over time. She was very appreciative of what had been done, and so we were given these and it’s an acknowledgement and appreciation.
Jo Oliver: And, Ada, are younger women joining up CWA? What do you see as the future of the organisation?
Ada Raynor: Ohh, I think that there is a really good particular period of time these days. There are people of at the time that I first joined at the time, and when we were first carer of CWA it was a matter of – our husbands went to work we stayed home and did the looking after the house and raising the children. but society has changed to an extent now, and what happens is that women are required to do pretty full-time work. And so during the day, they are busy doing that. But we get to a stage where women well, they can be younger, but supposing that they are around about that fifty plus years they might not want to be doing full-time work anymore, but they are looking for a something. and this is now where our membership comes from. Which is extremely good because they are able, and very willing to be able to still make the most of their abilities to be able to do things and it’s very appreciative on behalf of the organisation that they are there and want to be part of it and of course in return it is acknowledged to both the by the organization is that there’s the membership, but there is also too at times when you can have they’re there for 20 years. If you do 20 years, this one was 50 years, so that but you know like the thing is according to your time that you are with the with the organization and then that that is acknowledged.
Jo Oliver: Yes. So these are lovely badges that Ada has, which I’ll take a photo of too.
Ada Raynor: Yes
Jo Oliver: Yeah, so it’s it’s lovely that people’s service is acknowledged.
Ada Raynor: It is acknowledged. Yes, yes, yes yeah, it’s in that particular way.
Jo Oliver: So you see you see the organization having a bright future, then.
Ada Raynor: Yes. Now this is a case of where two of our members had achieved the the 20 years.
Jo Oliver: So these ladies are cutting a cake for 20 years.
Ada Raynor: And this is oh, I don’t know. I think it might be one of those times where we just sitting, and you know it might have been that. That’s a daytime one and there were times that we used to go to Wiseman’s park Bowling Club to have a meal. There’s Norma and her mother, Lottie Wood, who had been a member, a president. Yes and that’s me there.
Jo Oliver: Okay, yes, yeah. So we’ll make some copies of these.
Ada Raynor: This this is another time at the same place but of our membership. Now this one is Jane Moore. He was actually the first president of Keiraville CWA; I was the second. I was the second President and this, is this one is um yeah, we were doing Mexico. Obviously, it is Mexico yes.
Jo Oliver: And when you study these countries, do you ever have people who have come from those countries?
Ada Raynor: Ohh yes yes yes yes, see this too would have been Mexico and the person at the front here would have been telling us all about. And you know what it was like to be in Mexico, and that’s me again now where I’m standing up doing, well, I’ll need to, you know. Jo Oliver And where would the people find the information on the countries?
Ada Raynor: Oh well. Yeah, you found that. Anywhere,
Jo Oliver: Yeah
Ada Raynor: Wherever.
Jo Oliver: Would they use the library at all?
Ada Raynor: Yes, the library. Yes yes, and an interesting one. That’s another one that that’s to do with Mexico too. A very interesting one was when we did Malta. Both of these nuns I had been out to you know when we were told that that was going to be the country to study, was going to be Malta. How would I find somebody to do it? But I did happen to remember that there was an order of nuns out of Port Kembla, and they were from Malta, and they joined in just absolutely superbly 100%, and they even provided all of the food that we had to have for lunch that particular day. They not only did the talk, and you know showed different, uhh, handiwork that they did, but they provided the food.
Jo Oliver: Wonderful.
Ada Raynor: Yes, yes. And that’s the photo of me at the conference in Sydney.
Jo Oliver: Wonderful, and when would that have been?
Ada Raynor: Well, I think that I think that that. Umm. I think it was probably 1964. Could have been 1965. It wasn’t 1966 because I didn’t look pregnant there and I had a son that was born in, yes. So I think that that is it’s going to be ’64 or ’65.
Jo Oliver: Yeah, wonderful, wonderful. I’d love to take a photo of that if we could.
Ada Raynor: Yeah, that’s somebody.
Jo Oliver: Okay, yes, and was there anything else you know? It’s been very interesting hearing an overview and hearing your experiences. Was there anything else you wanted to add about the CWA before we finish this section?
Ada Raynor: No, you know I have to stop and think because we do such a variety of things and the fact that we have in our membership now just so good at you know they do the sausage sizzle at Bunnings and the – other things, other places And they do lots of, lots of stalls. that are very interested in being able to raise the money. And then from the money we can be able to join in making, making it possible to be able to develop, be able to do other things. One, one of the new thing that we are doing, mainly because we would like to be able to. help the Aboriginal folk and there is a project now. It’s called Bush Heritage and so with this one of the things that we had become interested in is the Uluru Statement from the heart and at the end of that statement from the heart the Aboriginal folk ask for us to join with them to be able to bring about the reconciliation. So the thing is that last year we were able to have a motion passed at the State conference to do with that, that we join with them. We didn’t know where or how where it was going to lead but at least from the membership of CWA, that they passed the motion for us to be able to see what can come from it. So recently, umm, because I- I myself have, contribute to Bush tracks, which is the magazine that is put out by Bush heritage I was taken by what was said on the back of the magazine, and it said “Bush Heritage is an independent not for profit conservation organisation that buys and manages land and partners with Aboriginal people. To protect our irreplaceable Australian landscapes and native species.” To me that said it all, but I like the next part too where it said, “Founded by Bob Brown in 1991, we had since grown to protect and help manage over 11 million hectares. That’s more than all of Tasmania. These landscapes span from rainforest to woodlands, savannahs to deserts. And everything in between.” So we just from our own branch we are helping to further the motion that got passed at State conference, because senior would say, “well, Ok, it’s got passed, what do we do now?” But what we can do now is to be able to support the independent not for profit conservation organization that buys and manages the land and partners with Aboriginal people. Now that as far as I’m concerned is part of what CWA is about, that we do take part with the Aboriginal folk in a way that we can manage because we still have to uh, raise the money to be able to make the contribution. And because we’ve got the people right now who are keen to be able to be of service one way or another that they are able to do it, then we are able to and probably be able to help the Aboriginal folk, because after all, they never ceded the land. Actually, where I live right now, they could have run, run right across and over there to the ocean. But actually my house happens to be on the land, but what we can do nonetheless, as being part of CWA That they have and partners with Aboriginal people. Now that to me is important and so that was my motion at our, at our monthly meeting, I put up that motion. And happily everybody accepted it. And so we are going to do that. Yes
Jo Oliver: Wonderful, wonderful Ada. I think that’s a great place to leave the interview. It shows that your, the CWA is still going very strong and is involved in very current and important issues in Australia today. So, thank you so much for talking today.
Ada Raynor: Thank you, thank you.