Interview Transcript from Illawarra Stories Wollongong City Libraries Oral History Project – Val Farrington
Interviewer: Jo Oliver
Interview Date: 14 March 2022
Jo Oliver: The following interview was conducted with Val Farrington as part of Wollongong City Council Libraries, Illawarra Stories, oral history project and it took place at Val’s house in West Wollongong on the 14th of March 2022 and my name is Jo Oliver. So Val you were telling me that you’ve um, you’ve lived in the Wollongong area since you were twenty, was it?
Val Farrington: Yes.
Jo Oliver: Yes. So where did you come from before then?
Val Farrington: Oh, we came from Guyra to here.
Jo Oliver: Mm-mm, okay.
Val Farrington: Dad was on the railway, and we moved. There was no talk of us, I mean, like today, ah, we all came, the whole lot of us. Like there was four, four girls and, ah, Mum and Dad.
Jo Oliver: And where did you live when you first came here?
Val Farrington: Well, we lived in, um, Mum and Dad bought a home out at Woonona at the gate, the gates of the railway there and so we lived there.
Jo Oliver: And what was that like living there?
Val Farrington: Oh, it was okay.
Jo Oliver: What was it like then? Was there much, ah, settlement or was it still farming?
Val Farrington: Oh, yeah, it was pretty settled. There’s a lot of Commission houses around Woonona and we were right on the railway. And then I had a job with Dwyers, so I used to have to be at work at eight o’clock in the morning, so I caught the train, you know, and then, um, into Wollongong.
Jo Oliver: Into Wollongong.
Val Farrington: And I used to walk from Wollongong station [laughs] down to Dwyers.
Jo Oliver: Okay. And what was your, what was your job there?
Val Farrington: I was a bookkeeper, a machine bookkeeper operator. They trained me. I did work in an office in Guyra. I was the head girl in the office there. It was a, um, like a general drapery store. It had menswear, women wear, shoes, travel goods and furnishing and I was in the office. I started as a junior when, and then, then we left and Mum and Dad came down here first and then Pam and I left after that and caught the Glen Innes Mail to Sydney, got the train down here.
Jo Oliver: Right. And what was Dwyers, what was the line of business here in Wollongong? Dwyers? Yeah.
Val Farrington: Oh, they sold, they were car people, they were opposite the Oxford Hotel. And, um, they had, um, car sales, ah, and South Coast Tyres was par-, a subsidiary of it. And they were the spare tyres and things like that – spare parts.
Jo Oliver: Okay.
Val Farrington: And then Dwyers and had the mechanical side of it down in, at the back of Burelli Street. And, um, it was a big complex and employed a lot of people. And I worked there until I got married, yeah.
Jo Oliver: Okay. So how long was that until you married?
Val Farrington: Well, I was, ah, married ’57 and I worked for eighteen months. And I left because I felt, with my first child. And been home si-, been home ever since, yeah.
Jo Oliver: Okay. So you did work after you were married and before you had your child, did you?
Val Farrington: Mm.
Jo Oliver: Yes, you stayed on ’cause a lot of women…
Val Farrington: Yeah, see in those days if you got married some of them made you leave work, but at Dwyers I was able to work yeah. And, um…
Jo Oliver: And did you live here then or was that you..?
Val Farrington: No, I lived with my parents and then when I, when we got married we lived at Coniston up from the, the Coniston Hotel, up the bridge. I think it was about six little, it was a boarding school apparently. They converted it all into flats and we were one of the flats of that.
Jo Oliver: And where did you meet your husband?
Val Farrington: Oh, I met him, I was introduced to him by – I used to go to the dances at the, um, Southern Cross Hall – and, um, yeah, I had a meeting there. I was introduced by one of his friends or something.
Jo Oliver: And was he a local fellow?
Val Farrington: Yes, yes. Oh, well originally he wasn’t, but he was there. He’d been here for been, they’ve been here for a long while.
Jo Oliver: And what, what did he do?
Val Farrington: He worked out at Lysaghts for forty-odd years. He was a clerk. He end up having people under him. He retired when he was fifty-six and he’d been working there ever since. And, um, and I used to play, I was in a hockey – I used to play hockey at Guyra. So I looked around for a hockey team when I came down here. So I end up playing for Dapto. And, um, and Bill was playing baseball for Rothmans, remember Rothmans the chemist?
