The Australian Women's Register

Sarah Plumb was the eldest daughter in a family of seven children, brought up in inner city Sydney, New South Wales, at the turn of the twentieth century. A conscientious student, a caring individual and a competent teacher, she trained to be a nurse at the Coast Hospital (later Prince Henry’s) in Sydney, after having a conversion experience through her connection with St David’s church in Surry Hills. Here she developed an active Christian ministry amongst the nurses. She was accepted for training at the Church Missionary Society home in Melbourne, but was not able to complete service as a missionary for health reasons. She continued to nurse in New South Wales instead.

In 1922 she was appointed the first organising secretary of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Nurses’ Christian Movement (ANCM) serving until her retirement in 1947, and then as vice-president until her death in 1962. In this role, she provided advice and guidance to many women undertaking nursing training in Sydney, running Bible classes and challenging any lowering of Christian standards in the nurses she advised.

During the Second World War, she was placed in charge of the Church of England National Emergency Fund (CENEF) hut in the grounds of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney. In this role, she offered nurses in the services friendship, food and accommodation.

Sarah Plumb was a skilled administrator, teacher and leader who combined these skills with a Christian commitment, and made a difference to the lives of a significant number of trainee nurses.

Lady Elizabeth Renwick and her husband, physician and politician Sir Arthur Renwick, were prominent in the nineteenth century evangelical reform movement in Sydney, New South Wales. They shared membership and often leadership of many of Sydney’s major charitable institutions, especially those relating to the needs of women and children. Their interests included the Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, the State Children’s Relief Board, the Children’s Hospital, the Child Studies Association, the Australasian Trained Nurses Association and the Ladies’ Sanitary Society, to name only a few.

Lady Renwick’s charitable and evangelical work was undertaken through her involvement in the Sydney Female Mission Home, the Sydney City Mission and as president of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). She also served as a vice-president of the National Council of Women in New South Wales. A member of the Womanhood Suffrage League of NSW, she supported suffrage for women as a means of promoting evangelical values. She served as vice president of Sydney University’s Women’s Society while her husband was prominent in university affairs.

Grace Sydney Vaughan served in the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1974 to 1980. She drew on her extensive experience as a community and social worker to campaign on issues concerned with poverty, unemployment and welfare.

Margaret Olley is known as one of Australia’s most prized interior and still life painters. She first came to public attention as the subject of Sir William Dobell’s winning Archibald portrait in 1948. These days she is regarded as an Australian national treasure. In 1997 her work was the subject of a major retrospective organized by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Pamela Anne Beggs joined the Australian Labor Party in 1977 and sat in the Parliament of Western Australia as member for Whitfords from 1983 to 1993.

Fanny Elizabeth Hunt was the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney, graduating in 1888. She was appointed as first headmistress of Ipswich Girls Grammar School in 1892. Fanny Hunt was in charge of the school from its opening in 1892 until 1901, when she resigned because of ill-health. Her family had relocated to Toowoomba and after a restorative holiday Fanny Hunt founded Girton College in Toowoomba in about 1905. In 1915 the family moved to Sydney and settled at Rose Bay. Fanny Hunt died in Sydney in 1941.

Gertrude Concannon was a highly successful Australian-trained lyric soprano. Later in her life she contributed to Australian music with equal significance through her teaching, composition, and encouragement of younger musicians.

After marrying John Hubert Fraser Fairfax in 1899, Ruth Fairfax and her husband moved to Longreach, and then later Marinya, in Queensland. She was heavily involved in her local community teaching at the Sunday school, whilst also supporting the Bush Brotherhood and other Anglican organisations. She was awarded the Belgian Medal ‘de la Reine Elizabeth’ for her local efforts during the First World War. At a meeting in Albert Hall, Brisbane, in August 1922, Fairfax was appointed the first State President of the Queensland Country Women’s Association.

Patience Rosemary Thoms was elected as the eighth president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women at the Eleventh International Congress (1968) in London, England and held that position until 1971. She was the first International President from Australia, and also the first from the Southern Hemisphere. She had previously served as Australian President from 1960-1964. She was the Women’s News Editor of The Courier Mail for twenty years from 1956.

Louisa Ardill was matron-superintendent of the Home of Hope for Fallen Women (later the South Sydney Women’s Hospital) in New South Wales.

Born in Gorton, Lancashire, England, Doris Bardsley came to live in the Brisbane area of Queensland prior to World War 1. Trained at the Diamantina Hospital for Chronic Diseases, she completed her midwifery certificate in Melbourne before returning to Queensland (Qld) to serve as matron at St Denis’s Hospital in Toowoomba. In October of 1923, Bardsley joined the staff of the maternal and Child Welfare Service, devoting the rest of her life to the expansion of child-welfare services, as well as the improved education and training of ante-natal nurses.

Women’s Action Against Global Violence (WAAGV) was formed in Sydney in the early 1980s, as an organisation that aimed to support “women and children of all races and cultures in their struggle against violence and oppression”. WAAGV was distinctly anti-nuclear, citing the nuclear arms race and its direct link to uranium mining, as well as the desecration of Australian Aboriginal land, the endangerment of workers’ health and environmental instability as the basis for the group’s opposition to uranium mining.

