The Australian Women's Register

In 1988 the Embroiderers’ Guilds of Australia presented a commemorative embroidery to the Commonwealth Parliament as a gift to celebrate Australia’s bicentenary. This presentation was the culmination of eight years of unprecedented collaboration among the eight State and Territory Guilds, overseen by a standing committee of the ACT Guild – the Parliament House Embroidery Committee – convened by Dorothy Hyslop. Over 1000 women from all over Australia were involved in the work and the Guilds donated not only their embroidery skills but also the fabric and thread and the administration of the project.

The embroidery is one of the two major artworks hanging in the Great Hall of Parliament House. Designed as an eight-panel frieze in the tradition of the Bayeux Tapestry, 16 metres long and 65 centimetres deep, the embroidery’s theme is ‘the settlement of Australia’, in tune with the theme of ‘the land’ for all the public areas of the House. The exquisite embroidery is universally acknowledged as a nationally significant artwork and has given prominence to a long undervalued medium.

A Memorial to past committee members of Women on Farms Gatherings was initiated by the Ouyen Gathering in 1998, and since then has been displayed in a prominent place at each Gathering.

The women acknowledged on the plaque include: Eileen Patricia (Pat) Hall, Sea Lake 1991; Kathleen (Kath) Paynter, Swan Hill 1995; Rhonda Weatherhead, Warragul 1990; Muriel Dick, Warragul 1990 & 1999.

The Broken Hill Women’s Memorial stands as a tribute to the solidarity of Broken Hill women who supported their menfolk during union disputes in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

An outcome of an International Women’s Year National Research Program project, Women in Australia: An annotated guide to records is a major publication that documents sources relating to the study of women in Australia. Initially given a life of six months, the project employed eighteen research assistants from around the nation who undertook to locate and document existing material and to identify gaps in the record that could be supplemented through an extensive oral history program. Kay Daniels, Mary Murnane and Anne Picot edited the collection.

The publication functions as much more than a list of what it available. It adds value by describing what exists in each collection, including collections that are not obviously ‘women’s papers’, suggests how they might be used and where researchers might look for further information about particular people, organisations and historical problems.

This two-volume guide put paid to the myth that women’s histories couldn’t be written because there were no records. Never a guide to all the available records, it was, nevertheless, a starting point for research and information exchange.

The Women’s Suffrage Petition (or Monster Petition) is a collection of close to 30,000 signatures collected from Victorian women in 1891 in an effort to gain the right to vote. 260 metres long and 200 millimetres wide, it is made of paper pasted to a fabric backing and rolled onto a cardboard spindle. It takes three people three hours to unroll the petition from one spool to another.

The Monster Petition was addressed to the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Colony of Victoria, and was tabled in Parliament in September 1891 with the support of the then Premier, James Munro.

The petition contained the following statements:

That Government of the People by the People, and for the People should mean all the People, and not one half.

That Taxation and Representation should go together without regard to the sex of the Taxed.

That all Adult Persons should have a voice in Making the Laws which they are required to obey.

That, in short, Women should Vote on Equal Terms with Men.

Established in 1956, the annual Walkley Awards recognize excellence in Australian journalism across all mediums including print, television, radio, photographic and online media. The prestigious Gold Walkley is considered the pinnacle of journalistic achievement.

The plaque commemorating the service of the women of New South Wales who enlisted in Australia’s Defence Forces during World War II is located in the Jessie Street Gardens in Sydney. It was unveiled by His Excellency Rear Admiral Sir David Martin, KCMG, AO on 16 February 1990.

In 1888 Louisa Lawson, who had previously edited the Republican with son Henry, launched The Dawn; a journal for women. The publication’s purpose was to be a “phonograph to wind out audibly the whispers, pleadings and demands of the sisterhood”. It advised on women’s issues, including divorce, the age of consent, and women’s right to vote. As well as operating as an important vehicle for the communication of feminist politics the paper also contained short stories, fashion notes, sewing patterns and reports on women’s activities around the country and overseas. By October 1889, the Dawn office employed ten women as typesetters, printers, binders, and unskilled workers. They were harassed by male workers, and by their male union, The New South Wales Typographical Association. In 1905, after seventeen years, the publication ceased production.

Built by the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society as a meeting hall in 1887, the building now known as Storey Hall, located on the Swanston Street campus of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Victoria, has a long, colourful history that includes its importance as a site for women’s social and political protest. Notably, during World War I, the venue was leased to the Women’s Political Association, who scheduled public meetings and rallies. The organisation’s purple, white and green flag was hoisted on the roof of the building ‘as a symbol of the sisterhood of women.’ Various International Women’s Day Functions have been held at the venue subsequently.

In honour of the building’s importance to Victorian feminist activism, The Ashton Raggatt McDougall renovation in the 1990s made a feature of the feminist colours.

The Australian Service Nurses National Memorial was unveiled on 2 October 1999, 100 years after the first Australian nurses paid their own way to the Boer War, by the then Governor-General Sir William Deane.