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And, um, they had a team, there wasn’t that many, ah, teams of baseball. And there wasn’t that many hockey teams either ’cause I was used to [laughs]…But anyhow, ah, then after that when I got married, um, I left hockey then. Bill kept playing baseball and then, um, I ended up playing midweek tennis. Oh, I started, Bill, Bill and I started playing weekend tennis and then I end up going into the women’s comp through the week – practically lived on the tennis court.
Jo Oliver: Okay. Even after you had children you still played tennis?
Val Farrington: Yeah took them with me.
Jo Oliver: Okay. So how many children did you have?
Val Farrington: Two. Paul came, um, in 1963 he was born and that was, that was it.
Jo Oliver: So your first one was before that – ’60?
Val Farrington: Oh, well, Susan was born in, in, um, ’61 and, um, no,’59 Joy, ah, Suzanne was born and then Paul came ’63. And…
Jo Oliver: What was it like having young children in this, in Wollongong, at the time? Did you stay mainly around…
Val Farrington: Well, getting back to, to the CWA they used to have that, I think it was Bright Park or Brighton Park, you know where Anthony Hordern’s ended up building on it and, um, I used to walk down there from Dwyers at lunchtime ’cause you used to get an hour for lunch and have my lunch sitting in the park. It was a tearoom and they used to have the baby health centre as well. Well, I used to take Suzanne to the baby health centre in the park.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: And then, then if they had to have their injections they, they did that as well, so I was taking my children for that, for their injections.
Jo Oliver: And how would you get down there, would you catch a bus or..?
Val Farrington: When I got Susan I didn’t. I walked.
Jo Oliver: Did you? It’s quite a walk.
Val Farrington: Pushed a pram.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: Yeah, pushed the pram into town [laughs]. And then, no, we walked everywhere. And course we weren’t far from the Coniston station, so we used to catch the train and go out to Woonona of a weekend. We always went out every, every weekend.
Jo Oliver: To see your parents?
Val Farrington: To, after, you know, when the kiddies came, we always went out, the whole lot of us did, you know.
Jo Oliver: So talking about the CWA, it was, um, it sounded like it was a very, very valued resource having the Rest park and the yes,
Val Farrington: Yes. It was a tea rooms as well. Not that I patronised it, but I mean to say they did, that was what, where we went to have our children weighed and everything, you know.
Jo Oliver: And at what stage did you join the CWA?
Val Farrington: I was in the younger set in Guyra. I joined that when I was fifteen ’cause one of the senior members came to the school to recruit members and it was formed, a CWA of Guyra. And I was in that until I left, so I was fifteen until twenty. And then, um, when I came down here, I didn’t joi-, didn’t have, because I was tied up in tennis and, and other interests and any rate I used to go on the Keiraville ’cause I was friends with some of the girls and used to, um, I was friends with her and I used to go on their bus trips, you know. They’d go up to Mittagong one time, we’d go around all the, ah, craft shops and things. And then they’d have another bus down, down to Huskisson. We’d catch the boat and have, see, see the whales. This is a thing that they had and at that time they had their meetings in the guide hall there at, ah, near Beaton Park. And that’s when I joined. That was in 2019. I thought, Oh well, I gave tennis away and I thought, Oh well, I’ll go back to CWA. It’s a good organisation. It really, really is, and they really care about people and everything, you know. You’ve always got a friend in CWA.
Jo Oliver: So that’s one of the things you value about it, the, the friendship and the social contact?
Val Farrington: Yes, and they care about people, you know.
Jo Oliver: Yeah. And how does that express itself?
Val Farrington: Oh, we do a lot of charitable work and, um…
Jo Oliver: What are some of the things that..?
Val Farrington: Oh, we do rugs for, um, the disa-, like the people in shelter and things like that. We’ve done a lot of knee, knee rugs and things. And also they do trauma teddies which is for little children. They do things for preemie babies. They put, knit a lot of, um, little caps and things while they’re in the hospital. Ah, we do a lot that way and, ah, I got really involved.
Jo Oliver: So you’re a knitter. Is that one of your..?
Val Farrington: Pardon.
Jo Oliver: Are you a knitter or crocheter?
Val Farrington: Oh, that’s my work.
Jo Oliver: Yeah, beautiful. So this looks like – is it crochet?
Val Farrington: It’s crocheting, and I knit, and crochet and I sew, and I do embroidery and all that. I got very involved. When I joined the CWA I was in it for about three years before I had a position and the president approached me because I end up being handicraft lady and I’ve only just finished being handicraft lady. So I end up being on the State handicraft committee and, um, they used to have classes and different things up in Sydney.
Jo Oliver: And would you go up.
Val Farrington: Yeah.
