Country Women’s Association Rest House

The Country Women’s Association (CWA) Rest House in Barellan, dating from 1924, is of state significance for being one of the first CWA Rest houses built by local country women in Australia.

The name ‘rest room’ has often been confusing to outsiders, who have seen it as a coy term for public lavatories. The rooms certainly contained clean toilet facilities but went far beyond this. What the women of the CWA were creating in their rest rooms was a home away from home, where women could put their feet up, allow kids to roam free, make a cup of tea and conduct meetings in dignity and comfort.

The Barellan CWA Rest house is run by the Barellan Branch of the CWA.