The Australian Women's Register

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.

Freda Irving began her career in journalism in Melbourne in 1925, working with the Sun News Pictorial in various guises until about 1949 when she joined the Argus. She also edited Woman’s Day and the Australian Women’s Weekly for short periods of time. In 1978-79, she was president of the Melbourne Press Club.

During the war she joined the Australian Women’s Army Service as a private but before long she became Amenities Officer with the rank of captain for the three women’s services ­ Army, Air Force and Navy.

She was awarded an MBE for services to Journalism in 1981.

Born and educated in New Zealand, Stella Allan came to Australia in 1903 when her husband was invited to join the staff of the Melbourne Argus. An intelligent, well spoken woman with a keen interest in women’s affairs, she was a very important figure in the establishment and management of a number of women’s organisations.

In 1907 the Argus commissioned her to write a series of articles on the first Australian Women’s Work Exhibition held in October. They aroused much interest and next year the Argus invited her to join its full-time staff and begin a weekly section on the particular interests of women. She adopted the nom de plume ‘Vesta’ and called the column ‘Women to Women’. Her work was unique in an Australian daily paper at that time. Her pages extended to cover every aspect of women’s affairs, children’s interests and community welfare, and ‘Vesta’ became a household word for authoritative information and advice on such matters. In 1910 she was one of three women foundation members of the Australian Journalists’ Association.

Alice Anderson established the all-female business, Miss Anderson’s Motor Service, in Kew in 1918. The garage offered driving tuition, mechanical check-ups, hire cars, motor tours and chauffeuring.

Barbara Baynton was one of the first Australian short story writers to receive literary recognition abroad. She drew inspiration from her early existence in the harsh Australian bush.

Baynton published Bush Studies in 1902; Human Toll in 1907; and Cobbers in 1917.

Annette Bear-Crawford was born in Collingwood, Melbourne but trained in social work in England. There she became involved in the women’s movement and the National Vigilance Committee. She returned to Melbourne in 1890 and became a leading figure in the women’s movement in Australia, joining the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and forming the Victorian Women’s Suffrage League.

Elsa Chauvel collaborated with her filmmaker husband, Charles Chauvel, on a number of feature films including Uncivilized (1936), Forty Thousand Horsemen (1941), Sons of Matthew (1949), Jedda (1955) and Heritage (1935).

Irene Crespin was a micropalaeontologist. After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1919, she worked for the Geological Survey of Victoria, describing macro and micro-fossils found in sediment on the Mornington Peninsula. In 1927 she was appointed assistant palaeontologist to Frederick Chapman in the Geological Branch of the Department of Home Affairs. In 1936 she succeeded him as Commonwealth palaeontologist at half his salary and was located in Canberra.

Ruby Davy was the first Australian woman to receive a doctorate in music and to become a fellow of Trinity College of Music, London. Among her many compositions was Australia, Fair and Free, performed in Melbourne and Adelaide in 1934. With Issy Spivakovsky, she established the Davy Conservatorium of Music in her home at South Yarra.

The journal of Annie Dawbin opens in September 1834 when its author, then a 17-year-old bride, is voyaging to Australia with her new husband, Lieutenant Andrew Baxter. Over the course of her life – during which she had two marriages; worked on the land; voyaged to and from Australia several times; and raised her brother’s children after the death of his wife – Dawbin filled no less than 32 journals. Her complete diaries were edited by Lucy Frost and published in 1997.

Henrietta Dugdale was a pioneer of the women’s movement and a firm believer in equality of the sexes. She was a member of the Eclectic Society and the Australasian Secular Association, and president of the first Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society. Her booklet, A Few Hours in a Far Off Age, was published in 1883 and dedicated to George Higinbotham.

After the death of her first husband, Henrietta married William Dugdale and had three children. Her third marriage was to Frederick Johnson, about 1905.

A graduate of the University of Melbourne with a reputation as an outstanding mathematics teacher, Julia Flynn was appointed inspector of secondary schools in 1914. She became a senior inspector in the Victorian Department of Education in 1924, and in 1937 was appointed chief inspector of schools. Flynn was a devoted Catholic and a feminist reformer.

After searching out the best merino flocks in Germany, Eliza Forlong travelled with her husband and two sons to Launceston, arriving in 1831. Eliza managed their property, ‘Kenilworth’, while her husband maintained business interests in a nearby flour mill and sheep run. After the death of her husband, Eliza moved to Port Phillip and lived with her son William at his station, Seven Creeks, in Euroa.

Mary Fullerton was involved with the Victorian Socialist Party and Women’s Political Association, and was active in the suffrage movement in Australia. She wrote stories and poems for newspapers, sometimes using the pseudonyms of Alpenstock and Austeal. In 1922 she moved to England, where she developed a strong friendship with the author Miles Franklin. Over the course of her life, Fullerton published several novels and volumes of poetry. Her novel Two Women (written under a pseudonym) won a prize when it was published in 1923. Her childhood memoir, Bark House Days, was published in 1921, and reprinted twice.

Gertrude Halley was a founder and treasurer of the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women. An eye and ear specialist, she was an honorary surgeon at the hospital. In 1913 she established the medical branch of the Education Department in South Australia.

Catherine Henrys was sentenced to transportation for life and arrived in Hobart on the Arab on 25 April 1836. In 1841 she broke free from assigned service and lived in the bush dressed as a man and working as a timber splitter. Upon re-conviction in 1848, she escaped from the female factory but was recaptured. She was granted a conditional pardon in 1850. Various of her exploits were outlined in The Launceston Examiner.

Christian Brynhild Ochiltree Jollie-Smith studied law at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1911. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor by the Supreme Court of Victoria on 1 October 1912. She practiced as a solicitor in Melbourne from 1914, was appointed professional assistant in the Crown Solicitor’s Office, Melbourne.

Jollie-Smith was a foundation committee-member of the Communist Party of Australia. A socialist and member of the Communist Party, Jollie-Smith published the Australian Communist journal. Her own work, The Japanese Labour Movement, was published in 1919. After moving to Sydney, Jollie-Smith established her own successful legal practice. In 1924 she became the second woman admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales. Jollie-Smith mainly dealt with political and industrial cases, and championed the working class. She was often employed by trade unions, or by those engaged in anti-eviction disputes during the depression years. Jollie-Smith regularly contributed to the Communist publication, Workers’ Weekly, and to Tribune.

Margaret Kiddle graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BA (1937), a Diploma of Education (1938), and an MA (1947). She joined the History Department at the University as a tutor and lecturer during wartime, and remained there until her death in 1958.

Moving around parts of the Northern Territory while her husband worked in the diamond mines, Jessie Litchfield raised her family and worked as a journalist. She published Far North Memories in 1930. After the death of her husband, she worked as editor of the Northern Territory Times and Government Gazette. In 1955 she became the first woman in the Territory to be appointed a justice of the peace.