The Australian Women's Register

Anne Levy was the first woman to preside in any house of any Parliament in Australia. She was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in 1975 where she remained until 1997. In 1986 she became the President of the Legislative Council – the first woman to be a Presiding Officer of a House of Parliament in Australia. She held various Ministerial positions between 1989-1993, including first ever Minister for the Status of Women in Australia.

In 1976 Joan Freeman became the first woman to be awarded the British Institute of Physics’ Rutherford Medal. She began her career at CSIR Radiophysics Laboratory during World War II, working on the production of a 10cm microwave radar set, and spent most of her working life at the British Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell.

Georgiana Molloy emigrated to Western Australia from England in 1830 and settled in Augusta. She collected and despatched seeds of local native plants to J. Mangles FRS who passed them to collectors in the UK. She was known for her detailed botanical descriptions.

Carol Anne Martin was the first Indigenous women to be elected to an Australian Parliament. In 2001, she was elected MLA (ALP) for the Western Australian seat of Kimberley.

Lawrence became Australia’s first woman State Premier (WA) on 12 February 1990. She began her parliamentary career by winning the seat of Subiaco for the Australian Labor Party in 1986.
She entered Federal politics on 12 March 1994, as the Member for Fremantle, and was appointed Minister for Human Services and Health and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women on 25 March 1994 until 11 March 1996. On 23 November 2001, Lawrence was appointed Shadow Minister for Reconciliation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, the Arts, and the Status of Women.

Lawrence is a supporter of numerous organisations and is Patron of the Western Australia Netball Association and a Foundation Committee Member of EMILY’S List.

She retired from the Australian Parliament at the 2007 general election, which was held in November 2007.

In the Queen’s Birthday list (8 June 1968) Dorothy Tangney became the first Western Australian born woman to be appointed Dames Commander of the British Empire for services to the Western Australia Parliament. She was a senator for Western Australia in the Senate of the Australian Parliament from 1943 until she retired in 1968.

Elected in 2001, Margetts is a member for the Agricultural Region, in the Legislative Council of Western Australia(WA), representing the Australian Greens Western Australia Party. From 1993-1999 she was a Senator (The Australian Greens) for WA in Federal Parliament.

Prior to commencing her parliamentary career Margetts was a lobbyist and state co-ordinator for the People for Nuclear Disarmament (1988-1991).

Margaret Forrest was one of Australia’s early botanical artists, and the wife of Western Australia’s first Premier. She was born Margaret Elvire Hamersley in 1844, to Edward Hamersley and his French wife Anne Louise (Cornelis). They left London with their two young sons aboard the Shepherd, and arrived at Fremantle in 1837. Edward quickly acquired land around Perth and Fremantle, and became involved in viticulture and horse breeding. In 1843 the family made the first of two voyages back to Europe, and on this first extended sojourn, Margaret was born at La Havre, France, in October 1844. The Hamersley’s returned to the Swan River colony in 1850.

From an early age, Margaret Hamersley showed enthusiasm for watercolour painting, spending much time studying and sketching wildflowers. She later travelled on sketching trips with other noted botanical artists Marianne North and Rowan Ellis. She married John Forrest on 29 February, 1876 at St. George’s Cathedral, Perth, and became heavily involved in political life, accompanying her husband on overseas and interstate trips. Lady Forrest was an active member of Western Australia’s first society for artists and exhibited six wildflower watercolours in the Wilgie First Annual Exhibition of Paintings in 1890. She was a founding member of the Western Australia Society of Arts and the Karrakatta Club which was organised to broaden women’s outlook by bringing them in contact with the fine arts. After her death in 1929, her collection was bequeathed to the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1933.

Source: http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/forrest-margaret.html [accessed 15/03/2002] and Australian Garden History, vol. 7, no. 6, May/June 1996, p.12.

Shirley Randell is an award-winning global mentor, educator, trainer, author, company director, public speaker, change activist, ambassador, patron, and campaigner for human rights. She is a long-time activist for gender equality and women’s empowerment in education, employment, public service and civil society in Australia, the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

Candy Broad was elected Member of the Legislative Council representing the Australian Labor Party for the Melbourne North Province at a by-election in 1999. She was appointed Minister for Energy and Resources, Ports in 1999 and was Minister for Housing and Local Government from 2002-2006 in the Labor Government. At the 2006 election, which was held in 25 November she was elected to the new Legislative Council Region of Northern Victoria and was re-elected in 2010, when the Labor government was defeated. She resigned from parliament on 9 May 2014.

Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of the 1942 Banka Island massacre. Post-war, she was Matron of Melbourne’s Fairfield Hospital.

Sally Carlton was superintendent in Western Australia of the Australian Women’s Land Army during the Second World War.

Born in Perth, she attended Perth College and became a ‘Girl Friday.’ Later she joined the West Australian newspaper and was in charge of the file room. Here she hand indexed all news in the papers each day. After a failed marriage Carlton worked as the organising secretary with the Lady Gowrie Child Centre (Perth) in 1942. She responded to a newspaper advertisement seeking a person to organise the recruiting of women for the Western Australian Land Army. Involved with the Girl Guide movement, Carlton had conducted training sessions for the Women’s Australian National Services (WANS) officers. Initially supervisor she was later titled State Superintendent.

