Icon - Lock & Key, Women on Farms Gathering, Yarram, 2003

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Summary:: Icon created for and displayed at the Women on Farms Gathering, Yarram 2003.

The Yarram organizers selected an open lock and key to encourage rural women to open themselves to the many opportunities to grow and use their full potential to 'secure the future' in creating sustainable rural communities.

'We've chosen the lock - which has purposefully been left open so that we're not locking things away; we want the opposite effect, an open, forward-looking future.' Merlyn Rendell, chairperson of the Yarram Gathering Organising Committee.

'The key unlocks all the stories that women have... all the doors that women need to open so that we enjoy our future and our children and grandchildren can enjoy their future by unlocking the doors. Opening new avenues from our commodities and our markets and our future in Australian farming.' - Val Colbert, Yarram Gathering Organising Committee

The closing of each Gathering and the anticipation of the next is celebrated with a formal 'baton changing' ritual, where a symbolic 'icon' is handed over from one organising committee to the next. Each item represents a story or message of some of the key themes and issues, which have shaped the meaning and experience of these women's rural identity.
Acquisition Information:: Loan & Subsequent Donation from Victorian Women on Farms Gathering, 2002

Discipline:	Technology
Dimensions:	219 mm (Height), 132 mm (Width), 22 mm (Length)

Tagged with:	agriculture, gender issues, globalisation, politics, rural life, work
Themes this item is part of:	Sustainable Futures Collection, Victorian Women on Farms Gathering Collection, 2003 Yarram WoFG, 2003 Yarram - 'WOF Song'
Primary Classification:	AGRICULTURE & RURAL LIFE
Secondary Classification:	Community Activity - Women on Farms Gathering
Tertiary Classification:	symbolic objects
Creator:	Merlyn Rendell - Yarram Women on Farms Gathering, Devon North, Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, 2003
Commissioned By:	Victorian Women on Farms Gathering, Yarram, South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, 2003
Place & Date Made:	Yarram, South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, 2002
References:	http://www.wofgcollection.org.au/About.aspx, viewed 12.05.2008 LDH http://cv.vic.gov.au/#, viewed 12.05.2008 LDH
Bibliography:	[Chapter] Dale-Hallett, Liza, et al. "Rural women reclaiming their place through symbols, stories and rituals"., 2008 [Article] Dale-Hallett, Liza & Diffey, Rhonda. 2006. "Motherboards and desert sands: stories of Australian rural women" Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies., 2006 [Article] Dale-Hallett, Liza, et al. 2006. "Creating collaborative living history; the case of the Victorian Women on Farms Gathering Heritage Collection", History Australia., 2006