The Australian Women's Register

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Denise Allen was elected as the Member for Benalla in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at a by-election in 2000 after an initial unsuccessful attempt at the 1999 election. She was defeated at the 2002 election. In a change of party membership, she stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the People Power Party in the Legislative Council Region of Northern Victoria at the Victorian state election, which was held on 25 November 2006.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Rosy Buchanan was elected as the Member for Hastings in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria in 2002. She was defeated at the 2006 election.

Sue Arnold is a committed environmentalist. She ran as a member of the Timbarra Clean Water Party for Ballina in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (1999) and was a Democrat candidate in the New South Wales Senate in 1990 and in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Coffs Harbour in 1991.

A once-only candidate in the unwinnable seat of Upper Hunter for the ALP in 1995.

Jennie Birch was a once only candidate for election and is well known in the developing olive oil industry in Australia. She represented the Australian Democrats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Barwon in 1991. She failed to be elected.

A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), Carolyn Hirsh’s parliamentary career began when she was elected as the Member for Wantirna in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria in 1985 after standing for that seat unsuccessfully at the 1982 election. She was re-elected in 1988, but defeated in 1992 when she stood as an ALP candidate for the seat of Knox. In an attempt to move into the federal parliament, she unsuccessfully contested the seat of La Trobe at both the 1996 and 1998 elections. Returning to the state parliament, she was elected as the Member for Silvan in the Legislative Council in 2002. She resigned from the ALP in 2004 and continued in parliament as an Independent until she rejoined the party in November 2005. She did not contest the 2006 state election.

Judy Lambert was a once only candidate for election to the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales when she stood as a Greens candidate in 1999 for the seat of Manly. She has however, been a local government councillor for two terms (Manly Council, 1999-2007) and is an outstanding environmental scientist.

Jillian Skinner, a Liberal Party member, has been a well known and active Member of Parliament for more than twenty years.. However in her first two attempts to enter parliament via the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of North Shore (1984 and 1988) were unsuccessful. Jillian’s luck finally changed in 1994 when she won the seat at the by-election. She was re-elected to the seat in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. Throughout this time Jillian has held the following appointments:
Shadow Minister for Youth Affairs, 1995-1999, 2002-2003.
Shadow Minister for Health, 1995-2003, September 2005 to date.
Shadow Minister for Education and Training 2003-2005.
Shadow Minister for the Arts 2003-2008.
Shadow Minister for School Education April-September 2005.
Minister for Medical Research 2011-2015.
Minister for Health, 2011-

A pioneer for women doctors and a tireless committee-woman, Lucy Gullett was inspired by the success of the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Melbourne to found a hospital run by women for women. The Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children, as it became, opened in 1922. Gullett was also a one-time candidate (Independent) for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of North Sydney in 1932.

Judy Hopwood was successful at her first campaign where she was a Liberal Party candidate in the 2002 New South Wales Legislative Assembly Hornsby by-election. She was re-elected to the seat the following year during the full elections. She was re-elected again in 2007. She retired from Parliament at the 2011 election.

An ALP candidate whose other life as a historian and teacher was distinguished. Judith Mackinolty was a candidate for the Hills Shire Council elections in c.1962 and in the 1973 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for the Hills.

Nelle Rickie was an activist, and a once only candidate. That was for the Communist Party in the elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Botany in 1925. Nelle was an actress prior to 1914 and jointed the Victorian Socialist Party in 1916, becoming a committee member. She was also a member of the Women’s Socialist league and opposed conscription in the 1917 referendum. She was imprisoned in 1918 for flying the red flag. Nelle Rickie became a delegate to the Melbourne Trades Hall Council from the Theatrical Employees’ Union and was a foundation member of the Melbourne branch of the Communist party of Australia. She was also a member of its central executive in 1924. She moved to New South Wales in 1924 and was associated with the Newcastle Trades and Labour Council and the local Workers Club.

Gail Schwarze has run only once for parliament when she ran for the Christian Democrat Party in the 2003 elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Albury. At the time of her campaign, she had lived in Albury for seven years, but was born and educated (Diploma in Counselling and Family Therapy) in Melbourne. She has also lived in New Zealand, and in country Australia at Bathurst. She is married and has two children.

Christine Townend was a passionate woman whose life and talents were devoted to the cause of animal care and liberation. As an Australian Democrats member she contested the following elections: New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Willoughby 1978, 1984; House of Representatives, Grayndler, 1977; Senate, NSW, 1983. In 1988 Christine stood on behalf of the Environment Group in the New South Wales Legislative Council elections.

Matilda Ann Aston (December 11, 1873 – November, 1947), better known as Tilly Aston, was a blind Australian writer and teacher. She founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers (which became the Victorian Braille Library) and then went on to establish the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, assuming the post of secretary.

Tilly’s energy was unbounded and her achievements (along with those of her co-workers) to promote the human rights of vision impaired people were plentiful. They include:

• Successfully lobbying for the world’s first free post system for braille (and later talking) books.
• Gaining free public transport for blind people.
• Achieving the right to vote for blind people.
• Lobbying for the repeal of the bounty system which meant blind people had to pay hefty levies before they could travel interstate
• Gaining Government approval for a pension for all legally blind people.

Heather Henderson is the only daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies and Dame Pattie Menzies. She was influential in the development of Australia’s capital city, Canberra.

Marian Eldridge was an acclaimed short-story writer, novelist and poet, and was instrumental in establishing the ACT Writers Centre. Her legacy is the Marian Eldridge Award to nurture promising women writers.

(This entry is sponsored by generous donation from Christine Foley.)

Dorothy Johnston is an award-winning novelist, poet, short story writer, and author of reviews and literary essays. Her crime writing portrays the darker side of Canberra.