Jo Oliver: for those?
Val Farrington: I’d go to that, and they used to have their meetings three, three times a year and I’d go to that. And then with being on the State handicraft committee, I used, I went to a lot of there, um, conferences. I’ve been to a lot of conferences.
Jo Oliver: Have you?
Val Farrington: And you meet a lot of people all over the State, you know. And you’re still friends with them, you know what I mean, they’re, yeah, they’re marvellous, really.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And then I end up being a judge for the handicraft.
Jo Oliver: I see. In a particular category or..?
Val Farrington: No, for the handicraft.
Jo Oliver: Yes, and that’s all the, all the handicrafts.
Val Farrington: Yeah. All the handicrafts.
Jo Oliver: And what does that include?
Val Farrington: Oh, there’s embroidery, there’s crocheting and knitting, there’s dressmaking. Um, and there’s weaving, there’s a section for weavers. And there’s people there, there’s sections for quilts. The exhibitions at the conferences are just out of this world. Out of this world! And it’s marvellous and they’re done every year. I mean, you can only show it once sort of thing. That garment here I got at Broken Hill. We had the conference, and I got the champion piece for that.
Jo Oliver: Well, that’s beautiful. We’re looking at a beautiful, um, two different shades of purple and it’s a, a jacket. Is that correct?
Val Farrington: It’s a jacket, yeah.
Jo Oliver: A jacket, yeah.
Val Farrington: Crocheted jacket.
Jo Oliver: And is there, at the conference, is that where the prizes are given at the conference?
Val Farrington: Yeah, for the handicraft, yeah. They have cooking as well. I entered in the cooking; you know as a thing for the clu- branch and then then I end up being on the executive for the State.
Jo Oliver: Right.
Val Farrington: And so you couldn’t have a position while you, other than the executive.
Jo Oliver: Okay.
Val Farrington: You’re on that for three years.
Jo Oliver: You couldn’t have a local position as well as the State?
Val Farrington: Oh, you could have a, you could be a handicraft officer, but you couldn’t be anything on the State. Which I was the handi-, State handicraft officer, Group handicraft officer. So anyhow, um, and then when I had done my term on the executive, they, ah, I went back into the handicraft and back onto the committee. And being on the committee you used to, at all the conferences, all the handicrafts would come – there’s thirty groups – and when all the handicrafts come into the conferences we had to display it all. So I often was often in the handicraft section, sort of, um, policing the things.
Jo Oliver: And would you stay in Sydney when the conference was on?
Val Farrington: Ah, well the conferences are all over the State.
Jo Oliver: Oh, are they? I see.
Val Farrington: Yep.
Jo Oliver: So you travel to wherever it is.
Val Farrington: Yes.
Jo Oliver: And then you obviously stay there.
Val Farrington: Yep.
Jo Oliver: Does the local Club organise accommodation?
Val Farrington: Oh, you’ve got to make, yeah, the, ah, the local group has to make their own accommodation. So it gets booked.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: You know.
Jo Oliver: And where are some of the places you’ve been in New South Wales to a conference?
Val Farrington: Oh, there’s been Gosford, Mudgee, Tamworth, Armidale, Tweed Heads, Narromine, Moree, Albury, Queanbeyan and, um, Albury’s had it twice, so I’ve been there twice. Um, at that time I was a delegate, I wasn’t, nothing to do with the handicraft then, yeah. So Mudgee was very good. Tamworth was very good. Oh, Gunnedah – been to Gunnedah.
Jo Oliver: All over the place.
Val Farrington: I’ve been all over the place.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: And Moree, yeah. So, but they get placed everywhere. So next year or it could be this year, I think it’s Bathurst. No, this year is our hundred year. We’re 100-year-old and it’s up at the Randwick racecourse and I don’t think I’ll be able to go up there. I can’t get around as much as I want to. And also, ah, I think next year’s gonna be Bathurst so, but they go to all these towns and…
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: Oh, ah…
Jo Oliver: Do people bring the handicrafts, do they take them in person, or do they sometimes have to, have to post them up to the conference?
Val Farrington: Originally we used to have to have the bags up at head office because that’s where the judging was always. This is when they had their head office in Greenough Avenue, which is close to Kings Cross there, very convenient. Now they’re at Mascot. But it’s not the same because at Greenough Avenue there was accommodation, so we used to stay there and all the judging was done, you’d take two or three days for all the judging. But the bags always had to be at head office by the end of March every year then the judging was done. And they’d pack it all up and then a courier would take it to wherever the conference was.
