Summary

Banner created for and displayed at the Women on Farms Gathering, Sea Lake 1991. This banner was identified as the first "icon" of the Gatherings and has been displayed at each subsequent Gathering.

The banner was created at the Sea Lake Secondary College by the Year 11 and 12 students. It was at this Gathering that a commitment was made to continue the annual gathering of women on farms. The organisers wanted to create something that could be handed on to the following Gatherings.

The closing of each Gathering and the anticipation of the next is celebrated with a formal 'baton changing' ritual, where a symbolic 'icon' is handed over from one organising committee to the next. Each item represents a story or message of some of the key themes and issues, which have shaped the meaning and experience of these women's rural identity.

Part of Museums Victoria's Invisible Farmer Project Collection. 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 and addressing the absence of rural women in mainstream histories and museums. 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.

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