After the war, Carlton worked at the Princess Margaret Children’s Hospital as a social worker. As she wasn’t qualified she completed mature age matriculation and then tertiary studies at the universities of Western Australia and South Australia, while working full-time.

On 31 December 1960, Sally Carlton was awarded the Order of the British Empire – Member (Civil) for service to the Girl Guides Association in Western Australia.

Originally a ballerina in Perth, Western Australia, Joan Dowson served throughout World War II as a nurse. She continued her association with the Australian Red Cross throughout her life.

Major Hilda Florence Meyer was appointed Assistant Controller Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) Land Headquarters (L.H.Q) and she served in this capacity from November 1942 until August 1944. She attended the third Australian Women’s Services Administrative School in Melbourne, which was established in 1943, to gain advanced training in Army organisation and administration. Courses were held at the school between October 1943 and July 1945. Major Meyer was appointed Deputy Assistant Controller AAMWS Headquarters, Western Command, to administer the movement and placement of AAMWS in Western Australian medical units between 1944 and 1945.

Source used to compile this entry: From Blue to Khaki by Betty Mount-Batten p. 48

Before enlisting in the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) in 1960, June Healy was a member of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corp. She attended the 9/60 Officer Cadet Course (OCS) and was then posted as Adjutant/Quartermaster at 31 WRAAC Barrack Melbourne and in 1962 to WRAAC School as Adjutant (CMF).

After her marriage to Major John Healy in 1963, June held an assortment of positions, usually in the area of training and office management, wherever her husband was posted. Also she worked as a volunteer on numerous Army Wives Committees and helped in setting up the first Thrift Shop at the Canungra Land Welfare Centre to assist in the funding of the local Girl Guides. In 1978 Healy became a member of the WRAAC Association and served as the State vice-president and president of the ACT Association. From 1995 until 1999 she was National president. From 1981 Healy was a foundation member of the Defence Widows Support Group. This group assists defence widows whose husbands were not killed during war service, did not die of war caused disabilities and therefore do not qualify for a War Widows’ Pension. On 11 June 1990 June Healy was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to veterans. In 1994 she became a member of the War Widows’ Guild of Australia (ACT) and was State president from 1995 to 1998 and National president from 1998 to 2002.

In October 2002 June Healy joined the Australian Women in War Project representing the War Widows’ Guild of Australia.

On 17 March 1946, Wing Officer Audrey Herring was appointed to the position of Staff Officer in the Directorate of Personal Services Women’s Auxiliary Australian Airforce (WAAAF). Previously the Deputy Director WAAAF since 17 November 1943, in this new appointment Herring became responsible for all WAAAF matters.

Prior to joining the WAAAF, Herring worked as a journalist at the Courier Mail in Brisbane and also wrote for Women’s Weekly before she worked on Fleet Street, London, in 1937. Following the outbreak of the World War II she returned to Brisbane and became a Red Cross volunteer, at times cooking breakfasts for servicemen on leave.

After joining the WAAAF, Herring completed the No 1 administrative course at Methodist Ladies College, Kew. During her time in the Service she was promoted through the ranks and before being discharged was effectively in charge of the organisation.

In 1947 Herring was recruited by Sir Keith Murdoch to become the women’s editor for the Herald and Weekly Times. She left the company in March 1948 to marry Dr John Craig and the couple moved to Western Australia.

In Perth Audrey Craig became involved with community services. She was a member of the Western Australian branch of the Save the Children Fund and sponsored children from destitute backgrounds for 35 years. Also she was a board member of the Western Australian Hospital Benefits Fund for 15 years as well as being a friend of the Royal Perth Hospital for 25 years and a financial supporter of the Bible Society of Australia.

Audrey Craig died on 11 May 1994 in Western Australia.

A foundation staff member of the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now University of Canberra), Elsie Solly was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia. On 26 January 1983 she received the award for service to education, particularly in the field of secretarial studies. In 1977 she was awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal. President of the Australian Women’s Army Service Association (Western Australia) Inc., Solly was on the original committee of the Association when established in 1947. Solly was also president of the Association of Academic Staff during her term with the Canberra College of Advanced Education. In 2003 Elsie Solly was awarded a Centenary of Federation medal for services to the veterans’ community.

Alice Corry was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1987 for services to ex-servicemen and women. She joined the Australian Women’s Army Service on 27 August 1942, aged 16. Following completion of the recruiting course she transferred to Victoria and served at Land Headquarters as a signalwoman. At the time of her discharge on 12 March 1946 she had obtained the rank of Corporal. In 1947 she married Mervyn J Corry in Perth. At the Annual General Meeting in 1969, Corry was elected President of the Australian Women’s Army Service Association (WA), a post she held for 29 years. Honoured with being chosen to unveil the Western Australian memorial to Sybil Irving she was also the first Life Member of the Association in 1974. Corry was also involved with her church, her husband’s Corvettes’ Association, the Red Cross and the Braille Society.

