Fletcher, Jane Ada
(1870 – 1956)Ornithologist, Poet
Jane Fletcher published a number of books on nature and nature study, and broadcast on 7ZL Hobart and 3LO Melbourne. In 1934 she became the first woman to lecture to the Royal Society of Tasmania. She was an outstanding bird observer with a particular interest in crakes and rails.
a’Beckett, Ada Mary
(1872 – 1948)Biologist, Educator
Teacher, kindergarten activist, and philanthropist, Ada Mary a’Beckett was born in Adelaide in 1872. Throughout her career she worked as a demonstrator and lecturer in biology at the University of Melbourne as well as teaching at various schools throughout Victoria. She was very closely involved in the kindergarten movement, helping to establish the Kindergarten Training College in Kew. Ada was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 3 June 1935, and had a kindergarten named after her the following year. She died in 1948 in Melbourne.
Lyceum Club (Melbourne)
(1912 – )Membership organisation
The Lyceum Club (Melbourne), established in 1912, was directly modelled on the lyceum clubs of England. Membership is restricted to women graduates and other women who had distinguished themselves in art, music, literature, philanthropy or public service.
Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria
(1908 – )Organisation
The FKUV was established in 1908 to unite all free kindergartens and to maintain high standards of supervision, with the provision of trained kindergarten teachers deemed essential.
John Smyth (Professor of Education) and Ellen Pye (State Education Department) developed a training course that relied on co-operation between the Kindergarten Training College and the FKU. In 1917 the union was granted registration by the Council of Public Instruction as a training centre for kindergarten teachers. In 1922, as enrolments increased, the union moved to premises in Kew. Autonomy was granted to the Training College by the FKU in 1964 and it became the Kindergarten Teachers’ College.
See also The Free Kindergarten Union of Victorian 1908-1980 by Lyndsay Gardiner.
(Source: Historical Note University of Melbourne Archives)
Kenny, Elizabeth
(1880 – 1952)Health administrator, Nurse
Elizabeth Kenny developed a new treatment for infantile paralysis (poliomyelitis). Guided by Dr Aeneas McDonnell of Toowoomba, she developed a thorough knowledge of human musculature. [1]
Although Kenny never completed any nursing training or registered as a nurse, she opened a hospital at Clifton, near Toowoomba, in 1913. In 1915 she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) and completed 12 round sea voyages between England and Australia with the returning wounded. During this time she earned her promotion to Sister, a title she used all her life. [2]
During the 1930s she established clinics in Brisbane with the backing of the State government, but with opposition from the medical profession. In 1940 she moved to the United States of America where her methods were widely acclaimed and gradually accepted world wide. Kenny returned to Queensland in 1951 and died in Toowoomba on 30 November 1952.
[1] 200 Australian Women p. 124
[2] ibid
Rivett, Doris Mary (Mary)
(1896 – 1969)Psychologist
Mary Rivett was trained as a psychologist and lectured briefly at the University of Sydney. With her sister Elsie she formed the free Children’s Library and Crafts Club in 1922. In 1934 they formed the Children’s Library and Crafts Movement which after their death became the Creative Leisure Movement.
Pink, Olive Muriel
(1884 – 1975)Anthropologist, Botanical artist
Olive Pink was a botanical artist and anthropologist who campaigned for the rights of Aboriginal people. She was one of few women anthropologists working in a male dominated field in the 1930s and 1940s. Pink positioned herself as an expert on Aboriginal people and campaigned from this basis in her criticism of government officials, missionaries and pastoralists.
Scott, Harriet
(1830 – 1907)Artist, Naturalist
Harriet Scott was educated by her father, A.W. Scott, and acquired a considerable knowledge of Australian plants, animals and insects. Her paintings earned high praise from the Entomological Society and she was elected, like her sister Helena, as an honorary member.
Denoon, Pamela
(1942 – 1988)Biochemist, Public servant
Pamela Denoon was National Coordinator of the Women’s Electoral Lobby from 1982-84. She actively lobbied for women’s rights in Canberra during the 1980s, and established by bequest the National Foundation for Australian Women and the Pamela Denoon Trust.
