The Australian Women's Register

Read more about Anne Philomena O’Brien in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Emily Dorothea Pavy was an advocate for the welfare of factory workers before becoming a lawyer to pursue women’s issues. Known for her dedicated and meticulous work, Pavy was a trailblazer both as a sociologist and a lawyer.

Read more about Emily Dorothea Pavy in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Angela Pippos in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Marian Quartly in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Jill Roe was a distinguished Australian historian and academic who wrote an important biography of the Australian writer Miles Franklin. She published her memoir, Our Fathers Cleared the Bush, about her childhood on the Eyre Peninsula in 2016.

Read more about Jill Roe in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Daisy Rossi in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Vicki-Jo Russell in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Ida Standley in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Maggie Tabberer in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Mary Jane Warnes in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Mavis Wauchope in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Mary Williams-Cooper in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Read more about Angela Woollacott in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.

Marie Florence Whitlock enlisted in 1917 for service overseas in the Australian Army Nursing Service in World War I. She spent the next two years nursing casualties in Egypt. In 1916 she had spent a short time nursing at Duntroon Military College, Canberra.

When Elizabeth Bolton was appointed South Australian Chief Magistrate in 2007, she became the first woman to head a court jurisdiction in the history of South Australia.

After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) majoring in English Literature and then a Master of Arts degree at the University of Adelaide, Elizabeth Bolton subsequently completed a Law degree at the same university before commencing practice as a lawyer in 1985.

After periods as a prosecutor firstly with the state Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and then with the Commonwealth DPP, she was appointed as a magistrate in December 1999. She began with two years sitting in Elizabeth, where she also went on circuit to Tanunda, Clare, Peterborough and Berri. In 2004 she was appointed the regional manager at the Christies Beach Magistrates Court.

She became Chief Magistrate in 2007. This role was changed by legislation to be both Chief Magistrate and a Judge of the S.A. District Court in July 2013.

Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Bolton resigned from the position in July 2015 due to ill health.

Lydia Makiv is a South Australian Magistrate who developed a reputation for expertise in Child Protection Law and in 2010 was appointed a Magistrate in the Adelaide Youth Court. She graduated with an LLB from Adelaide University, LLB (1972-1975) and was awarded a GDLP from the University of South Australia in 1976.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read an essay written by Alan Moss about Lydia Makiv for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project

Karri McMahon began playing hockey as a child, before studying to be a paramedic at Flinders University. As a member of the women’s hockey team, she represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games, the Women’s Hockey World Cup and the Champions Trophy.

Georgina Parker began playing hockey as a child in country South Australia. She went on to study journalism and public relations and, as a member of the women’s hockey team, to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games, the Oceania Cup and the Champions Trophy.

Stephanie Mortan has represented Australia in cycling at both World and Oceania championships.

Jane Claxton was a member of the gold medal-winning Australian women’s hockey team at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Leslie Williams was elected Member for Port Macquarie representing the National Party in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2011. From 2015 she served as Minister for Early Childhood Education, for Aboriginal Affairs and Assistant Minister for Education.

Jenny Leong was elected as the Member for Newtown representing the Greens Party in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2015.

Before her election to the State Parliament she stood unsuccessfully as a Greens candidate for the seat of Sydney in the 2004 and 2007 federal elections.

Raelene Webb QC holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics from the University of Adelaide and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and the High Court of Australia in 1992. In 2004, she was appointed Queen’s Counsel. Prior to her five year appointment on 1 April 2013 by the Attorney General, as President of the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT), Raelene was named as one of the leading native title silks in Australia. She has appeared as lead counsel in many native title and Aboriginal land matters and has advised upon and appeared in the High Court in most land-mark cases on the judicial interpretation and development of native title/Aboriginal land law since the decision of Mabo V Queensland (No 2).

Raelene became a fellow of the Australia Academy of Law in August 2013 and delivered the Annual Richard Cooper Memorial Lecture at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, at the end of September 2013. She was a recipient of the 2014 Law Council of Australia President’s Medal, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the legal profession in Australia.

On receipt of the award, Raelene encouraged other women thinking of taking risks with their careers to be brave.

‘I marvel how it is that a shy country girl coming to the law in mid-life, finds herself here receiving this prestigious award and in the company of so many distinguished lawyers who have themselves contributed so much to the legal profession, both personally and through their work with the Law Council of Australia.

My advice to all who are contemplating scaling the walls of the legal profession, and particularly to women: be courageous, be bold, and above all, be passionate about the law.’

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Raelene Webb for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

Moya Dodd is a lawyer and former international footballer with the Matildas, now making a contribution to sports governance in Australia and internationally. She was named one of World Soccer magazine’s People of the Year in 2013, and listed in the top 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review in 2012 and 2014.

During a long career in the Australian Public Service in the Attorney-General’s Department and in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Joan Sheedy held a number of senior positions responsible for the provision of legal policy advice on, and the development of legislation in the fields of human rights, privacy, copyright and freedom of information. She was involved in the development of many major legislative reforms including the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986, the Privacy Act 1988 (and subsequent reforms in the privacy area), the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000, the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 and the significant Commonwealth FOI reforms of 2009 and 2010. She also represented Australia in negotiations at the United Nations in Geneva and Vienna on human rights, at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva on copyright and at the EU in Brussels on privacy.

Alice Cummins studied law at the University of Adelaide (LL.B., 1928). Admitted to the bar in South Australia (1928) and Western Australia (1930) she never practised. She was a businesswoman and brewer in Kalgoorlie. Death notices also stated that she was the first woman in Australia to take out a wireless transmitter’s license.

Elizabeth Johnston was born in Adelaide on 1 October 1920. She was educated at Woodlands Church of England Girls’ Grammar School at Glenelg. During her student days at Adelaide University she was secretary of the Radical Club and on the editorial staff of On Dit. She was the first female secretary of a trade union in South Australia, the partner in the law firm Johnston & Johnston and the chair of South Australia’s first Sex Discrimination Board. She was an activist and member of the Australian Communist Party and was married to Justice Elliott Johnston QC. She died in 2002.