United Council for Woman Suffrage (1894 - 1908)

The United Council for Woman Suffrage was originally formed in Melbourne in 1894 largely due to the efforts of Annette Bear Crawford who became its foundation president and secretary. Its aims were: to coordinate and amalgamate suffrage societies and to lobby members of parliament and municipal councillors abourt women's suffrage; to educate the public about women's suffrage; to educate the public about women's suffrage; to educate the public about women's suffrage and to train women speakers to address meetings. Those involved included representatives from suffrage societies, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Victorian Trades Hall Council and the Vigilance Society. The Council conducted extensive lobbying during the Victorian municipal elections in 1896 and the Commonwealth Constitutional Conventional in Melbourne in 1898. The Council floundered with Bear Crawford’s illness and then death in 1898. The following year, however, Vida Golstein became its organising secretary—which in 1900 became a full-time, paid position. Goldstein allowed a broader spectrum of organisations to affiliate with the Council, considerably expanding its support base—by 1900 it had 32 member organisations. While Goldstein resigned in 1901, the Council continued as an effective co-ordinating body for the suffrage campaign, often working with Goldstein’s new group, the Women’s Political Association, until Victorian women’s gained the vote in 1908.

Affiliated

• Victorian Woman’s Suffrage League (1894 - 1908)
• The Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society (1884 - 1908)

Secretary

• Goldstein, Vida (1869 - 1949)

  [1899 - 1900]

Books

• The Australian Woman's Sphere, Vida Goldstein, Melbourne, 1900-1905. [ Details... ]
• Oldfield, Audrey, Woman suffrage in Australia : a gift or a struggle?, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1992, 263 pp. [ Details... ]

See also

• Lees, Kirsten., Votes for women : the Australian story, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, N.S.W., 1995, 206 pp. [ Details... ]