The Australian Women's Register

Nicole Lawder first entered the ACT Legislative Assembly in 2013, representing Canberra Liberals in the electorate of Brindabella in the Tuggeranong region. She was re-elected in 2016 and in 2020 and will retire from the Assembly at the 2024 election. Prior to her parliamentary service Lawder worked in the public service and as chief executive of the community organisations, Deafness Forum of Australia and Homelessness Australia.

Leanne Castley has been the Liberal Party Member for Yerrabi since October 2020, and is the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in the ACT Legislative Assembly. She is the Shadow Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Business, Families, Youth and Community Services, and Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, and the Assistant Shadow Minister for Women, Environment, Heritage and Water. Leanne is also a country music singer who recorded an album, Perfect Day, in 2007.

Robyn Henderson is a feminist activist, former politician and public sector manager who has devoted many years to reducing inequalities in Australian society through her work in both non-government and government agencies. She was elected to the ACT House of Assembly in 1979, serving until 1985, and was very active in the development of abortion counselling, family planning and women’s refuge services in the ACT. She has worked in many areas of social policy and public administration in the NSW State and Commonwealth governments, and on aid projects in Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.

Bev Cains was a member of the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly representing the Family Team for the electorate of Fraser 1979–1986. After self-government, she was unsuccessful in the 1987 election for the Federal seat of Canberra.  She also stood unsuccessfully for the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1989 and 1992. During her political career she was an ardent advocate and activist for conservative values.

Marisa Paterson was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory in 2020, after a career as an academic researcher including as Director of the Centre for Gambling Research at the Australian National University.

Emma Davidson was first elected to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory as a Member for Murrumbidgee in 2020, after a career in software development, social research and advocacy in the community sector. She was appointed a Minister in the Labor-Greens Government, holding portfolios in Mental Health, Population Health, Corrections and Justice Health, and Community Services.

Canberra-born Rachel Stephen-Smith was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory as a Member for Kurrajong in 2016, after a career in public policy across Federal and ACT Governments and non-governmental organisations. She was appointed a Minister in the Labor Government, holding portfolios in Community Service and Social Inclusion, Multicultural Affairs, Government Services, Employment and Workplace Safety, Urban Renewal, Health, Disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, and Children, Youth and Families. She has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from the Australian National University and a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Maryland in the United States.

Rose Andrew was elected an independent member of the sixteenth ACT Advisory Council in September 1961. She served one three-year term during which she supported community development such as proposing a heated swimming pool be built in Canberra. One of two female members of the Council, she did not seek re-election in 1964. Prior to being elected to the ACT Advisory Council she was President of the Canberra branch of the Country Women’s Association of Australia (CWA) in 1959.

Alicia Payne grew up in Canberra, encouraged by her family to develop a strong sense of community service, and began volunteering from an early age. She trained as an economist at the University of Sydney, and worked on economic and social policy, focusing on poverty and inequality, beginning her career at the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling. She joined the Australian Labor Party in 2006 and worked as a political staffer to a senior federal ALP minister, shadow minister and opposition leader before entering politics herself at the 2019 election when she was elected to the seat of Canberra. She was re-elected in 2022.

Pharmacist Liz Grant was a foundation member of the ACT Division of the Australian Liberal Party and was elected a Liberal Party member for the electorate of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) House of Assembly from 1979 to 1982. She maintained an active and prominent role in the Liberal Party for several decades thereafter, as well as close involvement in women’s affairs, health policy and social affairs in the ACT and nationally. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1987, a Life Member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia in 1991, and awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Monash University in 2005.

Elizabeth Lee became Leader of the Opposition in the ACT Legislative Assembly in October 2020. She was first elected to the Assembly in 2016, representing the Canberra Liberals in the electorate of Kurrajong. Lee was the first Asian-Australian to be elected to the Assembly and the first person of Korean heritage to be elected to an Australian parliament. She is the first Asian-Australian to lead a major political party. Before being elected, Lee practised as a lawyer in government and private practice and was a law lecturer at the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. She has also worked as a fitness instructor.

Elizabeth Lee was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2016.