Jo Oliver: I see.
Val Farrington: But of late it was that you had to courier it to where the conference was, and the judgment was done at the place that they were holding the conference. And then, ah, and then you’d pick it up and bring it home. Um, yeah. So that, that that was the only different thing they do and…
Jo Oliver: And when you’re doing the judging, do you know where the, do you, do you have the name or the place of where the person’s from or is it sort of anonymous?
Val Farrington: Well, see generally you have to put a ticket on it.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: And you have to have, like you have to have the wool and everything.
Jo Oliver: Right.
Val Farrington: That’s always on it and you put it in the section that required to go into and then, um, and then you, um, and then they know about it. But the judge doesn’t know who they are.
Jo Oliver: No, I see.
Val Farrington: And they just judge the work. There’s a section for men, for you, your men relations, and there’s quite a few nice. And there’s three sections for children from eight to thirteen, thirteen to fourteen, and fourteen to eighteen. Um, and then there’s, ah, generally there’s they have a, a group competition. You have to have eight items in that and that is a competition of all the groups, you know what, I mean, you’re competing against each other. And then they have ‘The Land’ which is sponsored by ‘The Land’ paper, and it has to be natural fibre like silk, cotton, wool – can have a bit of synthetic in it, but it all has to be natural, the fibre. You can have alpaca and all, all that.
Jo Oliver: Have new sections been added over the years, or have they pretty much stayed the same?
Val Farrington: They’ve pretty well stayed the same. Yeah, they, they did have it up to twenty and then they’ve knocked it back. When I first started I think they only had about fifteen or sixteen and then they increased it to twenty. And then last year there wasn’t as many and this year I think there’s about sixteen I think. So they’re they’re cutting them back a bit. But, um, yeah so, but that, the Group one stays the same. There’s eight, there’s eight items in that, but one includes wool. And then there’s the over eighties, they have an over eighty. And they have a Branch competition which normally they pick out what it is and then, ah, this year it’s gonna be brooches. So four people have to make it and then they do that, yeah. And then they have all the cooking. The cooking gets judged on the Sunday, day before conference starts. And, um, so there’s some beautiful cakes and decorations and everything.
Jo Oliver: And how do people get the cakes and things there?
Val Farrington: Oh, they bring them with them.
Jo Oliver: With them.
Val Farrington: They have to be in by the Sunday.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: So, um, yeah.
Jo Oliver: And do you have a favourite section out of, in the handicrafts or the cooking?
Val Farrington: Oh, I like all craft, whatever it is. I have won a prize, couple of prizes with the cooking [laughs].
Jo Oliver: Okay.
Val Farrington: And that’s doing craft. In Balgownie rooms, ah, we were making poppies and that’s the Group craft day and I organised that. We were teaching them how to, how to do that. But every year we have a craft day where all, all the group come, comes in to, to do it.
Jo Oliver: All the different…
Val Farrington: All the different branches of Illawarra.
Jo Oliver: Okay. So Balgownie’s another branch.
Val Farrington: Balgownie is another branch but we, we rent their rooms.
Jo Oliver: I see.
Val Farrington: And that’s where we hold our meetings.
Jo Oliver: And where did the poppies, did they go somewhere in particular?
Val Farrington: Oh this is for Anzac remember, ah, or November.
Jo Oliver: Right.
Val Farrington: And we made them there. Then they brought in white poppies and mauve poppies. I think the white poppies are for the nurses. And I think the purple poppies are for the animals.
Jo Oliver: Oh, that’s lovely.
Val Farrington: So this is for the war, you know.
Jo Oliver: Yes. Yeah, I didn’t know about the other colours.
Val Farrington: No, I only bought them in. But, um, yeah, so we had a day of making these, all these poppies and they were all taken to the RSL.
Jo Oliver: Okay.
Val Farrington: Yeah and, um, and a lot of people wear them.
Jo Oliver: So they’re crocheted?
Val Farrington: No, they’re made out of felt those.
Jo Oliver: Oh, felt, I see.
Val Farrington: There’s some can be crocheted. Yeah, crocheted and knitted really. But that’s, that’s made by, um, this, there’s about three, three or four pieces in that.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And you sew it and they’re and they’re very nice and put a safety pin on the back.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: Yeah, so they’re good, yeah.
Jo Oliver: And you’ve got some lovely badges there.
Val Farrington: And see this is, this is what you get bought the one-hundred-year badge.
Jo Oliver: Hm-Mm.
Val Farrington: And that’s, that’s the CWA ninety years when ninety years was on.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And I’ve got my long service leave.
