Politics

Kalgoorlie branch of the Womens Christian Temperance Union, who campaigned strongly for enfranchisement for women. Ca early 1900s. Courtesy of Western Australian Museum.

Kalgoorlie has always been referred to as a 'man's town', yet women were involved in politics from 1899, especially once they were granted the vote.

Federation was a passionately held cause for the overwhelming majority of these t'othersider goldfielders, so it is not surprising that women ran a very active campaign to support it. The Ladies Referendum Committee were instrumental in helping to secure the female vote for Federation, perhaps inspired by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, who campaigned strongly for female enfranchisement. They had a strong branch in the goldfields. Led by women prominent in welfare and community organisations including the Mayor's wife, they campaigned for a 'Yes' vote and for 'Separation for Federation' if it was necessary. On the day, 94% of goldfielders voted in favour, playing the major part in taking Western Australia into the new federation.

Women were also active in the growing labour movement from the arrival of Jean Beadle in 1906. She devoted herself to both labour and women's causes, working to meet 'the real needs of the people'. Her activism drove goldfields labour women until her departure in 1914. Others joined her in labour struggles, notably Florence Stuart who wrote fiery columns promoting socialist, feminist and labour causes in the weekly Westralian Worker under the pseudonym 'Hypatia'. Women remained active in goldfields labour but, with the decline of the fields after 1910 and the rise of the Australian Workers' Union to labour dominance, it became more difficult for women's voices to be heard for some decades.

The first woman in local government was Elaine Long, who became a councillor on the Boulder Council in 1934.

More recently, it wasn't until 1969 when Lorna Mitchell was elected to the Kalgoorlie Council that women became prominent in local government. In 2012, women actively participate at all levels of local politics.