An exhibition making the 40^th anniversary of the first International Women’s Day March in Wollongong will pay homage to those who took part, including a live reenactment.

Were you there, waving banners and chanting slogans for equality down Crown Street on March 3, 1979? Or perhaps you were on the sidelines watching as the women paraded, voices strong?

The exhibition’s curators Jo Holder and Catriona Moore have also put a call out for photos, articles and stories to add to the research project which will be on display at Wollongong Art Gallery from March 9 until June 2.

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It’s one of nine cities to take part in the Future Feminist Archive project, with the aim to piece parts of history together and preserve it for future generations.

“A lot of material that is pre-digital, pre-1996 is being lost,” Ms Holder said.

“It’s really only by a concentrated effort that some of it can be retrieved and pulled together.

“That applies particularly to events from 1975 to 1995 which was the very intense period of the women’s movement.”

Ms Holder said movements such as the Scarborough Miners’ Women’s Auxiliary had been fighting for equality on the South Coast since 1938 and were “quite a feature of the history of the Illawarra”.

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This will be part of the exhibition, along with other campaigns in the region which drew attention to wage inequality, women's rights and Indigenous rights.

The project is to inspire minds to ponder the relationship between feminist movements or traditions of the past with the “hashtag movements” of today – such as #metoo and #resist.

“Woman are still coming off as losers in the equality stakes, and women’s incomes are considerably less than men … we can’t sit around and become complacent,” Ms Holder said.

“When we stared the research project we had … young artists saying ‘I’ve been told by my art school lecturer don’t mention the word feminism if you want to get ahead and have a career as an artist’.

“So it’s very strong the way its embedded in the art world as well.”

If you have any photos, artifacts of memories of the 1979 event – please contact Wollongong Art Gallery on (02) 4227 8500.B

Future Feminist Archive, opening night March 8 with a march reenactment at 5:30pm, Wollongong Art Gallery. The exhibition runs until June 2.

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