Jo Oliver: Right.
Val Farrington: I haven’t got my, ’cause I’m a judge, and I haven’t got my judge badge. It’s somewhere in this house somewhere.
Jo Oliver: Okay.
Val Farrington: So that’s what I wear when we go to our meetings.
Jo Oliver: And what, so what year did you actually start in the CWA, become a member, or roughly what..?
Val Farrington: Ah, the senior one it was nineteen, um, 1999 in the March. And but when I was in Guyra I was, um, I was fifteen until twenty.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: But see the, the younger set doesn’t exist anymore because I think the younger, like we all left when we were fifteen. A lot of them now go to high school and then they go to Uni, so they’re not really interested in that sort of thing. But that was a way, how they were able to recruit people to come in. And, um, and I did come to the conference when I was in Guyra when I was seventeen to Sydney. The younger set had a conference at the town hall in Sydney.
Jo Oliver: That must have been exciting.
Val Farrington: It was exciting. I had to get down on my hands and knees and beg my mother to allow me to go and I was allowed to go because I was going with an older girl who was twenty-one. And I was seventeen. We stayed in a, an um, there used to be a motel near the Strand Arcade. And we used, it was ladies only and we [laughs] stayed in there.
Jo Oliver: And had you been to the City before, had you been to Sydney before?
Val Farrington: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jo Oliver: You had? Yeah.
Val Farrington: But I wasn’t, wasn’t on my own.
Jo Oliver: Not on your own [laughs].
Val Farrington: You weren’t allowed on your own.
Jo Oliver: And did you behave yourself?
Val Farrington: [laughs] Yes. We went to, they had the, the, a concert at the Tivoli. They always had a sort of a concert, and we went to the Tivoli. And then they had a picnic on the Goat Island. We went on to that. And the church service was at Saint Andrews, which was close to the town hall, that’s where it was held. We came down by train, went home by train.
Jo Oliver: And have you kept up with anyone from there from [unclear]
Val Farrington: Oh, yeah.
Jo Oliver: …in those days in Guyra?
Val Farrington: Yeah, I’ve still got friends.
Jo Oliver: Have you?
Val Farrington: Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
Jo Oliver: And have, did you catch up with any of them when you’ve been on conferences?
Val Farrington: I did in Armidale.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: Went back to Guyra ’cause it’s only half an hour run from Guyra and, ah, twenty-five miles. So I don’t know what that is.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And went and caught up with my girlfriends and things. And, um, yeah, went back and saw the old house where we rented. Yeah, no and, and in Guyra the younger set used to put dances on for, to make money, you know, and things like that. And of course when you live in a country town, you’re in everything really, you know.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: Make your own fun.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And, um…
Jo Oliver: And did you learn, um, handicrafts from your mother or did you learn them through the CWA when you were young?
Val Farrington: I learned knitting and things like that from Mum because we used to knit all the time. And then I end up when I was having Susan I wanted to crochet around her nighties. Cause I made all the things, because in my day you made all your clothes and that’s when I learned to crochet. I like crocheting better because it’s quicker than knitting.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: But I used to knit a lot. And, um, and being in was Guyra’s cold so they were. But down here you don’t have to have as many things. But, um, no, made all our clothes, made all the children’s clothes. until, um, late, I don’t do it as much because you can get them cheaper.
Jo Oliver: That’s right.
Val Farrington: And then yeah, so…
Jo Oliver: And would you teach other people in the CWA those crafts if they, if they didn’t know how to, how to knit or crochet?
Val Farrington: Yes, we taught them how to crochet. Yeah, we’ve done that. And, um, and up at Sydney, the Handicraft Committee used to have classes and they taught you certain embroideries and we used to go to them, they were good.
Jo Oliver: So that would be embroidery on, on cloth?
Val Farrington: Yeah, on, um, Aida cloth and, ah, linen, sort of nice linen, yeah. And at school we learnt how to do that. They used to, you, you had one of your subjects was sewing, so, um, I went into that of course. But it wasn’t until I came down here that I learnt how to use electric machine, because it was a treadle machine that we were using. And, um, yeah, that’s how, how we, um, did it. And we had to do, when we were leaving for intermediate, we had to do a Duchess set.
Jo Oliver: Can you describe what that includes? Can you describe what that includes in case people don’t know?
Val Farrington: A Duchess set, oh, well, it’s the, the big try, big, big one and two little ones.
Jo Oliver: Right. Is that for a dressing table?
