Summary

The success of the Glenormiston Gathering (1994) made possible a cheque of $1,000 to be handed on to succeeding organising committees as seeding money. This facsimile cheque was created in 2003 for the Women on Farms Gathering display of icons at the Yarram Gathering; this display was prepared on the occasion of the signing of a partnership agreement between Museum Victoria and the Victorian Women on Farms Gathering community.

'We donated $1000 from funds remaining after our Gathering to the next organising committee as seeding funds. The thought was that this would be passed on to each consecutive committee to help get their project underway. We also expressed the hope that were possible, each organising committee would add some further funds to the amount. We requested that this money be acknowledged in the sponsors at each Gathering together with the other Gatherings that had contributed.' - Margaret Jansen and Lorraine Ermacora, Glenormiston Women on Farms Gathering committee

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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