(This entry is sponsored by generous donation from Christine Foley.)

Janet Biddlecombe ran her father’s estate at Golf Hill, Victoria, from his death in 1888 to her own in 1954. She pioneered the breeding of Herefords in Australia. As a pastoralist Janet was remarkably successful, and proceeds from her Hereford Stud went to any number of charitable causes – usually as anonymous donations.

Glenda Hiroko Gauci was the first Asian Australian woman appointed as an ambassador in the Australian diplomatic service.

Judy Pollock was one of Australia’s best track athletes. She represented Australia internationally in the 1960s and early 1970s, at one time holding the world record in 440 yard and 400 and 800 meter events. She ran third (to Betty Cuthbert) at the 1964 Olympic Games in the inaugural running of the women’s 440 yards. Pregnancy prevented her running at Mexico City in 1968, when she was, arguably, at the peak of her performance.

Pollock’s last tilt at Olympic gold happened in 1976 in Montreal. She was outclassed in the 1500 and didn’t proceed past the heats, but her time over 1000 meters (2.38.80) run just prior to the games, in 2006 remains an Australian record.

Debbie Flintoff-King was a hard-working, determined athlete who became an Olympic champion in the gruelling 400 meters hurdles event. She won Commonwealth Gold in 1982 and 1986, spent an intense season competing in Europe in 1987, but is best remembered for her last-stride victory in Seoul in 1988.

Cara Honeychurch is a tenpin bowler who won the World Cup in 1996, the same year she was awarded the title of Bowler of the Year. In 1998, at Kuala Lumpar, she won three gold medals in the sport.

In 1999 she travelled to the United States, where the sport gets national TV coverage and where over 80 tournaments a year are played. In her first year as a professional, Honeychurch headed the season’s averages and was second on the money earning lists. During this season, she bowled two perfect games, one of them on live TV, and in so doing earned herself a $50,000 bonus. In October 1999 she was voted Bowler of the Month by the American bowling media. In 2000, she won the Professional Women’s Bowling Association (United States) Rookie of the Year award.

In October 2006, after a three year break from competition, she won the United States Bowling Congress Women’s Challenge, defeating the 2005 World Ranking Masters champion, Clara Guerrero, in the final.

Daniela Di Toro is a champion wheelchair tennis player who, in 1999, was named the Australian Paralympic Committee Athlete of the Year. She was ranked number one in her sport in 2000.

Di Toro was not born with a disability; she lost the use of her legs in 1988 after a wall collapsed on her while she was participating in a school swimming carnival. She credits her success to a meeting with another wheelchair athlete, basketballer Sandy Blyth, who was a rehabilitation worker at the unit where Di Toro was receiving treatment.

Di Toro is still involved in her sport and works as a youth worker in Melbourne, Australia.

Born Eleanor Hall, Hopman was born at Coogee, New South Wales, and educated at Claremont College, Randwick. As a student she excelled at tennis and music, obtaining her licentiate and teaching diploma at the Royal College of Music, London, but ultimately chose a tennis career. In 1930, Harry Hopman spotted Eleanor and partnered her in the Australian senior mixed doubles, which they won. That year and in 1933, she also won the women’s doubles title.

Eleanor and Harry were married in March 1934. The pair moved to Melbourne and Eleanor became captain of the Victorian interstate team. In 1935, they reached the mixed doubles finals for Wimbledon. In 1936 and 1937 they won the Australian mixed doubles. Eleanor won the Victorian singles in 1938, and the South Australian singles the following year, raising her national ranking to equal first with Emily Westacott.

At the end of her playing career, Eleanor Hopman became a tennis administrator, elected as the first woman councillor of the Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria in 1947. In 1950 she managed Victoria’s Wilson Cup team.

Raised at Albert Park, Melbourne, Beatrice Kerr and her four siblings were taught to swim by their mother, Eliza Sophia. Kerr began her competitive swimming career in Geelong and in Melbourne, at Brighton and Albert Park. In 1905 she won the Australasian amateur championship, and the 100 yards and 120 yards in the Victorian championships, and completed 366 swimming and diving performances at Princes Court, Melbourne. The following year she won forty-three swimming prizes in Western Australia. Kerr’s fastest time for the 100 yards was 1 minute, 21.4 seconds, and for the mile, 27.5 minutes, but she did not hold world records nor did she compete in the Olympic Games.

Following her rival, Annette Kellermann, Kerr travelled to the United Kingdom in 1906. She issued a public challenge to Kellerman that year, but did not receive a response. Kerr began a busy season of performances, appearing in theatrical swimming events. According to Judy Nelson, Kerr was renowned for swimming techniques including the revolving waterwheel, and for her diving displays, as well as for her daring, spangled swimming costumes. She returned to Australia in 1911 and retired from professional swimming the following year when she married Griffith Ellis Williams. The pair had one son and lived at Bondi, Sydney.

Born in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Emily Pelloe was educated at a private school in South Yarra before moving with her family to Western Australia. In 1902 she was married in Perth to Theodore Parker Pelloe, a bank manager. The pair had no children.

A member of the Perth Riding Club, Pelloe competed successfully in equestrian events in Sydney, Melbourne, Launceston and Perth. She made several long rides in New South Wales and Western Australia. In 1916 she turned her talents to the study of botany, and went on to produce a number of illustrated publications including Wildflowers of Western Australia. Some of her landscape watercolours were purchased by government departments.

From 1920, Pelloe was writing the ‘Women’s Interests’ column for the West Australian. She supported the Country Women’s Association, the Women Writers’ Club, and the Women’s Riding Club. A year after her death, Pelloe’s husband Theodore presented 400 of her wildflower paintings to the University of Western Australia.