Lynne Sullivan, a member of the Board of Directors for Families of Veterans Guild – proudly owned and operated by Australian War Widows NSW, shared her story and insights. Widowed for ten years, Lynne lost her husband, Patrick, after his 25 years of service in the Australian Army’s Royal Australian Engineers. His service included active duty in Borneo and Vietnam, along with peace-time assignments in Papua New Guinea, where he helped build essential infrastructure. In this article, Lynne shares her insight, her story and encourages us all to embark on the journey and get involved. 

The story of the Guild and my story, by Lynne Sullivan 

The Australian War Widows Guild was started by Mrs Jessie Vasey (widowed just before the end of World War Two) to assist widows following World War Two. Established initially as a craft guild teaching women to weave as it could be done at night while the children slept and due to the post war shortage of fabric its sale was a means of supplementing a meagre pension paid by the government.  

Jessie was highly motivated to keep a promise her husband had made to his men to look after their wives and families should they not survive. She worked tirelessly to improve the war widow’s pension to the equivalent of the basic wage, then raised funds to provide basic housing for widows and fought for free medical services for widows and their families. Many of the benefits war widows receive today had their origins in Jessie Vasey’s advocacy to a largely unsympathetic government whose focus was primarily on the veteran and not those left behind. 

Living with the impact of service  

While I was not married to my husband during his years of active service, I lived with him and the impact of that service for 24 years. Losing a life partner in battle would be devastating. However, living with a veteran who bears the scars, physical and/or mental, of their service can be traumatic for their partner and family creating tensions that are rarely understood by those outside of the Defence community creating societal alienation. This may be manifested in the stress of family members never knowing if when they come home what they will be confronted with. Will their partner/sibling/child be in violent mood capable of injuring them, have punched holes in the walls, have intentionally injured themselves or in the worst case committed suicide. These experiences are just a few examples raised in submissions to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide Lived Experience section.  

Current information indicates that 52% of members live in regional areas possibly due to the uptake of soldier settlement blocks post WW1 and 2, War Service Home Loans and the more regional location of many defence bases. This may add to social isolation but is not the exclusive cause. Life in a city can be just as isolated when someone does not feel connected to their community. 

The work of the Guild 

For nearly 80 years our organisation has been focused on providing social support for the widows of those who died in or as the result of their active service. For a time, membership was limited to those who held a DVA Gold Card which also created some divisions within the war widow community itself. Over the last few years, the NSW branch has changed its constitution to make it more inclusive by:

1. Removing the Gold Card requirement
2. Acknowledge that the family of veterans need to be welcomed into our community as they too have been impacted in ways most do not understand 
3. Welcoming the widows and family members of Armed Forces Allied to Australia 
4. Removing the requirement that the veteran had to have seen active service as it is acknowledged that by its nature defence training and life imposes a particular set of stresses that have long term effects 
5. Welcoming those who are committed to the objectives of FOV and would like to help our organisation 

Our new trading name: Families of Veterans Guild 

To reflect our broader focus, the Australian War Widows NSW has changed its trading name to The Families of Veterans Guild this year to make it easier for those seeking our help to identify an organisation that could help them even though they may not be a war widow as the previous name implied. Under the auspices of our Board, we are expanding our services and reflecting some of Jessies Vasey’s objectives:

• We are maintaining the War Widows program through Social Clubs, Friendship Line calls, referrals to Aged Care services and transport services with 150 members now registered with Community transport providers, had meeting with 490 regional members encouraging the reestablishment of regional social clubs which have been severely affected by COVID and the age of the cohort  
• Establishing wellbeing and social work programs. This service is relatively new. 245 families have become engaged in this program and social work serviced have been provided to 22 members this financial year to date. Two dedicated social workers have been employed. 
• Increasing advocacy to improve the lot of the families of veterans such as participating in the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide, presenting submissions to government on legislation that may adversely impact on concessions to veteran’s families and argue for improvements to existing ones. Of the 64 issues that the Guild has advocated on 64% seek to provide benefit to veteran’s families, 33% are directed to War Widows and their children only and some have the possibility to provide benefit to the community in general. 

Get involved 

Statistics indicate that there are approximately 40,000 war widows Australia wide, 10,700 in NSW alone and 1 in 5 Australian families have an association with the Australian Defence Force. Some of the issues the Guild seek to address may not be as relevant for all, but if a war widow would like to establish their own Social Club, all that is required is to become a member, form a group of at least two and get someone to volunteer to Co-ordinate activities. Alternatively, they could seek to join an existing club. The Head Office in Chatswood can help with its establishment and provide information on the benefits available to members. There is a small membership fee of $30/year of $85 for 3 years. 

Three major events are organised each year by our organisation:  

1. The ANZAC Field of Remembrance Service held prior to ANZAC Day in St Andrews Cathedral Sydney and now available online to regional groups 
2. The Annual General Meeting usually around August. The attendance of Regional Co-ordinators is encouraged and sponsored by the Guild 
3. War Widows Day 19th October (Jessie Vasey’s birthday)  

Membership payment also help to subsidise some of the cost of club outings, assistance in drafting grant applications to further finance club activities, provides a monthly newsletter and a quarterly Digest. The latter highlights social event, information relevant to members such as available benefits, raises issues affecting members, such as health and wellbeing, safety, scamming etc. The Guild is also starting to collate a list of venues that are safe for particularly less mobile members to attend. There are some already established Clubs all around New South Wales. Click here if you wish to find a club near you or call our War Widows Program team on (02) 9267 6577. They can also support you if you wish to open a club in your area.