The Australian Women's Register

Kate Veitch was born in Adelaide in 1955. She left home and school at fifteen and has published, along the way, a non-fiction exploration of parenting, as well as journalism and book reviews for the Sydney Morning Herald and Vogue amongst others. She also produced ‘Their Brilliant Careers’, a series of programs on women writers for Radio National. Kate is based in Melbourne, where her brothers and adult son live, but spends half the year in New York with her partner. Listen, her first novel, was published in 2007

Annie Osborn was a dutiful, Christian wife and daughter and the mother of eight children. As a journalist in Australia she edited the woman’s pages of the Age and the Leader : a weekly journal of news, politics, literature, and art in Melbourne, Victoria. She also edited the children’s page of the Leader using the pseudonym of ‘Cinderella’. Osborn also wrote regularly for the Presbyterian journal, The Messenger, and for the Australian Christian World. Her column in The Messenger was written under the pseudonym of ‘The Minister’s Wife’ and greatly advanced religious journalism in Australia.

Osborn wrote children’s readers that became so popular they were adopted in Australian schools and adapted for radio broadcasts. She left Australia in 1927 when her husband decided to peruse clerical opportunities in North America. While in the United States, Annie Osborn was President of the Mount Vernon Federation of Christian Women.

The daughter of inn-keepers, Jessie Grover dabbled in sericulture before turning to journalism. In 1873 Jessie and her friend Mrs Sara Florentia Bladen-Neill thought that the silk production industry would be a fit one for women, and so formed the Victorian Ladies’ Sericultural Co. Ltd, with Jessie as managing director. The company articles specified that ‘No person but a woman shall be eligible as a Director’. Prominent Melbourne women took up most of the £4 shares. The government made a grant of 600 acres (242.8 ha) of hilly land at Harcourt, near the Mount Alexander diggings, where bluestone buildings were erected and thousands of mulberry trees planted. The surveyor had fixed on the wrong location, however, and the enterprise collapsed after several years of intensive effort.

When her mother died in 1879 she left the bulk of her estate to her daughters. This meant that Jessie and her husband, Harry, were now able to buy a large house at St Kilda and live mainly from their investments. Harry contributed humorous items to Melbourne Punch. Jessie was social editor of the Melbourne Bulletin in 1880-86, and Australian correspondent for the Queen (London). She covered events at Government House, garden parties, charity bazaars and a few scandals in a human and personal style. She wrote under various pseudonyms such as ‘Gladys’, ‘Iris’, ‘Humming Bee’ and ‘Queen Bee’. Her son, Montague continued the journalist tradition she established.

Before she married W.A Holman in 1901, Ada Kidgell had established herself as an intelligent and energetic journalist. By 1896 she was publishing short stories, reviews and political and literary items, using her own name, ‘Marcus Malcolm’ and ‘Nardoo’. As ‘Myee’ she sent ‘Our Sydney letter’ to Melbourne Punch. She was a frequent contributor to the Sydney Mail, Sydney Morning Herald and the Freeman’s Journal. She edited and wrote most of the copy for the Co-operator, a trade journal for rural producers. She continued journalism after marriage, sometimes ghosting items which appeared under her husband’s name. The Labor Party benefited from her ability to place items sympathetic to its programme in the non-Labor press.

Ada Holman’s political views were well formed before her marriage to her New South Wales Labor politician husband. She was republican and a critic of the Constitution, of the South African War and of inequality, whether related to class or sex. She enjoyed writing on these topics, but found that once her husband was installed in the NSW cabinet in 1910, her output was restricted; her short stories continued to appear but little else.

Ada Holman resented both the limitations to her own work consequent on being married to a prominent politician, and the demands on women to conform to notions of middle class femininity that restricted women’s experience to that of only wife and mother. Women would be free, she wrote to Australian author Dowell O’Reilly, when motherhood affected woman’s life ‘only to the same degree as parenthood does a man’.

Educated at the University of Sydney, (she received her B.A. in 1891) Theodosia Wallace tried teaching before she swiftly moved into journalism. Coming from a family of journalists, perhaps this was hardly surprising.