Emeritus Professor Judith Whitworth AC MB, BS, MD, PhD, DSc, FRACP, FAATSE, FAAHMS is an internationally renowned medical researcher in the fields of kidney function and blood pressure. From 1968 to 1991 she worked as physician and nephrologist in hospitals in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney and overseas in Paris and London. In 1997 she was the first woman to be appointed Chief Medical Officer of Australia, and from 1999 to 2009 she served as Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research and Howard Florey professor of Medical Research at the Australian National University (ANU). Whitworth has had an extensive involvement in national organisations and professional bodies over many decades. In honour of her longtime support to women in science the Judith Whitworth Fellowship for Gender Equity was established in 2014, based at the ANU. She was the ACT Australian of the Year for 2004.

Judith Whitworth was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2004.

Born and educated in Athens, Helen Notaras arrived in Australia in 1927 with her maternal uncle and his family. Having worked in her uncle’s butcher’s shop in Sydney, she moved to Canberra in 1933 following her marriage to Harry Notaras. Their Highgate Café served as a focal point for the Canberra community and through the family’s property and development interests, in which she was influential, she contributed to Canberra’s growth and amenity. In 2005, the ACT Honour Walk recognised the Notaras Family for its long-term contribution to the Territory’s commercial and community life.

Helen Notaras was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll as part of the Notaras family inscription on the ACT Honour Walk in 2005.

Helen Musa enrolled in theatre studies at the University of New South Wales in the early 1960s and spent the subsequent twenty years teaching drama at secondary and tertiary level, including in Malaysia, while involving herself in theatrical productions of all sorts. In 1990 she became the editor of Muse, a monthly arts magazine, later becoming the Arts Editor for The Canberra Times and the founder and convenor of the Canberra Critics Circle. In 2015, she received a Medal in the Order of Australia for her service to the performing and visual arts as a critic and magazine editor and, in 2020, she was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll for her advocacy for the visual and performing arts in Canberra and Australia.

Helen Musa was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2020.

Jenni Kemarre Martiniello OAM is an award-winning glass artist, poet, writer and photographer of Arrente, Chinese and Anglo-Celtic descent. Acclaimed for her glass works, she has been actively involved in professional and community education in Canberra throughout her career. Jenni founded the ACT Indigenous Writers Group in 1999. With fellow artist Lyndy Delian, she was instrumental in the foundation of the Indigenous Textile and Glass Artists (ITAG) group. Her advocacy for Indigenous artists, and her role in connecting them with other art organisations was pivotal in helping mitigate barriers due to discrimination against Indigenous Australians. Her leadership and advocacy continued through Kemarre Arts, a social enterprise she founded in 2006. It was the Australian Capital Territory’s first independent Aboriginal-run social enterprise and provided support to fellow Indigenous artists, offering writing and professional development. Through her internationally recognised art practice, creative writing and teaching, Jenni has a been a powerful cultural ambassador, educator, and activist. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the creative and visual arts in 2022.

Jenni Kemarre Martiniello was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2010.

Kerry Reed-Gilbert was an Aboriginal author, editor, educator and activist. A number of books of her poetry were published in her lifetime. She also compiled and contributed to numerous anthologies, and produced non-fiction related to her work as an educator and consultant. Her memoir, The Cherry Picker’s Daughter was published in 2019, shortly after her death. Her friend and fellow Wiradjuri writer, Jeanine Leane described her as ‘the matriarch of First Nations’ Writing in Australia’.

Kerry Reed-Gilbert was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2019.

Meredith Hinchliffe has been involved with the arts in Canberra since 1977 when she joined the Crafts Council of the ACT as its Executive Secretary and then Director. She went on to work in organisations such as the National Campaign for the Arts, Museums Australia, ArtsACT, and the Donald Horne Institute for Cultural Heritage at UC, and has also worked as a freelance arts consultant and exhibitions curator since 1997. Meredith is a specialist on crafts including ceramics, textiles and furniture, and is an approved valuer under the Commonwealth Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. She has written about the arts for numerous arts journals and regularly contributed reviews of crafts and visual arts exhibitions and books to The Canberra Times from 1978 to 2009. Meredith has been a long-time advocate and lobbyist for the arts, and is a significant patron of and donor to arts organisations, especially the Canberra Museum and Gallery. In 2022 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her significant service to the arts.

