Summary

Audio interview with Valerie Lang recounting her experiences with agriculture and rural life, and her work with the Rural Women's Movement of the 1980s-1990s. The recording was conducted at Melbourne Museum's conservation sound studio on 8 September 2015.

Valerie Lang won an Order of Australia for service to women living in rural and regional communities, particularly by improving social and economic conditions through the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women, and to the environment, health and education. Valerie was nominated by her peers to be interviewed for this project due to the significant contributions that she made to the Rural Women's Movement of the 1980s-1990s.

This interview is part of the Invisible Farmer Project, which was funded by the McCoy Fund and involves a partnership between Museum Victoria and the University of Melbourne. This six-month pilot project aims to interview a small number of women about their involvement with agriculture, shine a light on the history of the Rural Women's Movement of the 1980s-1990s, identify existing public/research collections that document women in agriculture, develop a strategic collecting alliance that could further enhance these collections, and prepare a larger funding proposal that will address the urgent need to collect and preserve these histories.

Part of the Invisible Farmer Project. The Invisible Farmer Project was the largest ever study of Australian women on the land, uncovering the histories and stories of Australian women in agriculture. It began as a pilot project (2015-2016) and evolved into a three year (2017-2020) nation-wide partnership between rural communities, academic, government and cultural organisations, funded by the Australian Research Council.

Description of Content

Interview with one woman discussing her involvement in the Rural Women's Movement of the 1980s and 1990s, her work with the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women and her personal experiences with agriculture and farming. Throughout the interview Valerie discusses her education in Agricultural Science, her foray into agriculture and farming and her longstanding involvement with rural women's networking and rural women's organisations.

Physical Description

Digital Audio Recording: Digital Audio Recording: 2 WAV files.

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