National Council of Women 1912-1969

Component identifier:

Series 39

Content Summary:

Ivy Brookes became an executive member of the National Council of Women in 1912, and for the remainder of her life was involved in Council affairs. This large collection of papers has been grouped into four subseries: records of the Nation Council of Women; records of the International Council of Women; records of the Consultative Committee on Import Policy and subject files containing material collected through her involvement in the N.C.W.

The correspondence in the series commences in 1927 and continues until 1968, much of it concerning Ivy's activities as convenor of the Press, Arts and Letters Standing Committee from 1935 until 1948, and her work as President of the Australian National Council of Women from 1949 until 1952. Topics discussed include the establishment of a Chair of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne in 1934, meetings of the N.C.W. in Canberra in 1939 and 1960, and in Hobart in 1957, the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1954, a submission to the Commonwealth Government on the Australian content of television programmes, and the listing of women in the professions and the arts.

There is an incomplete set of reports of the Press, Arts and Letters Committee, papers for the Triennial Conference of N.C.W. in Melbourne in 1967, and the report by Ruth Gibson of South Australia on the Commission on the status of Women, 10th session, Geneva, in 1956.

In 1938, as President of the N.C.W. of Victoria, Ivy Brookes led the Australian delegation to the International Council of Women's Golden Jubilee Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, and there is correspondence, conference papers, minutes, reports and printed material relating to this Conference. There are also bulletins of I.C.W. (1940-1941), the constitution and standing order of I.C.W. dated (1888 and revised in 1936), programmes and an article entitled Highlights on the history of the I.C.W. by Louise Van Eeghan (1959).

As the representative of the N.C.W. Ivy Brookes was appointed to the Consultative Committee on Import Policy in 1952, and there is a small amount of correspondence from 1951 until the committee was disbanded in 1960, together with minutes of some meetings held between 1952 and 1959.

The last subseries contains subject files on the Refugees from Europe Committee (1940), Save the Forests Campaign (1944), Exhibition Youth Centre (1946), Pioneer Women's Memorial (1953-57), National Fitness Council, Council of Social Services, and the Pan-Pacific Women's Association.

(The Library contains the minutes of the NCW of Victoria 1906-60 on microfilm G7541-7548)

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers of Herbert Brookes were presented to the National Library in April 1967 by his widow Ivy Deakin Brookes. In October 1967 she deposited her own extensive collection, and together they form the Brookes Papers.

Names:

Brookes, Ivy

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