Meegan Fitzharris was first elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 2014 and served until July 2019 in a range of ministerial roles including Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Minister for Medical and Health Research, Minister for Transport, Minister for City Services, and Minister for Higher Education, Research and Training.

Meegan Fitzharris was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2012.

Professor Zsuzsoka Kecskes is a newborn intensive specialist and academic with research interests in neonatology, especially the neonatal brain, higher education, and patient-centred care. She has held senior positions at the Australian National University, the University of Wollongong and in hospital settings. In 2014 she was awarded the ACT Australian of the Year.

Professor Zsuzsoka Kecskes was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2014.

Leslie Taverner was recognised, together with her husband Owen and son John, for her contribution in managing and conserving the buildings and grounds of Manuka Pool in the Australian Capital Territory from 1955 to 2012 by their inscription on the ACT Honour Walk in 2016.

Leslie Taverner was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2016 following the Taverner family inscription on the ACT Honour Walk.

In her long life since her birth in 1923, Dawn Waterhouse has been a participant in the development of the Canberra community and the city’s evolution as the National Capital from the transfer of the Commonwealth Parliament to Canberra in 1927 to the present day.

Dawn Waterhouse was inscribed on the ACT Honour Walk in 2019.

Tracey Whetnall’s lifelong dedication to making a difference through supporting Aboriginal people was recognised by her inclusion on the ACT Honour Walk in 2020. She had been appointed the first Indigenous Official Visitor to the Alexander Maconochie Centre in 2011 and also conducted many cultural awareness workshops for staff of the Australian Federal Police and ACT Corrective Services.

Tracey Whetnall was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2020.

Described in obituaries as ‘a ruthless battler, hard to beat’, and ‘a fiery champion of the battlers’, Ethel McGuire was a founding member of the Australian Association of Social Workers. She married in 1953 requiring her to resign from her permanent position in the Commonwealth public service, but she returned as a full-time temporary officer by the early 1960s, eventually becoming Assistant Director of the Welfare Branch in the Department of the Interior. Ethel was the driving force in the establishment of social welfare services in Canberra and in 1963 was instrumental in the creation of the ACT Council of Social Service. She played key roles in numerous Catholic voluntary and professional activities including marriage guidance, adoption, the development of the Marymead Child and Family Centre and the formation of Catholic Social Services in Canberra. She was renowned for her formidable advocacy for people, especially children, in need.

Ethel Clarice McGuire was inscribed on the ACT Honour Walk in 2020.

Joan Kellett’s community activism focused on the education and welfare of children in the ACT. In 1977 she established one of Australia’s first after-school programs and a home for the Australian Early Childhood Association in the Majura Primary School, Watson. She served as Chair of the school board at North Ainslie Primary School and on the boards of Lyneham High School and Dickson College. For 30 years from 1984, she was an executive member of the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations. Her dedication to the sport of swimming as an administrator and official, and her contribution to the Canberra community, was recognised by the award of the Order of Australia Medal in 2003.

Joan Kellet was inscribed on the ACT Honour Walk in 2018.

Professor Patricia Easteal AM PhD is an academic, author and advocate, best known for her research, publications and teaching in the area of women and the law.  Her primary research areas are: rape law, domestic violence, sexual harassment, bullying in the workplace, cyber bullying and access to justice for women. She was the Australian Capital Territory’s Australian of the Year for 2010.

Professor Easteal was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2001 and 2010.

Liz Dawson trained and worked as a speech therapist and teacher and her early social activism related to school education. Later in life, she lobbied through the organisation Common Ground to provide permanent, safe and supported homes for the homeless and for low-income families in Canberra. She was nominated as Canberran of the Year and ACT Local Hero in 2012 and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal ‘for her tireless work providing for homeless individuals and their families’ in the Queen’s Birthday honours in 2013.

Liz Dawson was inscribed on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll in 2014.