Bingara Women's Homefront Memorial

About

This memorial is a bushrock with an attached plaque and acknowledges the role that the women from the Bingara area played in serving on the home front during the Second World War. It is located within the Bingara Centre Gardens on Maitland Street, Bingara, NSW. It lists the names of 36 women from Bingara and the surrounding area who contributed to the home front efforts during the war. The memorial was funded as part of the 'Australia Remembers' project developed to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War in 1995. The Bingara Garden Club planted a tree in the Memorial Park on 20th August 1995 as part of this program.  This memorial represents a gradual change in the way in which the impact of war is understood. It is no longer solely focused on those who were involved in military conflicts, but now also recognise the political and social consequences that war had on the people back at home. Memorials dedicated to service on the home front such as this has been developed in a number of towns across Australia in recent years. The women listed on this memorial played a diverse range of roles on the home front in both Bingara and across the wider district. Although there were no factories in the town to employ women, their lives would have been affected by the absence of the men from their homes and the farms and the resulting need for women to take up these traditionally male dominated roles within their community to fill these gaps and to support those serving overseas. Many women took part in fundraising efforts and other community organizations such as the Red Cross.

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