Interview Transcript from Illawarra Stories Wollongong City Libraries Oral History Project – Patricia Armstrong
Interviewer: Edie Swift
Interview Date: 6 April 2022
Edie Swift: It is April 6th, and I’m Eddie Swift interviewing Patricia Armstrong about her involvement in CWA. And this is the Illawarra Stories Oral History project. So, um, that’s run by the Wollongong City Library. So if you would like to start and talking about your CWA experience, that would be great.
Patricia Armstrong: Well, I’ve been with the CWA for, about, um, oh, twenty-five years. It’s in the last twelve years that I have been in fully involved. Um, I’ve been Treasurer to, ah, the Dapto and been Treasurer as Group Treasurer.
Edie Swift: What did you have to do when you were the Treasurer?
Patricia Armstrong: Well, I had to keep the, take the money for the branch and receipt it and bank it and keep a record. And, um, and then every twelve months we used to have to fill in a return on where we spent the money, how we got the money and so forth. And then, um, I’ve also now I’m a President of, of our branch at Dapto and Treasurer. Ah, I’ve been in, I’ve done a lot of cooking and handicraft stuff so we can sell at stalls. We have two cake, well two cakes stalls. It is usually at the Lifeline Books Fair and then we usually have a stall at Warilla Grove that raise money.
Edie Swift: Where’s that, where does where’s?
Patricia Armstrong: At Warilla Grove.
Edie Swift: Oh, uh-huh.
Patricia Armstrong: And, um, we do support a quite a few organisations. There is the, ah, Refuge at Warilla. We supply them with clothes and gifts, mainly at Christmas time. We usually find out how many kids and what age, and we usually buy a gift for the children. And, um, also we usually leave a, get a hamper, make up a hamper for them as well. We support the Mission, the one at Robertson. We usually supply them with money.
Edie Swift: Oh, what’s that?
Patricia Armstrong: It’s, um, oh, I can’t just it’s…
Edie Swift: All the way up to Robertson?
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah, to Robertson.
Edie Swift: Oh, oh.
Patricia Armstrong It’s a Mission, um, where the drug people go.
Edie Swift: Oh, mm-hm.
Patricia Armstrong: Ah, young people.
Edie Swift: What do they do for them there at the Mission?
Patricia Armstrong: They try and take them off the, try and wean them off the drugs and train them for, for jobs and so forth. I haven’t been up there, but we’ve been invited up a couple of times but every time I seem to have something else on but haven’t been able to get up there. And we do support, ah, a head office in Sydney with, ah, disaster funds, Youth Off The Street, the Flood fund, um, a Flying Doctor Service. And there is also a bursary for their Bush, Bush merch- Bursary, they call, call it. Does help with doctors and things out in the bush.
Edie Swift: Gee, that’s amazing that you can do all of that, that’s a lot of projects.
Patricia Armstrong: [laughs] It is a lot of projects. We try to, to, ah, do things like that. And, um, we have, in the group, we have, ah, culture, days and, ah, International days.
Edie Swift: What are those days, what do you do?
Patricia Armstrong: Well those days, ah, for International day we usually have a country to study. We usually get someone from that country or someone that’s been to that country come and explain to us. And we’ve also got to do a poster on things like this to, from the branch, to take to group and sometimes the ones that are the best usually goes to head office to the conference in May. So that’s, that’s, and also there’s ‘Land’ cooking which is sponsored by ‘The Land’. We do have competitions in the branch and then whoever comes first in the branch goes to group and, ah, whose first in the group has gotta cook again for the May, for the State conference.
Edie Swift: What type of things is it, is it cakes or ..?
Patricia Armstrong Cake, yeah.
Edie Swift: Oh. Uh-huh.
Patricia Armstrong: Fruit cakes, sultana cakes, sponges.
Edie Swift: Mm.
Patricia Armstrong: Um, and there is decorate, there is a section for decorations, decorated cakes. And, ah, there is also a section for children under the age of twelve. And, ah, another section I think is twelve to eighteen. So there’s a good variety, age variety anyhow.
Edie Swift: You mean they can also come and participate.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah, they can, yeah.
Edie Swift; Oh.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah. They can bake cakes and put them in. We’ve had a few that’s gone the state and come home with a second or a third. They’ve been very, the kids have been very, quite, quite pleased with themselves.
