The Terramungamine branch of the Country Women’s Association (CWA) is preparing to celebrate its centenary next month with a light luncheon in Dubbo.

State CWA president, Tanya Jolly, will be one of several special guests at the centenary celebration to be held at Club Dubbo on Tuesday, June 9.

Branch president Robin Godwin said the branch has achieved much over the decades for their community and the wider causes supported by the CWA movement.

“We're very excited to have lasted this long and contributed to the community all of that time,” Robin said.

“We've been involved in all sorts of things over the years, and with things promoted by the CWA aiming to improve the lives of country women and children,” she added.

The Terramungamine CWA branch started in 1926, just four years after the CWA movement first formed in NSW to fight isolation and poor health facilities in country areas.

The first meeting of the Terramungamine CWA branch took place on May 19, 1926, at the home of a Mrs Linke who lived on a property called “Leura”, Robin revealed. While the member numbers aren’t known for that first meeting, the branch averaged 23 members across the 1920s and 1930s, she added.

What records exist show a Mrs Edey was elected the inaugural president, while the secretary’s role went to a Mrs Nugent, and venue host Mrs Linke was elected as the inaugural branch treasurer.

The current membership of Terramungamine branch sits at 14, with 10 of those active.

“We have a couple of older members who can’t attend meetings anymore, and one younger member who actually lives in Wagga and whose mother is a long-time member of our branch,” Robin said.

“Since 1926 we have worked hard for the community, built a strong reputation for friendship and fellowship among district women, and used our collective voice to seek better services and infrastructure – and in 2026 we continue to do so,” she explained.

Robin said the branch is proud of all Terramungamine CWA members past and present and their achievements.

“A number of our members have achieved greatness within the realms of CWA,” she said.

“We have provided group presidents, members of CWA State Executive (the governing body of the CWA of NSW), state committee members, two state international officers, two state vice presidents, and one state president.”

The important work of the CWA movement founded in 1922 to improve conditions for women, children and families continues today.

One of its first priorities was to advocate for better maternity care, which, a century ago, was utterly abysmal. A potted history of the branch indicated that women could be refused admittance to public hospitals to give birth back then, prompting a comment at an early CWA conference in the 1920s that “it is obvious something is wrong with the scheme of things.”

A century later, the CWA movement continues to advocate for better maternity and general medical care in country NSW, among many other things including education, transport, infrastructure, and more.

The branch supported community members doing it tough during droughts and economic downturns over the years, and more recently members have prepared evening meals several times a year for country people attending Macquarie Home Stay in Dubbo for medical treatment, Robin said.

“Funds are donated to support the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Disaster Relief funds, education grants for local children, medical research (currently for pancreatic cancer) and to support the ongoing work of CWA of NSW,” she added.

The Terramungamine CWA branch meets monthly in Dubbo and invites interested community members to join them. For details, see their entry under Wednesday in the Dubbo Photo News Community Diary.

Tickets to their centenary light luncheon cost $25 and can be purchased via 123Tix.