By Derek Schlennstedt
As a farmer in the Yarra Valley, and a CFA volunteer, Pat Bigham has been caring for the land and helping others for a number of years.
Now as part of the International Day of Rural celebrations, Women Museums Victoria, Her Place and the Invisible Farmer project have created an installation that acknowledges prominent Victorian women who share a connection to the land.
And having spent five decades working on the land, and over 35 years as a CFA volunteer it is apt that Pat be included in the Women on the Land exhibit.
The installation features personal items that represent the person she is and Pat said she was honoured to be a part of it.
Though she was concerned that there were many others out there who weren’t getting the recognition they deserve.
“I was asked to get together some items that represented me, so they got my CFA gear, my CFA medals, my Beatrix Potter P, and my Victorian farmers thankyou for being on the executive certificate,” Pat said.
It’s a huge honour, but it never sits comfortably with me, as I believe that an individual can’t do all this … it’s a team effort.
There’s hundreds of thousands of women in the state alone who haven’t been recognised for what they do.
The Women of the Land exhibition celebrates the social, civic and entrepreneurial achievements of Australian women and their role in shaping our nation.
Quite often relegated to the term “invisible farmers”, women in farming go unnoticed due to the masculine perception of the work involved.
Pat, a free range poultry farmer hopes that this stigma is changing and that the exhibition will help to change the dialogue that “farming is men’s stuff … it’s not,” she said.
“I’m hoping younger girls go and see it and see that if you set your mind to it and want to be something, you can.”
You don’t look at whether you have a dress on or a pair of jeans, if that’s what you want to do and you have the ability and nous to do it, go for it.”
For more information on the installation, which runs from 13 October to 26 November, visit https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whats-on/women-of-the-land/