Edie Swift: So do you, um, eat the cakes?
Patricia Armstrong: Sometimes [laughs]. Well we eat the ones of group and branch. But I don’t know how they go at group, at conference, because they’re there for a week.
Edie Swift; Oh, mm-mm.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah. So, um, that’s the cooking. Ah, culture, well, we have a program that’s on that one. There’s painting, there’s painting, ess-, um, essays poetry if you can do that.
Edie Swift: So you do that and then at a meeting you would present the poetry?
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: Oh.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: Mm.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah. But, ah, I’m not good at that one [laughs].
Edie Swift: And the painting, do they show their painting?
Patricia Armstrong: Some they do. We had one lady last year at conference she sold two of her paintings. Because you can put a price on them say if anyone wants to buy them, they can buy it. But, um, that’s it. Also, ah, the kid, there is also a section for kids, so if the kids want to paint or want to take photos, photography, they put, there is a section for them as well.
Edie Swift: How, what, what time of the day do they visit?
Patricia Armstrong: Well, they usually do it themselves and then send it, send it in to us into the branch that they are connected with. They might give it to their mother to take to branch or, um, things like that. There is a couple of, we’ve got a couple of it do, ah, painting in our branch. And sometimes they take photos. I take photos, but I find they’re not much good [laughs]. But I mainly do the cooking on my, in my section.
Edie Swift: And what do you like to cook for that?
Patricia Armstrong: Well I cook mainly some of the cakes that they suggest. Every year they have a section or different types of cakes or biscuits or scones. So, um, I usually do that.
Edie Swift: What’s your favourite type of cake to cook?
Patricia Armstrong: Well, it’s mainly a butter cake. I can do a butter cake. I’ve got a recipe that has got about three or four different types of cake that you can make out of the recipe so, ah, that’s, that’s how I’ve done it. But, um, there’s, no there’s usually about three. There’s usually a plain butter cake, chocolate cake and an orange cake I usually make. But that’s about it – just trying to think. There is also, ah, we sometimes look at a, an animal, look at, study the animal, what they do and so forth. There’s the different types of flowers that we study. Every year there’s a different type of flower. And, um, and then every year we vote on what kind of medical research we want to help out.
Edie Swift: Wow, you do a lot. [laughs]
Patricia Armstrong: Oh, we do. We do a lot.
Edie Swift: Mm.
Patricia Armstrong: But, you know, we get people that’s interested in doing one thing and another person do another thing and so forth.
Edie Swift: What’s the animal this year?
Patricia Armstrong: Ah, the animal – I don’t, I don’t know what it is this year. I, I’ve forgotten what it is, but, um, I think it might have been a bird this year. We, ah, just seem to read up and find more about it. so forth, It’s surprising things that you find that you didn’t realise they do or what happens to them and …
Edie Swift: Mm. How many people are in the br-, your branch?
Patricia Armstrong: My branch there’s nine.
Edie Swift: Oh.
Patricia Armstrong: So there’s nine, but there’s about five I think are mainly, um, I say, ah, active. The other four are, they’re members, but they’re not well enough or they do things in the background that you know, if we say we’ve got a cake fair coming up they might cook a couple of cakes or if we’ve got a stall they might do a bit of handicraft and give it to us, but that’s about all. It’s mainly about five of us that does all the work.
Edie Swift: And how often do you meet?
Patricia Armstrong: We meet once a month.
Edie Swift: Hmm. And where?
Patricia Armstrong: We meet at the Uniting Church at Dapto in the, in the hall at the back. We usually start at twelve. Well, we usually say meet at twelve and we, bring your lunch and we usually have a lunch and talk for the first hour and then from one till roughly about 2.00-2:30 we have our meeting.
Edie Swift: And, um, what do you do for handicrafts?
Patricia Armstrong: Ah, mainly, well there is, there is handicraft, ah, hand towels, tea cosies, beanies, babies wear, whatever we seem to find that we can sell or there is a schedule of to, for State, to be entered into State.
Edie Swift: Mm-hm.
Patricia Armstrong: Um, I’ve done quite a few tea cosies and hand towels. crocheting them and knitting.
Edie Swift: And when, um, do you have your State, is that very often?
Patricia Armstrong: That’s in, it’s in May.
Edie Swift: Oh. Uh-huh.
Patricia Armstrong: Every year in May.
