Miss Elsa Grice

The Country Women’s Association have been selling around 15,000 scones at the Melbourne Royal Show each year out of their tea room that has lasted over 80 years.

In 1935, state president of The Country Women's Association of Victoria, Miss Elsa Grice, formalised a relationship with the Society, instigating the very first tea room on site at the Melbourne Royal Show.

Elsa was born in 1885 in Victoria, and after World War 1, was pivotal in helping to form the Country Women’s Association which would later become the largest advocacy group in Australia.

Part of establishing the CWA in Victoria was negotiating a formal agreement with the Society to occupy a tea room for promotion and fundraising purposes.

The room was originally granted to the CWA free of rent as a tribute to their dedicated work in helping to improve the lives of country women.

Later it was moved to its current location underneath the public grandstand in the 1990s, where many Show patrons still enjoy the hospitality of the CWA; a legacy that Miss Elsa Grice would have been proud of.

Elsa passed away in 1972, aged 87 years.