Ruth Hope Crow

Ruth Hope Crow (née Miller) (14 September 1916 – 9 April 1999) was an Australian political activist, social worker, writer, and long serving member of the Communist Party of Australia. Her work ranged from establishing child care centres, youth activities and neighbourhood centres, to campaigning on topics of anti-fascism, urban planning, women's issues and the environment. Crow is credited with mentoring other women in their careers and activism, with the result that 'the whole society was politicised'.

Early life Crow was born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 14 September 1916. Crow died on 9 April 1999 at Horsham, Victoria.

Employment From 1937 to 1943 Ruth worked as a waitress, cook, assistant dietician, joint manager of a tearoom with her husband (Observatory Tea Rooms and adjoining camping ground in the Dandenong Ranges) and manager of a factory canteen. As a married woman, she could only find work by using her maiden name and working in areas where people didn't know her. From 1943 to 1944 Crow was secretary-organiser of the Brunswick Childcare Centres. From 1949 to 1954 Crow was involved with organisations which offered leisure time activities for children such as dance, drama, sports, and music. and in 1952 Secretary of the Adult Advisory Committee of the Junior Eureka League in Melbourne.

With Maurie Crow she wrote "Plans for Melbourne Part 1, 2, and 3". Crow was one of the main people responsible for publishing a monthly newsletter on urban issues called "Irregular", and later called "Ecoso Exchange".

In 1977 Crow was involved in the book "Seeds for Change – Creatively Confronting, the Energy Crisis".

In the late 1970s Crow participated in the Melbourne City Council Consultation on Children's Services.

Crow was arrested for graffitiing a wall in Melbourne with the words "No scrap iron for Japan".

Crow was a prominent member of the Union of Australian Women.

Awards In 1972 Crow, with her husband, was jointly awarded a Robin Boyd Information Award by the Victorian Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects for 'consistently valuable and perspective contributions to the literature of planning issues in Melbourne' for her work on "Plan for Melbourne Parts 1, 2 and 3", "Irregular", and elsewhere.

A plaque in the Royal Park commemorates Crow and her husband.

In 2008 Crow was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

In February 1991 the Crow Collection Association was founded. The Association published one of Australia's earliest environmental issues journals, the Ecoso Exchange Newsletter. The 2011 Crow Papers Digitisation Project made available many of the issues of the Ecoso Exchange (1973–1999) and its predecessor, Irregular (1967–1972).

In 1996 the Crow Collection Association was involved in the Ideas Exchange Project which took up the theme of the 1995 Senate Inquiry, 'What Sort of Society Do You Want Australia To Be?'

To commemorate Ruth Crow's death in April 1999 the Crow Collection Association held a memorial celebration of Ruth's life at the North Melbourne Town Hall on 21 May 1999. This event was attended by over 500 people.

At the last meeting of the Crow Collection Association on 25 February 2003 the members in attendance voted in favour of winding up the Association and handing over its remaining assets to Victoria University Library. The Library was entrusted to use these funds to promote research in the subject areas that were of interest to Ruth and Maurie Crow. Funds from the Crow Collection Association trust were used to compile an archive of Ruth Crow's papers in 2004. In 2011 Federal Government funding under the ASHER program was granted to VU Library to undertake a digitisation project of significant unpublished and out of print material from the Crow Papers.