WAAGV organised and supported numerous protests and events, including the Pine Gap Peace Camp, 1983, an all women’s peace camp at Lucas Heights, women’s only dances and a ‘Die-In’, a peaceful action that was intended as a symbolic representation of nuclear attack. The group felt that it was necessary to retain a women only composition as it provided an environment where women could speak out, enabling a correction of a gender imbalance that was identified within the decision making process in other groups.

They had strong links to other women’s peace groups including Feminist Anti-Nuclear Group (FANG) and Women Against Nuclear Energy (WANE) in Adelaide.

Deborah McCulloch was an English teacher and later a lecturer at Salisbury CAE. She had became involved in the women’s movement in 1971. She was a member of Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) when it started in South Australia. She was appointed as the first Women’s Adviser to the Premier of South Australia in 1976 by Don Dunstan.

Kathleen Nowland began work as Staff Nurse at the No.4 Australian General Hospital (Prince of Wales) in June 1919. In 1924 she was appointed Staff Nurse at the Repatriation General Hospital, “Rosemount”, Windsor, Queensland and was later promoted to the position of Senior Sister. Other positions held by her included Matron, Repatriation Sanatorium, Edward Millen Home, Western Australia (1938-1942); Matron, Lady Davidson Home, Turramurra (1942-1948); Matron, Prince of Wales Hospital (1948-1950) and Matron, Repatriation Sanatorium, Lady Davidson Home (1950-1954). She was awarded the Imperial Service Medal in recognition of her work as Matron, Lady Davidson Repatriation Hospital, 1 March 1955. She died on her 92nd birthday.

Elsie Dalyell was born on 13 December 1881, the second daughter of James Melville and Jean (née McGregor) Dalyell. After being educated at Sydney Girl’s High School, in 1897 she became a pupil-teacher with the Department of Public Instruction. In 1904, sponsored by the department, Elsie Dalyell commenced an arts and science degree at the University of Sydney. She resigned as a teacher in 1905 and transferred to second year medicine. After graduating with first-class honours, Elsie Dalyell became a medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Hazel Claire Weekes (Claire), zoologist and physician, was born on 11 April 1903 at Paddington, Sydney, eldest of four children of Sydney-born parents Ralph Weekes, musician, and his wife Fanny Florence, née Newland. A brilliant student, she was the first woman to receive a doctorate of science from the University of Sydney. She was a Macleay fellow of the Linnean Society of New South Wales in 1927-29 and 1932-34.

Weekes was well known abroad, particularly for her major contributions in the field of psychiatry. Applying kindness, understanding and common sense to the treatment of neuroses, she was always available to her patients. In demand as a public speaker on anxiety, she broadcast on radio and appeared on television while in England. Her methods, which involved accepting symptoms and ‘floating’, were more highly regarded by her patients than by her colleagues, but many of them are now incorporated into the management of anxiety.

Jean Watson was awarded a British Empire Medal (The Order of the British Empire, Civil) for service to the community on the Queen’s Birthday List, 1979. Watson was a member of the Society of Australian Genealogists for 35 years, refusing any sort of remuneration for her voluntary service. She worked in various capacities, including honorary secretary for 15 years and later, council vice-president and vice-patron. Watson was also employed for 38 years at the Royal Exchange Assurance Company, beginning as a typist and retiring as head of personnel. She participated in the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Sydney, and was a member of the Royal Australian Historical Society, The National Trust (New South Wales), the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Garden Club of Australia.

Minard Crommelin, generally known as “Crommy”, was educated at Sydney Church of England Girls’ Grammar School at Darlinghurst. She began work at fourteen as an unpaid assistant to the postmistress at Mittagong and eventually became an official member of the Postal Service. She worked as a postmistress for over 25 years and was one of the early operators of the “Morse Telegraph Key”. She was the first postmistress at Woy Woy (1906-1910) and it was during this period that she grew to love the bush of the New South Wales central coast area. After her retirement in the mid 1930s she visited England and Europe, contacting many conservation and natural history societies (she was a member of 154 of them). On her return to Australia she bought seven acres of land at Pearl Beach, which she donated to the University of Sydney in 1946 to establish the Crommelin Biological Field Station, known as Warrah. She continued to be interested and active in nature conservation and from 1960 onwards donated a total of $17,768 to the Australian Academy of Science, some of which still exists as the Crommelin Conservation Fund. A road in Campbelltown has been named in her honour. She was appointed MBE – Member of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) – 1 January 1959 for flora and fauna.

Marilyn Jones has been described as ‘the greatest classical dancer Australia has produced’. She studied at the London Royal Ballet School and danced with the Royal Ballet from 1957-1958 before joining the Australian Ballet on its formation in 1962. In 1963 she married fellow principal dancer Garth Welch and they had two sons, Stanton and Damien, who also became dancers. She danced with the Australian Ballet until 1978, when she took up the position of artistic director of the Company from 1979 until 1982. In 1991 she founded the Australian Institute of Classical Dance and became its artistic director. Other appointments have included director of the National Theatre Youth Ballet from 1996-1998 and director of the National Theatre Ballet School, Melbourne, from 1995-1998. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1972 for her services to Australian ballet.

