SIGNIFICANT WOMEN OF GAWLER PROJECT

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:45): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question regarding the Significant Women of Gawler Project.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: The Minister for the Status of Women has previously spoken in this place about the importance of South Australian women being recognised for their achievements. I understand that an event is being held this weekend which recognises the contributions of women from Gawler. Will the minister tell us more about this event?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:46): I thank the honourable member for her important question. The Zonta Club of Gawler initiated the Significant Women of Gawler Project 2003, working with other women. This weekend their hard work will come to fruition with the release of The History of Significant Women in Gawler book. The book contains a number of inspiring stories which acknowledge the diversity of women in the Gawler community and the significant contributions that they have made. I understand that many of these stories have been published in the local paper, The Bunyip, and there is other information on the Significant Women of Gawler website. For interested members it is www.freewebs.com/gawlerwomen/.

The book is called Backwards and in High Heels, which members may recognise as the famous quote about Ginger Rogers: that is, she did everything that Fred Astaire did but she did it backwards and in high heels. It was a pleasure to meet with the Significant Women of Gawler group last year. I realised that this was an invaluable resource being produced by a very dedicated and committed group of women. In my opinion, all too often, unfortunately, recorded history is dominated by stories about men, which is why I am so supportive of this particular project. I was happy to provide financial assistance and I was also very pleased to be invited to provide a foreword to the book, which I did, because I strongly believe that women's histories and stories need to be recorded and valued.

There is an extraordinary diversity of women represented in the book from a wide range of different backgrounds and personal circumstances. I would like to make a special mention of the story of Constance Lillian Dawkins who, I am very sorry to say, passed away earlier this year. I met Constance last year at a reception at Government House to celebrate the Women's Honour Roll and her inclusion on that roll. Reading from the book and listening to her background, she had an amazing life. She was involved in many different organisations and made a vast contribution to her community while raising her family and working, as well as learning musical instruments. It is a very rich story.

I spoke to her personally when I sat down beside her at that function and I congratulated her on her award. It was interesting that the first thing she said to me was how proud she was of her son John Dawkins who, of course, is a member of this chamber. I thought how typical it was of women generally, but particularly women of that generation, that, instead of wanting to talk about her own stories and successes or sing her own praises, she was quite self-effacing and referred to her pride in her son. I thought how typical that is of women and women of that particular generation.

There are many other inspiring stories to be found in the book, far too many for me to do justice to today. The History of Significant Women in Gawler provides an important historical record of the lives of some extraordinary women. It also gives younger people a glimpse into the day-to-day life of Gawler in another era when people talked about the empire, or knitting socks for the war effort, or when things like bush biscuits, epidemics and gas lamps were very much part of everyday life.

As members know, I wholeheartedly support recognising the achievements of women, and the Women's Honour Roll is an example of how we recognise them. The opening of nominations in 2009 was announced at the International Women's Day luncheon on 4 March 2009, and 242 nominations were received, 100 women were selected to be included in the Honour Roll publication, 10 outstanding women were highlighted and one woman received an honorary acknowledgement.

In addition, to promote the nomination of women for national honours and awards, a web-based information pamphlet was developed. That pamphlet, or booklet, recognised that women, when nominated, were often successful and focused efforts on increasing the number of women to be nominated by increasing the awareness of the processes for providing nominations for national awards and honours. It is quite a complex process and can be quite intimidating for some people, so this material was designed to try to make that easier to understand and follow.

As I mentioned, the SA Women's Honour Roll is now being held biennially, and the next one is to be scheduled in 2011. I would like to commend the women of Gawler for producing this wonderful and quite charming book, which certainly, I am sure, will be treasured by many people. I want to congratulate everyone involved in the creation of that book and wish them all the very best for Saturday's launch.