War Widows Day

Honour their strength this War Widows Day

War Widows Day is a significant occasion dedicated to recognising and connecting war widows, ensuring they feel honoured and acknowledged.

This day allows us to appreciate their bravery, resilience, and sacrifice.

Across New South Wales alone, more than 15,000 war widows and widowers face the challenges of grief and isolation.

These resilient individuals, the silent figures behind our nation’s peace and security, deserve our unwavering support.

It is essential for the Australian community to get involved, understand their experiences, and ensure they never feel alone.

While the exact number of Australian war widows over the past 100-plus years has never been tallied, a good estimate would be in the hundreds of thousands.

Yet despite this significant number, little is known about you, Australia’s war widows. There have been few books written about you, there have been no documentaries or television series created to tell your stories, and only a handful of monuments have been erected to honour your support, grief and sacrifice.

For more than 100 years, your stories have remained largely unseen and untold, and your sacrifice has stayed unrecognised. Until now.

In 2022, War Widows Day – 19 October – was declared an observed day in NSW and QLD, followed shortly by declaration in the ACT, SA and WA.

The purpose of War Widows Day is to recognise war widows and widowers in our communities, honouring your contributions and sacrifices in defence of Australia. War Widows Day is the only day on some state commemorative calendars that specifically recognises the role of veterans’ families in your lifelong service and commitment to your loved ones and our nation. This makes it unique and significant.

The feedback we hear from members is that War Widows Day is incredibly special to them. Families of Veterans Guild members Di Vogt and Fran Brock spoke about last year’s War Widows Day. Di described the service at the cenotaph at Martin Place as “beautiful and emotional” while Fran Brock said, “It was a very touching and moving day.”

War Widows Day

Honouring the stories of love and sacrifice

Get involved

Community events

With more than 50% of war widows on our register living regionally, we know how important it is to ensure the day is marked in local communities. We invite every Families of Veterans Guild member, as well as Legacy and RSL clubs and branches across the state, to gather on this day and hold a morning tea.

Hosting an event in your community is a wonderful way to honour our war widows and widowers on the day – showing our support and appreciation for their tireless work.

If you’re organising an event in your local community, we’d love to hear what you are planning. We’re also very happy to share images and communication material to help you promote your activity.

Show your support

Stand with our war widows and widowers and show your support through purchasing a limited release lapel pin or support our ‘Buy a Widow a Coffee’ campaign. Both initiatives will raise much-needed funds to help Families of Veterans Guild continue delivering and supporting our social connections program.

Our social connections program funds gatherings and outings for war widows’ social groups (Guild and Social Clubs). All donations made through the ‘Buy a Widow a Coffee’ campaign will go towards funding events for war widows in these social groups.