"One third of Australians volunteer on a regular basis. This means that more than 5 million Australians are regularly coaching local sports teams, working in the school P&C, planting trees in their local Bush Care group, managing email lists for political or community groups and so on. This book tells the story of volunteering in Australia since WWII across many kinds of organisations and argues that we have a unique way of volunteering in Australia. Using the examples of her grandmother who was one of the founders of the CWA and her mother who was very active as a volunteer in WWII, Melanie Oppenheimer shows that women have often been central to keeping communities going through their unpaid work. She also shows that volunteers need to be better recognised. The 2020 summit and Australia's first minister for volunteering shows the governments are starting to realise this"--Provided by publisher.