Edie Swift: Oh. And where do you meet for that?
Patricia Armstrong: Well, it’s all over the State.
Edie Swift: Oh.
Patricia Armstrong: This year it’s in Sydney because it’s, we are one hundred years.
Edie Swift: Oh, yeah.
Patricia Armstrong: We’re celebrating one hundred years this year. Last year it was at Bega last year.
Edie Swift: Gee that’s a long way to go. Did you have to drive?
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: With other ladies?
Patricia Armstrong: Oh, yeah.
Edie Swift: So you shared the, the driving?
Patricia Armstrong: Oh, yeah.
Edie Swift: Yeah.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah. We stopped for the week, booking our accommodation go down to Bega. They’re, they’re all over the, come from all over the State.
Edie Swift: That would be fun. Now in Sydney where are you gonna be?
Patricia Armstrong: Randwick I think.
Edie Swift: Oh, mm-mm.
Patricia Armstrong: Um, one of the big complexes in Sydney. It’s at Randwick or the showground, it’s somewhere, I just can’t remember it.
Edie Swift: So you’re going in with other people on the train? You probably take the train.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah, we’ll take the train up and, ah, give or get to our motel or hotel I think it is we’re stopping at.
Edie Swift: And what do you do for the, um, 100th anniversary, what are they planning?
Patricia Armstrong: Well, the planning, um, well, I’ve got special Land cooking entries worked out something over the one hundred years. And I think there’s scones and other cakes and things like that. Um, they have, um, I think they’ve just organised we do meet every day, we’ve got, ah, resolutions to, ah, pass. Various branches send in resolutions we’ve got to work out and then if we pass them there’s usually someone from the head office goes and sees the, well goes and sees the chap involved, the Minister involved, and see what hap-, what happens.
Edie Swift: So do you meet every day for a week, is that..?
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: And how long is it, each meeting, every day?
Patricia Armstrong: It starts at 9 o’clock. It might finish about four, but we have a break, we have a break at lunchtime. We might have an hour or an hour and a half for lunch. So it’s fair-, fairly full on I’d say [laughs].
Edie Swift: Don’t you have a field trip somewhere?
Patricia Armstrong: Oh, usually, um, Thursday afternoon they usually arrange the trips, ah, that you can go on to. There’s two or three I think organised for this year. But, um, other years there’s usually, if we’re out on the country, well we usually go to a factory or farm or Edie Swift Oh, that would be so interesting.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah, it’d be very interesting to see how the – I’ve grown, oh, well I was brought up in the country, so I know what most of it’s like.
Edie Swift: Mm.
Patricia Armstrong: So.
Edie Swift: Yeah, that would be nice to be on the country. But Sydney maybe you’ll go on the water or something?
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: They take you on a ferry?
Patricia Armstrong: Ferry I think. I don’t know what the trip, I just can’t remember what the trips are.
Edie Swift: Mm.
Patricia Armstrong: But, um, I just don’t think we’re, I haven’t organised anything. I think I’ll just go back to the hotel and [laughs] wind down a bit.
Edie Swift: Yeah. So you don’t know what the, the different, um, things are that you’re going to vote on?
Patricia Armstrong: No.
Edie Swift: The, you’ll just see a, they give you a piece of paper in the beginning or something of each meeting?
Patricia Armstrong: Ah, they put a journal out each two or three months and in the journal there’s usually what we’ve got a vote on. It, um, I think it was in the last journal. It’s come out in February I think, it was February that come out.
Edie Swift: So you get something in the mail that, that has all that in there. It is an e-mail?
Patricia Armstrong: No.
Edie Swift: They don’t do it by e-mail?
Patricia Armstrong: They do some by e-mail. But mainly the journal comes out every second or third month and, um, it’s usually written in it what…
Edie Swift; And do you vote for, um, the different officers every..?
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: What every year?
Patricia Armstrong: But if, they’re supposed to be every three years positions. So if, ah, no one applies to say look, ‘I think I’ll take over secretary or..’ we’ve got to vote.
Edie Swift: And with the COVID you couldn’t meet for a while could you?
Patricia Armstrong: No, they were doing a by Zoom. But, ah, I don’t like that. [laughs]
Edie Swift: No. Now you can do it in person.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: And you don’t have to wear a mask.
Patricia Armstrong: No.