Val Farrington: Yeah for a dressing table.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: They call them Duchess sets.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And Mum, Mum, oh, I’ve been knitting ever since I was seven. And, and then for crocheting, Mum was a very good crocheter, but she wouldn’t teach me. She said, ‘If you can do chain Val you can do it.’ I couldn’t grasp that, so I kept saying, ‘Will you teach me how to show how to crochet?’ ‘No, no. If you can do chain you can do crocheting.’ But she never, she never had the patience to do it. So anyhow that’s how I learnt to crochet just one day got a big needle and sat until I mastered it. And then, ah, so I’ve been crocheting ever since, yeah. And you, you put some of your artist, this is what was in the Dapto, so it was gone into the Dapto show. That got first for Dapto.
Jo Oliver: It’s lovely. Another, another beautiful jacket with sort of scalloped edges. We’ll take a photo of that to go with the interview.
Val Farrington: Yes.
Jo Oliver: And Val, what other aspects of the CWA do you value? You’ve mentioned the social, the socialising and the friendship.
Val Farrington: Friendship.
Jo Oliver: And the handicrafts,
Val Farrington: Yes and they, I think, and with this COVID too, you know, people are ringing you up and seeing how you are and…
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: So yeah, they’re, they’re all, it’s they’re all so caring, you know.
Jo Oliver: That’s lovely, yeah.
Val Farrington: And…
Jo Oliver: So you haven’t been able to meet through, through COVID?
Val Farrington: No.
Jo Oliver: No.
Val Farrington: No.
Jo Oliver: Are you meeting again now?
Val Farrington: Oh, we are now.
Jo Oliver: Yes, yeah.
Val Farrington: We have been meeting, we have been meeting, but, um, once a month. But, um, it certainly has changed things.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: Hasn’t it?
Jo Oliver: Yeah, very much. It’s changed everything.
Val Farrington: I think it has.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And, um…
Jo Oliver: And other people men-, have mentioned, um, the studies, the country studies.
Val Farrington: Oh, yeah.
Jo Oliver: Is that something you’ve enjoyed?
Val Farrington: Yeah. And I, I won, I won a, um, my doll for Scotland. Went to the, they always at the, ah, conferences they have, ah, International. And that’s a good organisation too, the International, ’cause, they it’s like it’s connected with ACWW which comes from London I think. But they do a lot of good workup around the Islands and things. And when when I was on the committee some of the ladies used to take them to their properties, these girls who’d come from New Guinea and teach them how to make clothes.
Jo Oliver: I see.
Val Farrington: And they go home and teach their ladies over there and they’re able to make a bit of money. And another time they taught them how to plant seeds and things and get a garden going and things that they could eat. And then they can make a bit of money for themselves, you know.
Jo Oliver: So what’s, what’s that organisation? You just, you just said that the initials of it.
Val Farrington: ACW.
Jo Oliver: Yeah, what do you know?
Val Farrington: Oh, I can’t think of it. It’s like the Women of the World.
Jo Oliver: I see, okay. I can look that up and put that with this. Yes.
Val Farrington: Yeah.
Jo Oliver: And I think it’s connected, is CWA connected to the Women’s Institute?
Val Farrington: Well see, there’s a badge there for ACWW.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: It’s got South Pacific…
Jo Oliver: Area.
Val Farrington: Area.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: But that’s what it is.
Jo Oliver: Okay, well I’ll look that up.
Val Farrington: Probably it’s the association of the Country, Women of the World.
Jo Oliver: Yes, I see.
Val Farrington: Probably. Or could be Australian Country Women of the World.
Jo Oliver: Yeah, we can look that up. (Associated Country Women of the World)
Val Farrington: They have their meetings, you know., And then, um, that’s very, very good. They do have a country of study every year.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: Yeah, and we always have an International lady, that’s within the branch.
Jo Oliver: And so the dolls, the dressing of the dolls is that, does that become another category for the handicraft?
Val Farrington: It’s for, no, it’s for the International.
Jo Oliver: For the International, I see.
Val Farrington: They have that, and they always get people from embassies to judge them.
Jo Oliver: I see. And, um, oh, we’ve had numerous ones. This year, it’s, um, is it Malaysia? And you get a magazine every mo-, every three, two months and it always has those sort of things in.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And, um…
Jo Oliver: And are there younger people joining, joining CWA, younger women?
Val Farrington: Lot of the younger women are joining that have retired.
Jo Oliver: I see.
Val Farrington: We’ve got a lovely lot of crowd in our Illawarra, in our, yeah, girl. We’ve got lovely women and they’re a very nice lot, yeah.
