The Queensland Women's Historical Association is a historical society in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia which studies the history and heritage of Queensland, including its pioneer families and the contribution made by women. The Association is headquartered at the heritage-listed house Miegunyah in

Bowen Hills Bowen Hills is an inner north-eastern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the Bowen Hills had a population of 3,226 people. Geography Bowen Hills is by road from the Brisbane CBD. Mayne is a neighbourhood within the s ...

History

The association was established in Brisbane in April 1950 as the Women's Historical Association. Its headquarters were at the heritage-listed

Newstead House Newstead House is Brisbane's oldest surviving residence and is located on the Breakfast Creek bank of the Brisbane River, in the northern Brisbane suburb of Newstead, in Queensland, Australia.Trent Dalton, "Grand residence", ''Brisbane News'', ...

. In 1957 it was renamed the Queensland Women's Historical Association. From 1960 to 1983 the Association placed plaques to commemorate historic sites associated with Queensland's history. In 1966, Newstead House was to be converted into a museum so the Association required new headquarters. At the same time, a nearby historic house Miegunyah (then called Beverley Wood) in

was about to be demolished. Through an appeal to members, the Association raised the funds for a deposit to buy Miegunyah to restore it to its former glory, and to fulfil the goal to have a Folk Museum dedicated to the pioneer women of Queensland and to display their collection of Queensland artefacts.

Current activities

The Association continues to restore and maintain Miegunyah, which is open to the public as a museum and a venue for talks, exhibitions and social events. The Association maintains a library and archive and publishes books.

Plaques

Some of the plaques placed by the QWHA include: * the monument at

Lake Moogerah The Moogerah Dam is a mass concrete double curvature arch dam with an un-gated spillway across the Reynolds Creek that is located in the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The main purposes of the dam are for irrigation of the Reynol ...

to the women of the Fassifern District * the Cactoblastis Memorial beside

Myall Creek The Myall Creek massacre was the killing of at least twenty-eight unarmed Indigenous Australians by twelve colonists on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek near the Gwydir River, in northern New South Wales. After two trials, seven of the twelve c ...

, Dalby commemorating the introduction of the Cactoblastis insect that helped eradicate the highly invasive prickly pear from Queensland farmland

Collection policy

In the absence of a well-defined collection policy, over the years the Association acquired via donations a number of items in its collection that did not fit its primary mission to collect and preserve women's history, often to save precious artefacts which might otherwise have been lost in the absence of other collecting organisations. Following the establishment of a collection policy and a review of the collection in 2016, it was decided some original items should be donated to more appropriate collections. In 1964, Roma Browne, granddaughter of the first

Queensland Governor The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial funct ...

George Bowen Sir George Ferguson Bowen (; 2 November 1821 – 21 February 1899), was an Irish author and colonial administrator whose appointments included postings to the Ionian Islands, Queensland, New Zealand, Victoria, Mauritius and Hong Kong.R. B. Joy ...

, donated a silver spade to the QWHA. Bowen had used this spade to turn the first sod of the Queensland Northern Railway at Rockhampton on 27 September 1865 and had been presented with the spade as a souvenir of the occasion. In 2018, the Association donated it to the State Library of Queensland. Also in 1964, Mrs Vernon Alford donated a

parian ware Parian ware is a type of biscuit porcelain imitating marble. It was developed around 1845 by the Staffordshire pottery manufacturer Mintons, and named after Paros, the Greek island renowned for its fine-textured, white Parian marble, used since an ...

vase to the Association. It is believed to be a favourite wedding present of Mrs

Louis Hope Louis Hope (19 October 1817 – 15 August 1894) was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council. Early years Hope was born in Linlithgow, Scotland in 1817 to General John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun, and his wife Louisa Dorothea (né ...

of Ormiston House. In 2018, it was donated to the Ormiston House Museum.

Published works

Published works of the Association include: * * * * *

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.miegunyah.org/ Historical societies of Australia 1950 establishments in Australia History of Queensland Organizations established in 1950 Women's organisations based in Australia Organisations based in Queensland