When we think about women’s health, our minds might first turn to the physical — nutrition, exercise, medical checks and the changes that come with different stages of life.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
But there is another part of well-being that can be harder to measure — connection.
It is one of the themes of this year’s Women’s Health Week and, here along the Murray, a relatively new organisation is demonstrating just how many women value it.
Women of the Murray was established in 2025 to bring rural and regional women together, and since then, hundreds have attended its gatherings, conversations and events.
But perhaps the numbers tell only part of the story.
For board chair Kimberley Tempest, the real value can be found in women who might otherwise never have met — different ages, different careers and different stages of life finding themselves sitting beside one another.
“We’re not just for young mums, though we have young mums, we’re not just for working women, but we have working women, we’re not just for retirees, but we have retirees, and we have everyone in between,” she said.
There is no mould a woman needs to fit and there is something about the atmosphere the women themselves create — it is warm, welcoming and supportive, without judgment or any sense that someone needs to impress.
Nor does everyone have to share, some women will talk, others may be quite happy to sit and listen, taking something from another woman's story without having to tell their own.
“I feel like no-one goes home empty-handed, there’s always something you can get out of meeting with people,” Kimberley said.
That exchange across generations is something Kimberley has come to appreciate from her own experience.
Her daughter, now 27, once asked whether her mother had always been as confident as she appears today ― she hadn't.
At 27, Kimberley worried too ― about the future, whether things would work out and whether life would fall into place.
What she didn't have was someone further down the road telling her that uncertainty was normal and, chances were, she would be fine.
Through her role as principal of Cobram Secondary College, she has also watched young women move from school into adult life, often appearing confident and ready to take on the world.
But outward confidence doesn't always tell the full story, and experience is not automatic before it is lived, but reassurance can be.
Sometimes there is value in someone who has travelled a little further along the road saying “I remember that” and “I worried too”.
But the exchange doesn't travel in only one direction ― older women may bring years of experience, while younger women bring different skills, ideas and perspectives.
“We all have things in common, we all experience life in common, but we have wisdom and experience that we can share,” Kimberley said.
For women in regional communities, that wider circle can be particularly valuable as families move away and people relocate for work.
“Women of the Murray is an extended family of aunties and mums and nannas and sisters and cousins,” Kimberley said.
It might be someone who has been through something before you, someone with a different perspective, or simply someone new to sit beside.
Women of the Murray isn't a traditional service club and fundraising isn't its purpose.
Its ‘brave not perfect’ conversations, ‘inspire to lead’ events, social gatherings and well-being activities create opportunities for women to meet, learn and connect.
When women become comfortable with one another, real life inevitably finds its way into the room.
Conversations have touched on careers, confidence, relationships and mental well-being, as well as fertility and IVF, hormones and HRT — sometimes prompted by a speaker and sometimes by another woman’s experience.
Not everyone will have the same experience, the same answer, or even want to speak — and perhaps that is part of the value.
Hearing what another woman has lived through can help us understand something we haven’t experienced ourselves and perhaps make us a little kinder to one another.
It is a message that goes with Women's Health Week, from September 7 to 11, which encourages Australian women to make their health and well-being a priority.
This year's theme, ‘Do it anyway’, is about taking small, achievable steps rather than waiting for the perfect time or circumstances.
Across the week, attention turns to nutrition, movement, sleep, mental well-being and connection, with that final word sitting so naturally with Women of the Murray.
Sometimes looking after ourselves can be as simple as walking into a room, finding ourselves in good company and knowing we don't have to have everything figured out.
From Cobram to Jerilderie, Shepparton and communities across the Murray region, Women of the Murray is growing its reach.
Find the group on Facebook or visit: womenofthemurray.com.au