Women in history on the Coast

In the theme of International Women’s Day, I’ve decided to take a look into the history of women living on the Sunshine Coast and see what gems I can unearth. Looking through the photo archives I came across these photographs. What do you see when you look closely? What do you feel? These women come from completely different cultures and yet there is an invisible bond that connects them, and also them to us. We have inherited their gifts and talents, their strength and their courage, and also their fears. The questions that ran through their psyches run through ours. How will I survive? How can I contribute to this world? How do I share my gifts and talents with those around me?

And perhaps they have something to teach us. In the days before Google or cell phones, they had their own ways of finding answers to their deepest questions. They relied on and celebrated the natural world. In a way we’ve tried to create many substitutes for this, distracting ourselves from that which is truly important. Even with information at our fingertips there is much we can learn. I am grateful to all the wise women who came before us. Their wisdom runs through our veins too.

by Lauren Hemmes, Curatorial Assistant, Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives