Elsie Women's Refuge records, ca. 1974-2014

MLMSS 9661/Boxes 1-3
MLMSS 9661/Boxes 4X-8X

fonds

ca. 1974-2014

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Objects, Architectural and Technical Drawings, Ephemera, Posters

1219958

1.73 metres of textual and graphic material (3 boxes, 5 outsize boxes)

Elsie Women's Refuge was the first refuge set up in Australia for women and children escaping a violent home who had nowhere to sleep. The refuge offered advice and assistance in relation to the legal, welfare and health systems.

Elsie Women’s Refuge opened as emergency accommodation on 16 March 1974 at 73 Westmoreland Street, Glebe. A group of Sydney Women’s Liberation members, led by Anne Summers and including Bessie Guthrie, broke into a vacant house in the Glebe Estate and the adjoining house, and declared them open as a refuge for women subjected to domestic violence. The impetus for this dramatic and courageous action was the many testimonies of women at a forum, Women against a Violent Society, held on Sunday 10 March 1974 at the NSW Teachers’ Federation auditorium in Sydney. There was very little crisis accommodation for women in Sydney and women often remained in violent homes and relationships, there being few or no alternatives.

The Refuge struggled to survive and manage for a few months with a staff of volunteers, donations and local community and commercial support. The illegal occupation was addressed when the federal government bought the Westmoreland Street houses as part of the Glebe Housing Scheme. By November 1974, five full-time positions were being advertised for Elsie. Subsequently, refuges were opened across the Sydney metropolitan area and across the country in every state and territory. Elsie moved to more spacious premises in Derwent Street, Glebe in 1975.

The management of Elsie Women's Refuge was handed over to the St Vincent de Paul Society in August 2014.

References:
Library correspondence file
The Australian Women's Register. http://www.womenaustralia.info/ (accessed 14 April, 2015)
'Elsie walks into history', Jessie Street National Women's Library newsletter, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2012

Elsie Women's Refuge records, ca. 1974-2014, including papers, photographs, printed material and objects.

BOX 1
Ten Years On 1975-1985 Evaluation of Women’s Refuges in N.S.W. by Jenny Noesjirwan. Women’s Refuges Magazine, 1979. An Evaluation of Thirty Six Women’s Refuges in N.S.W. and Canberra by Jo Perry, Mary Waterford and Erst Carr. Her Story, copy, in ring bound folder, ca. 1978, including loose and captioned photographs ca. 1975-ca. 1985

BOXES 2-3
Photograph albums, Elsie Women’s Refuge residents, accommodation and activities, ca. 1986-ca. 1996

BOX 4X
Elsie Women’s Refuge 30th Anniversary commemorative plaque, 2004. Large format photographs, ca. 1974-ca. 1994

BOX 5X
Silk screen printing frame and stapled mesh, 42 x 33.5 x 3 cm, with original ‘Elsie Power’ design

BOX 6X
Large archival boxed folder of printed documents and photographs related to the history and administration of Elsie Women’s Refuge, ca. 1974-ca. 1994. Includes Collective Members 1974-1987, correspondence, 1974-ca. 1978, posters, architectural plans, Elsie original application for incorporation, 1988, 20th Anniversary mailing list, 1994, Public Officer information, Stamp Duty certificate, 1998, Supported Accommodation Assistance Program allocation of funds for NGO’s, ca. 1984, 1985-1986 Audit, recollections of members, 1994

BOX 7X
Large archival boxed folder of printed documents and photographs related to the history and administration of Elsie Women’s Refuge, ca. 1977-ca. 1985. Includes various issues of feminist magazines, posters, ephemera, government publications and financial papers

BOX 8X
Large format printed material including newsletters and story boards related to the history of Elsie Women’s Refuge, ca. 1977-ca. 1994. Series of large project boards with affixed photographs related to the history of Elsie Women’s Refuge, ca. 1977-ca. 1994

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales