Jan Hanley: It really was important and I think that the fence was very important.

I'm Jan Hanley from Mirriwinni. I'm a wife, and a mother, and a grandmother, and a great-grandmother.

The Bruce Highway goes straight through the town. It's a very small country town. It's a sugar cane town. And really, the actual town itself has only got like one, two, three, four, five streets.

Deborah Carrigan: CWA was formed back 100 years ago. It was for the care and the welfare of women and children in the country.

My name's Deborah Carrigan. I'm the branch president for QCWA at Babinda. I was born and raised in Cairns. I came to Babinda as a mother of two young children and living on a farm, and had no social contact before I joined the branch at CWA.

There was a branch at Mirriwinni until probably 1975-76, and it's only five Ks down the road.

Jan Hanley: I joined the CWA in Mirriwinni once my kids went to school. I went there for craft and for companionship, and I enjoyed my time at CWA, I really did.

Deborah Carrigan: CWA seemed to be a lot of things by a lot of different people. Some people see it as a tea and scones group. There's an acronym. We've got CWA – they call it 'Chin Waggers Association' – and when you get thousands of women together in a conference, that's probably all you hear is a lot of chin wagging, yes. But that chin wagging is good conversation about subjects that need to be raised. And they start conversations that can go further. We're not just here for our own benefit, we're here for the community's benefit.

Mirriwinni Hall never thought that they'd have a fence until a letter was written.

Jan Hanley: We're going back over 50 years. The hall was right next door to the main railway station. We all had children at the age where they fear no evil. You know what I mean? They just run. So Mrs Menzel, she could see that we needed a fence.

She wrote this letter:

Dear Elizabeth Reid, Members of the Mirriwinni CWA watched and listened to with great interest and indeed pleasure, the interview that you gave to the Current Affairs Programme. The programme dealt with the budget allocation of two million dollars to help women. The younger women of the district would like to join our organisations, but they are mostly the mothers of very young children, whom they must bring with them. And they point out that the ground surrounding the hall is not securely enough

fence to keep their children from straying out to the railway line. For the same reason, they cannot attend local functions in our hall. We would be grateful if we could have just enough of that 2 million dollars to build a fence that would be safe, practical, and also an adornment. We would be very happy if you would enable us to have a little bit of Canberra style in Mirriwinni.

Now that's so cute, isn't it?

Yours sincerely, Dulcie Menzel, Honourable Secretary of the Mirriwinni QCWA.

Oh, that's just wonderful, isn't it? And that's how it came about, the fence.

She knew what she was doing and she did it all the right way and she got that grant. So it was wonderful, and we got the benefit of it. Everybody was safe because of that fence.

Deborah Carrigan: We've changed so much it's not funny. We don't come in our best Sunday dresses anymore. We'll come ready to garden, paint, do whatever is needed. The past members of CWA have been a huge inspiration.

Your little idea, your solitary thought, could mean such a big change somewhere else. Even to the extent of saying hello to somebody in the street; you don't know what that's going to do to that person. Or exchanging a smile. That smile might be the only one that person's received all day. That hello may be the only one they've had for a week. So by doing little things, greater things are achieved.

As a class, read the whole letter that the Mirriwinni CWA wrote to Elizabeth Reid.

Discuss how different persuasive devices have been used to convince Elizabeth Reid that funding for the fence is important and necessary.

Research the rights and status of women in Australia in the early 1970s. 

You may choose to investigate marriage and divorce, reproductive rights, childcare, workplace rights and education. Discuss how changes have been made in these areas since the 1970s, and how inequalities continue today.

Write a fictional letter to Elizabeth Reid about one of the topics above, from the imagined perspective of a woman or girl living in Australia in the 1970s. 

Plan out who your character is, including their age, race, religion, marital status, place of residence and social class. Consider how these attributes might impact on the experiences and points of view expressed in their letter.

Identify an issue in your school or community that you think should be brought to the attention of the government.

Write a letter outlining the issue and the action that needs to happen to address it.

Identify an ideal recipient for your letter – your local member, the prime minister, or someone else – and send it to them via post or e-mail.