At the age of 20 she wrote a social column for the Melbourne Argus and Australasian as ‘Biddy B.A.’ She also contributed to the Sydney Morning Herald and later joined its staff, writing mainly on temperance and feminist subjects, such as the passing of the Married Women’s Property Act, free kindergartens and changes to the laws on prostitution. The Herald started a weekly feature, ‘A Page for Women’, in September 1905 and Theodosia was appointed editor for the page.

Theodosia Wallace also established a presence in regional newspapers. She wrote syndicated letters for the Orange Leader and a Dubbo newspaper. In the Newcastle Herald, under the pseudonym ‘INO’, her weekly column ‘An Idle Woman’s Diary’ ran from 1920. She was the first head of the Country Press Association’s press-cutting service, working there for about thirty years. She was a founding member of the Society of Women Writers.

Michelle Grattan was the first woman to become editor of an Australian metropolitan daily newspaper. Specialising in political journalism, she has written and edited for many significant Australian newspapers. Her long and distinguished career in journalism began in 1970 at the Melbourne Age, where she enjoyed a stellar career as their political editor. She left that paper (for good!) in 2013. .

Joan Child was the first female member of the Australian Labor Party to be elected to the federal Parliament in the House of Representatives as Member for the seat of Henty in 1974. She lost her seat in the 1975 general election, but regained it in 1980. She became the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1986, holding the position until she resigned in 1989. She remained the only female speaker of the house until October 2012, when Anna Burke was appointed to the position.

Joan Child retired from parliament in 1990 when the seat of Henty was abolished in an electoral redistribution. She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in June 1990.

She died on 23 February 2013 at the age of 91. In a statement from Prime Minister Julia Gillard, on the occasion of her death, Joan Child was remembered as a pioneer and an inspiration. ‘As a confirmed true believer, Joan never forgot who had put her into politics or why. She was a powerful voice for the needs and rights of women, especially working women and women doing it tough.’

Jean Melzer served as an Australian Labor Party Senator for Victoria in the Federal Parliament from 18 May 1974 until 30 June 1981. She was defeated at the 1980 election. In 1984 she stood unsuccessfully for the Senate as a representative of the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

Helen Mayer was elected to the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament of Australia as the Member for Chisholm in Victoria in 1983. A member of the Australian Labor Party she served until 1987 when she was defeated at the General election. She died in 2008.

Olive Zakharov was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia in 1983 as a representative for Victoria. A member of the Australian Labor Party, she served until her death in 1995.

Janet Powell stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Australian Democrats Party in the Legislative Assembly seat of Rodney at the Victorian state election, which was held on 5 May 1979. She was a candidate again at the 1985 state election, when she stood for the Legislative Council province of Central Highlands.

She was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia in 1986 as a representative for Victoria. A member of the Australian Democrats and leader from 1990-1991, she resigned from the party in 1992. She served as an Independent until 1993.

In 2004 she joined the Australian Greens Party and stood as a candidate in the November 2006 Victorian State election for the Eastern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council.

After leaving Parliament, Ms Powell focused on volunteer leadership roles in health, women’s issues and services for the disadvantaged.

Powell passed away in September 2013, survived by four children and one grandchild.

Karen Synon served as a Senator for Victoria in the Parliament of Australia from 13 May 1997 until 30 June 1999. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, she was defeated at the 1998 federal election.

Sophie Mirabella was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia in 2001 as the Member for Indi. A member of the Liberal party of Australia, she was re-elected at the 2004, 2007 and 2010 federal elections. Before her election to Parliament she was a delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention in 1998 and argued strongly against the proposal for Australia to become a republic. She was defeated at the 2013 election.

Catherine King was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia as the Member for Ballarat in 2001. A member of the Australian Labor Party, she was re-elected at the 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 federal elections. She held the ministerial portfolios of Regional Australia, Local Government and Territories before the defeat of the Rudd Labor Government in 2013.

A complete record of her parliamentary service, including a link to her first speech, can be found in the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia (see below).