Jo Oliver: And so what does that, how does that make you see the future of the organisation?
Val Farrington: Oh, I hope it lasts forever.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: Because, I mean, going for one hundred years. I know that things have changed because they’re all gone, these computer businesses and that. And they do a lot of things online.
Jo Oliver: Uh-hm.
Val Farrington: But there’s all walks of life of women there.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: That have worked and teachers and people in the hospital. Oh, they do have a, a Hospital committee and they have, um, there’s a few committees. They have the Culture which is art and, um, we often have a, a concert once a year. The Group lady has to do it, she’s the Culture lady. And we put on skits and things [laughs].
Jo Oliver: Okay.
Val Farrington: Which is just a social thing and it’s really, really good, you know. There’s some talented women, I tell you. And and we have, um, they used to have the International days once every, um, every branch used to have an International Day. Generally it was their birthday date. And we’d, we’d go to all their branches for that as a social thing, but now it is International Day, is held by the Group. So we have an International Day generally around about July, something like that. So we all go to that, and they have a speaker on something. And then, ah, there’s a few competitions going. And with the craft, they do have a country of study and then someone will do a tapestry depicting that country. So that goes up against the thirty people, the thirty Groups, oh well, the one that wins it from our Group.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: And then, ah, and they have, ah, what else do they have? They have oh, there’s a lot of things in there, in the Country Women that, you know, would interest a lot of people.
Jo Oliver: Yes.
Val Farrington: They used to have a shop up at head office, Greenhough Avenue, and a friend and I she’s in the CWA, we’d go up there and they used to have a little shop in there. It’s sold now, they don’t have it anymore. And we’d go up there and sell the craft.
Jo Oliver: I see.
Val Farrington: And the people that used to stay in Greenhough Avenue used to, um, come from all walks of life. Because St Vincent hospital’s not far from there. A lot of people from the country would come down if they had relatives or someone in hospital or had to come down to Sydney for hospital. And they’d go and visit whoever they wanted to see and then of course there was always accommodation. And there used to be, ah, inter-, interstate people come and stay there. So those people used to come into the, into the handicraft store. And of course there was always the, um, jumpers and, and different things in there that was made by, from all over the State because each group had a month where they had to send it to head office to go in the shop to be sold. Yeah, but they…
Jo Oliver: And would you go up just for the day to do that?
Val Farrington: Just for the day, yeah.
Jo Oliver: Go, go on the train?
Val Farrington: Go on the train and, um, we’d stay there till two o’clock. We’d get there at about half past nine or something like that and then we’d stay there until two o’clock and then we’d get the train home. So we used to do that, oh, probably once a month we’d go up there and do it. We used to do that a lot and, um, so it was nice. It was nice meeting all the, the other ladies on the thing because you make a lot of friends and, um, they don’t forget you.
Jo Oliver: No.
Val Farrington: You know. So and, and being a judge too, you move around the different groups to do, to do the judging so you get to know them there. And, um, no, it’s a very good organisation, it really is. It’s a, oh and course they have the Australian organisation too, like the whole lot of Australia. They have their meetings. Some of the States are not participating in it but like New South Wales and Queensland and Victoria, they all seem to be. A bit of Tasmania. I don’t, South Australia I don’t think they’re doing it anymore, I might be wrong. And Western Australia hasn’t been a branch of it. But we welcome anyone, you know. You can always get something out of CWA, you definitely can. And, oh, I used to go up to the shows, the Royal Easter Show. Um, they had the tea rooms. And they used to have the, um, Cattlemen’s cafeteria. And we went up there, a friend and I and we went up to serve in the Cattlemen’s cafeteria because they were calling at each conference, they were calling for people to come because it’s all volunteer. And the tea rooms are at the back of the pavilion where the Arts and that are, and, um, anyhow we went up to the Cattlemen’s cafeteria and ’cause it was, um, we thought, oh, great, we’ll be able to go and see all the crafts and, you know, ’cause I like to go into that. And at any rate, um, we got up there and we had to take a sleeping bag and we were in one of those, um, you know how the road people have their little caravans, we were in one of those [laughs]. And it was like a camp bed. You sit on the end of it and the damn thing flies up the back of you [laughs]. Anyhow, there’s nothing on the windows, like people could see in ’cause it was just a grille. So anyhow, we went to the dairy farmers, we had to walk through the dairy farmers to get to the Cattlemen’s cafeteria at the back of the showground, the new showground, of course. And when we got there we had to walk a mile, you know [laughs] trying to get there. Anyhow, we went to the, um, at nighttime and of course I have to get up. I had to go a fair way to go, and they were cleaning the damn road, you know, everywhere. We got some cardboard and put it between us. Oh dear, oh dear, it was funny. But it was, and lo and behold there was quite a few of us in there from all walks of life, like the CWA ladies from all over the State. So we had to, um, work in the kitchen. It was only breakfast and teatime, that’s what they did. And then they were trying to have, the CWA, have the, the lunch as well. But it was a lot of work, so they dismantled it. Then someone else went in it and it wasn’t successful. And, um, they had music going for the cattle. And all the, um, it was upstairs sort of thing and you looked down and they all had a little cubby hole and they had music going for the cattle all night. Anyhow, um, it was poured rain one night and I said to Gloria, I said, ‘Is there a river around here?’ [laughs] I can imagine us floating down the river, you know. She said, ‘Oh don’t be silly,’ she said.
