Mrs. Valerie (Val) Mason (1927-2019) was a local sheep farmer, business-woman, Beechworth shire councillor, and mother to five children. With her husband, Charles, Mrs. Mason developed and managed the Big Valley farm estate, at Everton, which is now part of a vineyard and farm stay. Mrs. Mason was instrumental in introducing a 'paddock to plate' philosophy and business model, opening a butcher shop on the farm in 1973. Concerned with improving infrastructure and developing economic opportunities in the region, Mrs. Mason successfully stood as a local council representative for South Riding in the United Shire of Beechworth, and later become the first woman Shire President in 1979. Mrs Mason was a member of the local Business and Professional Women's Club for 37 years. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke.Mrs. Mason's story is historically significant for understanding economic and social changes in the Beechworth region during the latter half of the twentieth century. As a council representative, issues such as road and infrastructure modernisation and the transition from traditional government employment sectors, like Beechworth's care institutions, were challenges for local government. As a farmer and local employer, Mrs. Mason's story is testimony to the region's economic diversification as businesses like Big Valley farm shop helped shape the region's contemporary character. Mrs. Mason was among the first women to broach the traditionally all-male Beechworth Council Chambers and her story is socially significant for understanding the changing role of women in rural and regional Australia. This oral history recording offers interpretive capacity for social history themes and may be compared with other oral histories in the Burke Museum's collection. This oral history account is socially and historically significant as it is a part of a broader collection of interviews conducted by Jennifer Williams which were published in the book 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth-century Beechworth.' While the township of Beechworth is known for its history as a gold rush town, these accounts provide a unique insight into the day-to-day life of the town's residents during the 20th century, many of which will have now been lost if they had not been preserved.This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mrs Val Mason /listen to what they say, beechworth, oral history, burke museum, working women, trail blazers, farm to plate, farm shop, paddock to plate, woman farmer, united shire of beechworth, rural and regional women, beechworth's first woman shire president, women in leadership positions, women leaders, australian settlement history, settler societies, victorian gold rush, heritage tourism, culinary tourism, regional land use, indigo winery, farm stay, social history

This book is a 1988 reprint of an 1897 novel by Mary Gaunt (1861-1942). She was an Australian writer of more than 20 novels and many travel books, short stories and magazine articles and achieved international recognition. The wife of Dr H.L. Miller, she lived in Warrnambool from 1894 to 1900. ‘Kirkham’s Find’ was written while she was in Warrnambool and is of particular local interest as it is partly set in an area that can be identified as Allansford. The novel outlines the difficulties faced by a woman in the 19th century if she wished to pursue a career and gives us a good description of 19th century rural Australia. Although it is only a reprint this novel is of some interest as it was written by Mary Gaunt, an Australian writer of considerable importance. As a one-time resident of Warrnambool and a writer using local places and situations in her stories, she has a place in Warrnambool’s history. This is a soft cover book of 340 pages. It has a purple cover with a reproduction of a 19th century painting on the front cover and material about the contents of the book on the back cover. The spine is an orange colour with black and white printing. The book has an introduction by Kylie Tennant, an afterword by Dale Spender and 29 chapters of a novel. mary gaunt, history of warrnambool, women in literature

Local women made this quilt and book in 2004 over a period of four months. Meg Viney fibre artist and then director of Meeniyan Art Gallery initiated the project. Handmade and machine embroidered quilt with 16pp handmade book. The quilt celebrates the lives of local women in our rural environment. The quilt features cyanotype printed images of the women surrounded by blue floral-patterned fabric and gold/brown patterned trim. The book features handmade paper pages with images and stories on each of the women who were involved in the making of the quilt.