Chicks with attitudes.

With a big grin, it’s how Karen Miller sums up the spirit of her beloved Donnybrook Country Women’s Association.

“People think we’re just little old ladies sitting down drinking tea and scones, but we’re definitely more than tea and scones,” she says.

About 11 years ago, an advertisement for a fun and friendship day at the Memorial Hall in Donnybrook, about 200km south of Perth, caught Miller’s eye.

With a range of competitions, challenges, raffles and an auction for everyone to enjoy, the event aimed to showcase the Country Women’s Association (CWA). Having worked out of town for many years, Miller wanted to join in on the fun to make friends in the area.

It was a decision which would bring her more than a decade of beautiful memories, loving friendships, and lead to the re-opening of the Donnybrook CWA. “So I came down, and the rest is history,” she says.

A former president and secretary, Miller is now serving as treasurer. As she walks around the group’s home away from home, her face beaming with pride, she explains the history behind the memorabilia, the ways the CWA contributes to the community and the many adventures they’ve had along the way.

It’s obvious joining the Donnybrook branch was one of the best decisions she has made. “This CWA branch is a bit my baby,” Miller says.

A century of celebrations

2025 marks a significant milestone for the Donnybrook CWA branch, celebrating its 100th anniversary.

CWA state president Felicity Edwards says surviving 100 years, particularly in the modern world, is quite an achievement.

“To actually last 100 years and still be very relevant is actually quite an amazing feat, and to do it in small country towns, or in country towns, is even more amazing,” she says.

“There’s so many other influences now in what is available to women to be involved in, and all these other things that are happening in our communities.”

After the CWA established their first branch in Western Australia in 1924 in Nungarin, word of the group made its way down to the small South West town. Mrs J.G Fry led a meeting in June 1925, where about 30 women gathered and unanimously agreed to form a branch after learning more about its purpose.

A century later, that aim remains the same – to help improve the wellbeing of women across the state, particularly those from regional and rural areas. It provided a space for service and education where lifelong friendships were forged.

In 1928, the local group made CWA history when they became the first branch to own their rest room, now known as CWA centres, after transforming an empty shop opposite the railway station. These rooms served multiple purposes, providing space for meetings but also somewhere for farming families and women travelling from out of town to have a break. In 1965, the group moved to new rooms on Bentley Street, a place they still call home. 

Reflecting on the milestone, member Maria Giancono says it has been lovely learning more about the history of the group.

“It was a lot of work for those farming ladies to do, and just to see from where they started off in 1925, to where we are now, and how much has changed is really quite interesting,” she says.

Giancono joined the CWA about eight years ago, when she and her husband stopped farming. After seeing an ad in the paper, she asked a friend to go along with her and see what it was all about.

“It’s good to know new people because after the kids left school everybody’s gone and you don’t know anybody in town anymore so it was great to get into it and meet new people,” she says.

The next chapter

Giancono and Miller became part of the branch’s renewal. While successful in its earlier years, the Donnybrook CWA was forced to close in 2009 following a decline in membership numbers. It later re-opened in 2014 following the fun and friendship day which Miller had attended in March the same year.

Miller remembers being thrown into the deep end along with the other members, as no one knew how to run a CWA. “We just had to make it up and read as much as we can from the head office and just go as our guts guided us,” Miller says.

In the first year, the revived branch attracted 15 members and has had about 30 members ever since. “Which is a pretty good amount for a small town like this, and they’ve been all very enthusiastic,” Miller says.

They certainly had a baptism of fire, as Miller aptly puts it. Called up to feed firefighters battling a local bushfire, they didn’t let the fact the CWA kitchen was not yet registered hold them back. The team took over a local café and set to work.

“It showed what we could do,” Miller says. “We made masses of lasagna and all sorts of stuff for the firefighters to eat. We’ve been called out just about every year to provide food for firefighters at some point.”

With catering an important aspect of the CWA, Miller says one of the Donnybrook branch’s major achievement was building their new kitchen, which had been a key goal of the group. “When we first formed in 2014, that’s what we wanted to do, the kitchen was tiny,” she says.

Ten years of fundraising, grant applications and $124,000 later, renovations of the kitchen and toilets were completed in November 2023.

With the release of a new cookbook, there is a growing buzz for the group in the local community. “I’m hoping that it’s going to create a lot bigger membership so we can do lots more stuff,” she says.

The centenary cookbook, which is fronted by a character called Blossom developed by member Carolyn Hayes, includes recipes from members past and present.

Quiet achievers

Along with trying new things and meeting new people, Giancono says the CWA is important to her because of the community work they do. “That sorts of gives me an incentive of wanting to help people and things like that,” she says.

Starting off the year with the Australia Day breakfast, Miller says the branch gets a lot done over 12 months and is very community focused.

They can also be spotted volunteering and getting involved at events such as Anzac Day commemorations and the Donnybrook Apple Festival, where they host their popular cooking competition.

Donations to community groups and schools, toiletry collections for the women’s refuge and can collections for food centres are just some of the extra ways the CWA provides a helping hand.

Edwards says the little things CWA groups like Donnybrook do to help can sometimes go unnoticed.

“We’ve always done it for 100 odd years, but we’ve done it with such quietness, that it’s not really been hugely recognised as that’s what we’re about,” she says.  

Raising awareness for important issues is another key focus. For about five years now, Donnybrook CWA has participated in the walk against family and domestic violence.

Giancono says this interesting and overwhelming focus is another important aspect of the CWA.

Miller feels the same way. “Just championing things that affect women and their families – the more we can get things out there that are unspoken the better it is,” she says.

She recalls the powerful response when gynaecological health advocate Kath Mazzella spoke to the group about women’s health. “It just struck a chord because there’s a lot of people that have their uterus out early, and you know it causes all sorts of issues and nobody talks about it,” she says. “It really did open a conversation in Donnybrook.”

Raising community spirits

President of the Donnybrook-Balingup shire Vivienne MacCarthy applauds the group for their inclusivity, generosity and tireless spirit.

“They are a vibrant and valued presence in not only Donnybrook but across the whole Shire,” she says. “Bringing people together through fundraising, catering, and a wide range of community support, their resourcefulness and kindness continue to make a meaningful impact.”

Giancono hopes the group will continue to grow into the future. “It’d be lovely to have some more new members come into it, and get new ideas, new blood, like some younger girls coming in,” she says.

Miller couldn’t agree more: “I’d just like to see us go from strength to strength.”