Jo Oliver: Oh, dear.
Val Farrington: But it poured rain one night. But lo and behold, we had to get up at four o’clock in the morning to get the breakfast ready. We thought we’d be able to go around all the pavilions and have a look – we were too tired. We had to go back to the the caravan and have a rest because we had to start working again at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon to get the tea ready, you know, the, the dinner.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: And, um, but we actually, that was the last time they had it, so they still had the cat-, the, the tea rooms, and we switched over to the tea rooms then and, and, um, we used to work on the tables and do the washing up and all that, you know. And
Jo Oliver: They’re a more of a fundraiser, the tea rooms, are they?
Val Farrington: That’s for the, that’s for the State, love.
Jo Oliver: Yes, yeah.
Val Farrington: That, that’s their way of running for their money, yeah.
Jo Oliver: Yeah. Whereas the Cattlemen’s was…
Val Farrington: It was the same. It was for that as well.
Jo Oliver: Oh, okay.
Val Farrington: That was connected to the tea rooms, but I mean to say they had that going but they gave that away. But they always had the tea rooms, even when they used to have like, um, what they do now, like McDonald’s, you know the ice cream and stuff and that, ah, like a caravan, they used to have that in the old days there at the old Showground. And, um, not that I was in the sh-, in the CWA then but we did that, ah, Gloria and I did that for twelve years. We went up to the the catt-, the tea rooms and the and to help out and some of our ladies are doing it now, you know, the, the some of the new ones and that and they really enjoy it. This, ah, the Phillip group which is a Sydney group, they’re the ones that mainly run, run the tea rooms. And there’s some of our ladies down here, like from other branches, they were, like the president or something of that as the tearoom, the main, like the took the office bearers or that. Yeah, so it was it was all voluntary, it’s not anything else. But see you work; you meet all walks of life. And of course us living in Wollongong you were able to go up in the day and have the day up there and come home. Because a lot of them have to stay up there because of, um, they live out of, um, up the North Coast or anywhere. So, no, that, that was good experience.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: But, ah, we still laugh about us thinking we’d be able to do this and do that [laughs].
Jo Oliver: Thought you had all this spare time?
Val Farrington: Yeah, that’s right, when we had the spare time!
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: But we didn’t, but anyhow and, um, that was good fraternity. The last time we were there Gloria, and I went to the show. Oh, we put things into the Royal Easter Show and that and, um, and into the, into the knitwear or the crocheting or whatever and some have even put their cakes in there. But, um, but it was good to do that, but you meet all of life, yeah, so it was good. They even, they even had a conference at, ah, Jindabyne. Now that was a good conference too, yeah, yeah. And we stayed at, um, we had to go out to the conference. But that was a good conference.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: A very good conference at Jindabyne The handicraft was over the road. We had to walk under the road to get there, but it was like a cottage. So we were away from there, from them, you know. So we didn’t get to see much about that, but anyway.
Jo Oliver: Oh, it certainly sounds like a marvellous …
Val Farrington: A marvellous organisation love, it really really is, and I think it, um…
Jo Oliver: It’s been a big part of your life.
Val Farrington: It has been.
Jo Oliver: Yeah.
Val Farrington: It really has, yeah.
Jo Oliver: Well thank you so much for, um, yeah, sharing about it today. Is, is there anything else you wanted to add before we finish up?
Val Farrington: Oh, I think that’s about it, love.
Jo Oliver: Okay. Well thank you so much for being willing to be interviewed.
Val Farrington: That’s all right.
Jo Oliver: It’s appreciated. Okay thanks.