Edie Swift: That’s good.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: Lot easier.
Patricia Armstrong: Oh, it is a lot easier.
Edie Swift: And a lot more fun.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah, yeah. I find it’s more fun meeting person to person but by Zoom I have trouble hearing what people say.
Edie Swift: Mm. Now what, I can’t believe you can raise so much money. This is you that has all those different things that you support, but it’s not just your branch, is it?
Patricia Armstrong: No.
Edie Swift: There are other branches.
Patricia Armstrong; There’s oh, about two hundred I think ?? branches.
Edie Swift; Oh I see, yeah.
Patricia Armstrong: that, ah, organise, it’s all over, there’s a branch, we’ve got, in the Illawarra group, we have nine, nine branches.
Edie Swift: Oh, you do!
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: What are they, what are they?
Patricia Armstrong: They are at Albion Park evening, ah, Port Kembla, Dapto, Keiraville, Stanwell Tops, Camden, Campbelltown, and Picton I think.
Edie Swift: Oh, yeah, you have a lot.
Patricia Armstrong: So we’ve, that’s the group.
Edie Swift: Oh. I can see then how you might be able to get the funds together.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah.
Edie Swift: And do you go on int-, the e-mail when you have to do your Treasury things?
Patricia Armstrong: No, [laughs] I don’t.
Edie Swift: Oh, wow, oh.
Patricia Armstrong: No, I, there is paper forms to fill out and stuff like that, so I usually do the paperwork. I, there is a program that you can use on the computer. But, um, I can work it on the computer, but I can’t e-mail it ’cause I’m not connected to the, ah, Internet so. But I can print it out.
Edie Swift: Yeah, sure.
Patricia Armstrong: You can print it out on the printer.
Edie Swift: Oh, sure, yeah.
Patricia Armstrong: You just gotta tell it to print it and it’ll print whatever you want to print. But…
Edie Swift: When…
Patricia Armstrong: So…
Edie Swift: When you were younger did you do a lot of accounting, is that, was..?
Patricia Armstrong: No I didn’t.
Edie Swift: You didn’t?
Patricia Armstrong: No. I was good at maths.
Edie Swift: Oh, mm-mm.
Patricia Armstrong: Um, I think that was, maths was my highest, ah, well I got in the highest but, ah, I’m just taking it over here.
Edie Swift: And where did you go to high school?
Patricia Armstrong: I went to high school at Yass.
Edie Swift: And then did you get, um, the, um, you know, you had to take the exam and everything and you did well in math.
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah, but I failed in English [laughs].
Edie Swift: So what did you go on with that math, did you teach or what?
Patricia Armstrong: No, no, I just, um, I didn’t worry about it. I just went on and worked in the public service in Canberra.
Edie Swift: Oh, mm-mm.
Patricia Armstrong: That’s where I then liv-, shifted to Hall just out of Canberra and – or Dad shifted – and, um, I got a job in Canberra.
Edie Swift: And what were you..?
Patricia Armstrong: Public servant.
Edie Swift: What were you doing with your math there, did you use your math?
Patricia Armstrong: No I didn’t use it [laughs].
Edie Swift: You didn’t, oh, I see.
Patricia Armstrong: I didn’t use it [laughs].
Edie Swift: Oh.
Patricia Armstrong: It’s only since I’ve been married that I’ve worked in with the maths with, um, with bookkeeping and stuff like that.
Edie Swift: And your writing has to be really neat, huh. Isn’t that true when you’re doing that?
Patricia Armstrong: Yeah, it’s ?? to me.
Edie Swift: Yeah.
Patricia Armstrong: I think.
Edie Swift: Wow.
Patricia Armstrong: I don’t know, it’s just that it seems to come to me. I prefer to do that math Treasurer’s job than do Secretary’s job so. But I think because Secretary’s job, you’ve got to be writing most of the time when you’re taking minutes and things.
Edie Swift: Yeah.
Patricia Armstrong: But that’s, that’s the only trouble.
Edie Swift: Would you like to add anything else? This has been so interesting to hear what you’re doing.
Patricia Armstrong: Well I don’t think there’s anything else I can replace on, remark on. Edie Swift Do you want to donate this to the Illawarra Stories Oral History project?
Patricia Armstrong: Well I could. See how it goes.
Edie Swift: Okay, thank you very much.