The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial located at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens features a granite wall listing the names of Australian Prisoners of War (POW). The listing is by surname and initials and shown by war. Between the Boer War (1899-1902) and the Korean War in the 1950’s 34,737 Australian servicemen and women (59 World War II nurses) were incarcerated in POW camps.

On 1 July 2003 a dedication of a WRANS Memorial, formally recognising Harman as ‘The Birthplace of the WRANS,’ was held. The WRANS Memorial HMAS Harman is dedicated to those who have served in the Woman’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) and those females who have and are currently serving in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

One of the original fourteen females to join the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Jess Scott Doyle (née Prain) was the inspiration for the creation of a lasting memorial to all those in the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) during the war and later in peacetime. Under her direction a memorial committee raised funds and completed research and design details for the window memorial. Arthur Griffiths and Patrick Pearce of Celtic Studios completed the memorial in time for the RANS 75th anniversary ceremonies in 1986.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Western Australia is a pink flowered White Wood tree (Eucalytus leucoxylon macrocarpa rosa), seat and plaque in the War Veterans’ Home, Mt Lawley, unveiled by Mrs Alice Corry, President Ex-AWAS Association of Western Australia, dedicated by The Reverend Neil McGregor 16 March 1977.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Victoria is a Firewheel tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus) and plaque in Kings’ Domain (near Edith Cavill Memorial) Melbourne, unveiled by Miss May Douglas, OBE, Chairman National Memorial Committee, dedicated by The Reverend Evan Wetherell 16 April 1978

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Tasmania is a Flowering Cherry tree (Prunus serrulata) and seat with plaque on Alexandra Battery Point, overlooking Hobart Harbour, unveiled by Lady Burbury, wife of the Governor of Tasmania, dedicated by The Very Reverend H J L Butterly 19 April 1978.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in New South Wales is a seat with plaque between established Plane trees (Plantanus cuneata) in Wynyard Street (near The Royal Australian Regiment Memorial), Sydney, unveiled by Lady Cutler, wife of the Governor of New South Wales, dedicated by The Very Reverend Lance Shilton 3 October 1978. The seat is now located in the Jessie Street Gardens.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in South Australia is a Lilly Pilly tree (Acmena smithii) and seat with plaque in North Terrace Gardens opposite Stephen Place) Adelaide, unveiled by Mrs Keith Seaman, wife of the Governor of South Australia, dedicated by The Right Reverend Lionel Renfrey 26 November 1978.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in Queensland is a seat near a Leopard tree (Caesalpinia ferrea), adjacent to Anzac Square Brisbane, unveiled by Lady Ramsay, wife of the Governor of Queensland, dedicated by The Reverend Douglas Thomson 16 December 1978.

The Sybil Irving Memorial in the Australian Capital Territory is located in the Commonwealth Park Gardens (near tunnel under Parkes Way) Canberra, seats under a Wisteria covered pergola, and plaque set in boulder, overlooking Lake Burley Griffin, unveiled by Her Excellency Lady Cowen, wife of the Governor-General of Australia, dedicated by Canon John Falkingham 11 March 1979.

On 6 November 1959 a memorial gateway to the first director of the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) was erected at the entrance to WRAAC School, Georges Heights, Sydney and was opened by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales, Lieutenant General Sir Eric Woodward KCMG, CB, CBE, DSO.

The design chosen for the gates was submitted by an Australian Regular Army (ARA) Sergeant, Juanita Feltham BEM. The design was symbolic of the life and work of Colonel Kathleen Best. The gates were relocated to the Royal Military College, Duntroon and rededicated on 6 November 1994.

The National Portrait Gallery commissioned this woven portrait of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, who is a trustee of the Tapestry Foundation of Victoria. The 1.5 by 1.2 metre tapestry depicts Dame Elisabeth sitting in the garden of her Langwarren home, Cruden Farm. Entitled “A weaver of magic”, it was woven by Merrill Dumbrell at the Victorian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne and hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in the Old Parliament House, Canberra.

A Hybrid Tea rose bred by Kordes (Germany).

The Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Trust was established in 1985 to offer support for students in the field of deafness education.

This scholarship is administered by “Taralye”, an oral language centre for deaf children (Blackburn, Victoria), and is open to educational and health professionals wishing to undertake postgraduate studies in the field of deafness at Graduate Diploma, Masters or PhD level in the State of Victoria.

In 1966, the first building established in the National Botanic Gardens was named in honour of Ellis Rowan, a wildflower painter. At that time it accommodated the original administration offices and the Herbarium. Later the horticultural research laboratory was added. It now houses the National Plant Photographic Index; the display, interpretive and public relations units of the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG); the Fauna of Australia unit of Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), together with their graphics and illustration studio. The Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC) also have their offices there.

The Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden was established by the women of South Australia as a tribute to the pioneer women of the state in 1941. The garden was designed by landscape designer Elsie Cornish and the statue created by Ola Cohn was unveiled by Lady Muriel Barclay-Harvey on the 19 April 1941. The Memorial Garden was paid for by the Women’s Centenary Council of South Australia.