Kathleen Gorham began her classical dancing career with the Borovansky Ballet at the age of fifteen, retaining her association with the Ballet until it finally disbanded in 1960 on the death of Borovansky. She danced with other companies in Paris and London, and in 1962 Kathleen Gorham became prima ballerina of the newly formed Australian Ballet Company. She played an important role in the artistic development of a recognisably Australian ballet company and danced new roles in association with Robert Helpmann. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1968 for her services to ballet. Retiring from dancing after the Australian Ballet’s first overseas tour in 1966, she taught ballet in Melbourne and Southport, Queensland before her death in 1983 at a relatively young age.

During World War I Alice Ross-King (as she was then known) was a Sister in the Australian Army Nursing Service. Mentioned twice in despatches, she was awarded the Military Medal on 28 September 1917 and the Royal Red Cross Medal on the 4 June 1918. She married Lieutenant-Colonel Sydney T Appleford of the Australian Army Medical Corps on 21 August 1919. They had four children. She assisted her husband in establishing a first-aid military unit and during the 1930s became involved with the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments. Appleford enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service during World War II. She was promoted to the rank of Major in September 1942 and awarded the Florence Nightingale medal by the International Red Cross in 1949.

Alice Appleford died on 17 August 1968 at Cronulla, Sydney and is buried in Fawkner Cemetery, Melbourne.

Agnes Walsh completed her nursing training at Perth, Sydney and Tresillian (Syd.) hospitals. In 1937 she undertook a world tour for the Western Australian Government to inquire into hospitals. Also she represented Australia at the Nursing Conference London in 1937 and 1948. In 1925 Agnes Walsh became matron of the King Edward Memorial Hospital (Perth) where she was known as a strict, unrelenting nursing administrator according to the summary note on the Western Australia State Library Catalogue. Agnes Walsh died in 1967.

Marilyn Rowe, the first graduate of the Australian Ballet School to be appointed its director in 1999, was recruited into the Australian Ballet Company in 1965 after completing the course in 1964. She was a principal artist with the Australian Ballet and later became ballet director, deputy artistic director and in 1984 director of the Dancers Company, a post she held until 1990. She has been on the Board of the Australian Ballet since 1994. She has directed and coached many of the leading dancers of the Australian Ballet and has produced and directed major contemporary and classical works. Other positions include that of Life Governor of the Berry St Child and Family Care since 1985. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 for her services to ballet in Australia.

Edith Hurman, after commencing her early education in Perth, finished her medical training at Sydney University in 1922 and overcame many obstacles in order to become the first doctor to set up private practice in Cudal, New South Wales in 1925. With Muriel Amanda Rodda, a trained nurse, she was instrumental in the establishment of the town’s hospital in 1928. Edith Hurman remained in Cudal and worked in that hospital until her retirement in 1961. She subsequently wrote a booklet entitled The beginnings, in 1980, in which she told the story of how the Cudal Hospital was established. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to medicine in New South Wales on 1 January 1966.

With her husband, Thomas Baker, and her sister, Eleanor Shaw, Alice Baker co-financed a major biochemistry laboratory at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, now known as the Baker Institute.

Eva Shipton was the founder of what has become known as Sydney Diagnostic Services, in 1928, when she commenced her private pathology practice in Macquarie Street, Sydney. Educated at Sydney University, where she gained her Bachelor of Science in 1921 and Bachelor of Medicine in 1925, she began her medical career at the Royal South Sydney Hospital and remained there from 1930-1946. She was also Honorary Consultant at St Margaret’s Hospital for Women from 1932-1974 and Mater Misericordiae North Sydney from 1936-1946. At the forefront of her profession, she was the first doctor to use blood groups for paternity suits in Sydney and inaugurated the first voluntary blood donors in Sydney with Toc H. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1974 for services to medicine.

Margery Scott-Young conducted a successful practice in surgery in Sydney for twenty-five years, preceded by ten years in general practice. Graduating Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Master of Surgery from Sydney University in 1936, her first appointment was as resident medical officer at Sydney Hospital in 1936, moving to Rachel Forster Hospital in 1937 to take up the position as medical superintendent. She then assumed the position of resident medical officer at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, from 1939-1940. Using her professional skills, she served during World War II in the Australian Army Medical Corps from 1942-1946. After her war service she returned to the Rachel Forster Hospital, initially as honorary assistant surgeon from 1946-1958 and from 1958-1972 as honorary consultant surgeon. Her other commitments included becoming a life governor of the Australian Postgraduate Federation of Medicine in 1977, president of the Australian Federation of Medical Women from 1986-1989, honorary librarian of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) New South Wales branch from 1972-1977 and vice-president of the Medical Benevolent Association of New South Wales from 1980-1983. She published a story of her life entitled Family Bugles in 1991. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1977 for Services to Medicine.