Roberta Jull was the first woman to establish a medical practice in Perth in 1897. She became active in social welfare, public health and politics. In 1918 Jull became the first Medical Officer of Schools in the Western Australian Public Health Department and took a leading part in the infant health movement.

The daughter of Dr Roberta and Martin Jull, Henrietta Drake-Brockman married the then Commissioner for the far north west of Australia, Geoffrey Drake-Brockman on 3 August 1921. While in the north west she wrote articles for the West Australia under the pseudonym ‘Henry Drake’. The author of Men Without Wives, which won the Australian Sesquicentenary prize, Drake-Brockman also wrote for the theatre, and was co-editor, with Walter Murdoch, of Australian Short Stories. On 1 January 1967 Henrietta Drake-Brockman was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to Australian literature.

After being exposed to ‘sweated labour’ conditions while working in the Melbourne clothing industry during the 1880s, Jean Beadle was inspired to dedicate her life to the betterment of conditions for women and children. Known as the ‘The Grand Old Lady of the Labor Party,’ she was a founding member of the Women’s Political and Social Crusade and the Labor Women’s Organization in Victoria (1898), Fremantle (1905) and Goldfields (1906). She was also a delegate to the Eastern Goldfields District Council of the State Australian Labor Party. Beadle was one of the first women appointed as a Justice of the Peace in Western Australia, sitting for many years on the Married Women’s Court. She was later appointed to serve as an honorary Justice on the bench of the Children’s Courts. An official visitor to the women’s section of the Fremantle Prison, Beadle also was instrumental in the building of the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women. She was secretary, of the King Edward Memorial Hospital Advisory Board, from 1921 until her death. In recognition of her dedicated service the hospital annually awards a Jean Beadle scholarship.

After serving with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAF) during the Second World War, Elizabeth Backhouse worked as a scriptwriter with Korda Films in England. Backhouse returned to Australia in 1951. She was a writer of novels, children’s stories, plays, filmscripts, a ballet and a musical.

Born in Bridgetown, Western Australia, Alice Wheatley was educated at Perth College. She undertook her nursing training at the Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia and the Queen Victoria Hospital, Victoria. In 1941 Wheatley enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS). On 10 March 1944 she was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal Second Class for her work in charge of the first nursing party of the RAAFNS in New Guinea. In 1946 Wheatley represented the RAAFNS in the Victory Contingent to England. From 1946 until 1951 she held the position of Matron-in-Chief. On 1 January 1951 Wheatley was appointed an Officer of the British Empire in recognition of her service with the RAAFNS.

Ivy Kent, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Woods, was educated at Iona Convent (New South Wales) and Mosman’s Park in Western Australia. Kent, who was a leader in the Labour Women’s Movement of Western Australia, a worker in youth welfare and an officer of the Housewives Association, established a club for neglected girls during World War I. She served on the Married Women’s Relief Court for 20 years and was a member of the Lotteries Commission, the Adult Education Board, the National Fitness Executive and Soldiers’ Dependants’ Appeal. In 1944 Kent became the first woman commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (representing Western Australia). In 1953 Kent was elected Foundation President of the Association of Civilian Widows in Western Australia, a movement which became national five years later. In 1959 she was elected National President, and later, National Life Governor. On 1 January 1968 Ivy Kent was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to the welfare of women and children.

Former primary school teacher Barbara MacLeod joined the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service in 1954. During her service she served in every Australian state except Western Australia. In 1976 MacLeod became the first woman officer of any service to attend the Australian Administrative Staff College (AASC). Three years later she was the first woman naval officer of Captain’s rank to be posted to a male Captain’s position. In 1982 MacLeod became an Honorary Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to Queen Elizabeth. She was the first Australian woman to be appointed as an ADC, a post which had to be relinquished on her retirement. On 9 June 1975 Naval Officer Barbara MacLeod became a Member of the Order of Australia. She was also awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal (1977) and the National Medal (1977) and Bar (1979).

Joan Williams was a prominent member of the Western Australian branch of the Communist Party of Australia. She was politically active from the 1920s, but began her career in journalism as a young woman already imbued with a strong political consciousness. The networks fostered through her membership in an elite group of Western Australian left-wing radicals were critical to the foundation of numerous Western Australian women’s and peace organisations. Under the pen name Justina Williams she wrote short stories, historical works, poems, biography and her autobiography Anger and Love. She was awarded the Order of Australia Medal accepting it on behalf of her “unrecognized sisters who serve the community”.

A tireless campaigner and activist for over fifty years, Irene Adelaide Greenwood’s interests in feminism and the peace movement were formed through her mother Mary Driver’s involvement with the Women’s Services Guild. The achievements of Greenwood’s life’s work are considerable and her commitment and energy was recognized in the many awards bestowed on her. These include Member of the Order of Australia, the first woman to receive an Honorary Doctorate at Murdoch University, recognition as the strategist behind the implementation of the Chair in Peace Studies at Murdoch University, the United Nations Association of Australia Silver Peace Medal and honorary life membership, Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal, appointment to the National Advisory Committee on Women’s Affairs in 1974 and the naming of the flagship of the State ship’s fleet M.V. Irene Greenwood in her honour. Greenwood was also a life or honorary member of many key international, national and state peace and women’s organizations.