Lorraine Salmon was a successful businesswoman who worked in public relations and advertising after establishing a career as a script writer for the Australian Broadcasting Commission during the second world war. A longtime member of the Communist Party of Australia, she held the position of secretary of Actors’ Equity for some years. She travelled to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) with her husband, journalist Malcolm Salmon, in the late 1950s. She freelanced and assisted local media outlets to establish a presence, working, for instance, with her husband for the English-language service of Radio Hanoi. On her return from North Vietnam she resumed a business career but continued to pursue her literary interests, regularly reviewing new theatre productions.

An accomplished journalist and local historian, Betty Osborn (then Betty Roberts) was known as the ‘girl reporter’ of the Argus newspaper in the 1950s.

In 1958, Pat Jarrett celebrated 25 years of continuous service with the Herald and Weekly Times. She was the only woman alongside seventeen men on the staff to have served so long.

Alicia Katz was the first female candidate to stand for the Parliament of Victoria. She stood for Barwon as a Labor candidate at the Legislative Assembly election of 26 June 1924, and gained 3,046 votes. She was defeated by the Liberal party candidate, E. Morley, on 6,954 votes.

Angela Booth served in local government while she attempted to gain a seat in the Victorian state parliament. She served as councillor for the Warrandyte Riding of the Doncaster and Templestowe shire from 1926-33. In 1927 she unsuccessfully sought Nationalist endorsement for state parliament before standing in 1929 as an Independent Nationalist candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Brighton in the Victorian state election.

In 1936 she and her husband James, were founding members of the Eugenics Society of Victoria. She served as its vice president.

Florence Rodan, a member of the League of Women Voters and its president from 1961-63, stood for the Victorian parliament three times; in 1945, 1952 and 1955. She stood as an Independent in the Legislative Assembly seat of Borung at the 1945 state election, represented the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly seat of Camberwell in 1952 and the seat of Balwyn in 1955.

Bertha Laidler stood as a candidate for the Communist Party of Australia in the seat of Richmond in the Legislative Assembly at the Victorian state election, which was held in June 1943.

Janet Rice stood as a candidate for the Australian Greens Party in the Legislative Assembly seat of Footscray at the Victorian state election, which was held on 30 November 2002.

Janet was elected to the Parliament of Australia at the 2013 election. Her term began on 1 July 2014.

Jill Redwood stood as a candidate for the Australian Greens Party in the Legislative Council Region of Eastern Victoria at the Victorian state election, which was held on 25 November 2006.

Chris Couzens was elected the Labor Member for Geelong in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at the November 2014 election. She was previously a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Council Region of Western Victoria at the Victorian state election, which was held on 25 November 2006. She was unsuccessful on that occasion.

Mary Jones stood as an Independent candidate in three Victorian state elections, which were held in 1935, 1937 and 1940. She stood in the Legislative Assembly seat of Port Melbourne in 1935 and 1937, and in Caulfield in 1940.

A member of the League of Women Voters, Nola Barber stood as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly seat of Mentone at the Victorian state elections of 1961 and 1967. She was active in local government and became the first female mayor of Chelsea in 1951, after her election as a councillor in 1948. In recognition of her work for the community she was appointed OBE in 1970 and in 2001 was featured in the Centenary of Federation Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

Following a visit to a farm in Gippsland during a period of rehabilitation, Audrey Drechsler developed a lifetime love of farming. Audrey was heavily involved in the CWA as a regional president, but was also a leader in the movement for recognition and support for women’s hands-on involvement in farming, through farmers’ organisations, and the women in agriculture movement. She was a member of the steering committee which organised the 1994 First International Women in Agriculture Conference, and an organiser of the 1997 and 2010 Women on Farms Gatherings. Sharing the movements’ commitment to sustainable agriculture, Audrey has been active in land conservation, occupying, amongst other positions, that of first woman president of the Grassland Society of Victoria. She still farms at Sedgwick, south of Bendigo.

As Audrey Walsh, she stood as a candidate for the Democratic Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly seat of Evelyn at the Victorian state election, which was held in 1967.