Helping battle the bushfire crisis was not the only mission Nelligen RFS member, Robynne Murphy, faced last summer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Amidst the disaster, she submitted a documentary about the battle for women to work at BHP in Wollongong decades ago.
Ms Murphy managed to finish the film, and is a finalist in a $10,000 Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival.
It will be screened online June 10-21.
In her 30-year steelworking career, Ms Murphy was a welder, crane driver, and hot strip mill operator at the Port Kembla steelworks - but it didn't come easy.
She and hundreds of other women campaigned for the right to work there.
Women of Steel takes us into an episode in Australia's history when ordinary women banded together to overcome discrimination and oppose the biggest and most powerful company in Australia.
The documentary follows a group of determined local women in their 14-year fight for the right to work in Wollongong's steel industry.
Read more: How these women cleaned up Port Kembla
When the 1980s steel slump devastated the city's economy, the women were forced into the courtroom.
Their struggle plays out against a background of societal changes: from anti-discrimination legislation, to the shifting roles of women in the home and workforce (particularly complex in Wollongong's migrant, non-English speaking households).
This fascinating account of the largely forgotten history of Australia's Steel City was crafted over decades with support from local community volunteers and over 500 donors.
The film is exciting, moving and often humorous.
A documentary Ms Murphy made in 1974 about her small hometown in rural NSW was also chosen for the Sydney Film Festival.
Although there was a 45-year absence between films, the selection of her latest film is a testimony not only to her talents but also to the exciting nature and historical importance of the events that the film portrays.
Ms Murphy was selected for Australian Film Television & Radio School's first intake but left her promising career as a filmmaker to join the Port Kembla steelworks and the campaign.
To watch the Women of Steel trailer, go here.
Tickets cost $14. Discounts for groups of ten are available at www.sff.org.au
