Kirk, Maria (Marie) Elizabeth (1855 - 1928)

Marie Kirk was a leading figure in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union both in Victoria and nationally and helped to establish the Vicotiran Union in 1887. She held numerous executive positions in the organisation. She was also a strong supporter of women's rights, a member of the Victorian Women's Franchise League, and held establish the National Council of Women of Victoria in 1902. She supported equal pay, raising the age of consent for girls, and also took a keen interest in the welfare of women prisoners and in the kindergarten movement.

Kirk (nee Sutton) was born in London in 1855 and married Frank Kirk (an ironmonger and later bootmaker) in 1878. Reared as a Quaker, she worked as a missionary in London's 'slums' and became active in the British Women's Temperance Association. In 1886 she represented this group at a meeting held in Toronto to organise the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She moved to Victoria that same year.

Secretary

• The Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Victoria (1885 - )

  [1888 - 1913]

Related Cultural Artefacts

• Women's Suffrage Petition (Monster Petition) (1891)

  Marie Kirk signed the Monster Petition in 1891

Book Sections

• Hyslop, Anthea, 'Temperate Feminists: Marie Kirk and the WCTU', in Double Time: Women in Victoria - 150 Years, Penguin, Melbourne, 1985. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au. [ Details... ]

See also

• The White Ribbon Signal: Official Organ of the Woman's Temperance Union of Victoria, The Union, Melbourne, 1891-1931. [ Details... ]
• 1891 Women's Suffrage Petition, with Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Genealogical Society of Victoria, League of Women Voters Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria, WCTU, Parliament of Victoria, http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/womensPetition/. [ Details... ]
• Radi, Heather (ed.), 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Women's Redress Press, Sydney, 1988, 258 pp. (Also available at http://www.200australianwomen.com/) [ Details... ]