Pamela Denoon Trust
(1989 – 2005)Trust
The Pamela Denoon Trust was established from a bequest made by Pamela Denoon of $50,000. The aim of the Trust was to advance education in the community through promoting research into social issues affecting women. Grants were allocated by the Trust for a variety of projects: attendance of Indigenous women to National Women’s Conference in October 1991, research on the impact of enterprise bargaining on women, scholarships for girls in secondary schools in Papua New Guinea, programs of the National Women’s Justice Coalition including Pamela’s List, support for the Black Women’s Education Foundation and Women with Disabilities Australia, audiovisual resources on domestic violence, the Australian Women’s Archives Project of the National Foundation for Australian Women, and the activities of Women’s History Month and Women on a Shoestring Collective, among others. The Trust was wound up in 2005 having provided grants of over $90,000 from the original bequest and interest earned.
Sara, Vicki
Academic, Endocrinologist
Vicki Sara researches in the area of growth hormones and foetal brain development. She became the Dean of Science at Queensland University in 1996.
Vicki was the Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney, for three terms: 15 December 2004-14 December 2008; 15 December 2008-14 December 2012 and; 15 December 2012 until 17 February 2016.
Freeman, Joan
(1918 – 1998)Physicist
In 1976 Joan Freeman became the first woman to be awarded the British Institute of Physics’ Rutherford Medal. She began her career at CSIR Radiophysics Laboratory during World War II, working on the production of a 10cm microwave radar set, and spent most of her working life at the British Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell.
Women’s Electoral Lobby Australia
(1972 – )Lobby group
The Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) was established in Melbourne in 1972 by Beatrice Faust. She was inspired by feminists in the United States who had been rating presidential candidates. The organisation quickly spread to Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra and in 1978 WEL Australia was formed as a coalition of state, territory and regional groups. Primarily a women’s political lobby group, WEL surveyed political candidates and their policies affecting women, wrote submissions and developed media skills for women to lobby for the inclusion of women in the area of government policy. Originally the WEL campaign was based on six demands: equal pay, equal employment opportunity, equal access to education, free contraceptive services, abortion on demand and free 24-hour childcare.
Galbraith, Jean
(1906 – 1999)Author, Botanical collector, Botanist
Galbraith, a prominent Victorian naturalist, joined the Field Naturalists’ Club of Victoria in 1923 and in 1970 was awarded their Australian Natural History Medallion. In 1950 she published Wildflowers of Victoria which by 1970 had gone to three editions.
Abortion Law Reform Association
Social support organisation
The Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) was formed in response to the deaths from the widespread practice of back-yard and self-induced abortion caused by unwanted pregnancies. The Association was campaigning to put an end to the legislation in Australia which enforced abortion as illegal. In Canberra the ALRA was established by Beryl Henderson. Julia Freebury was the Sydney convenor in 1972.
Reid, Elizabeth Anne
(1942 – )Consultant, Educator, Political scientist, Public speaker, Researcher
In 1973 Elizabeth Reid became the first adviser on women’s affairs to a head of state, being appointed in this capacity for Australian Labour Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Reid went on to work as an adviser, administrator, consultant, educator and researcher in an international setting on issues of women and development, health and population. She is currently based in Canberra, a Visiting Fellow, State, Society and Governance Program, College of Asia and the Pacific, at the Australian National University, and an analyst, programmer, consultant and trainer in development and humanitarian assistance.
Dowse, Sara
(1938 – )Feminist, Public servant, Women's rights activist, Writer
Sara Dowse is a prize-winning writer of reviews and Canberra-themed fiction. A feminist and women’s rights activist, she was a member of the Women’s Liberation Movement and the Women’s Electoral Lobby-ACT. She became the inaugural head of the Women’s Affairs Section of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (now Office of the Status of Women) for the Whitlam government.
(This entry is sponsored by generous donation from Christine Foley.)
Ryan, Susan
(1942 – 2020)Educator, Parliamentarian, Senator
Susan Ryan was appointed the first Labor Senator for the Australian Capital Territory, in 1975. In the Federal Parliament she was the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister Bob Hawke on the Status of Women 1983-88 and the Minister for Education, 1984-87. She presided over the passage of the federal government’s Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunities in Employment) Act 1986. She later worked in the plastics industry, and in superannuation.
From July 2011 to 2016 she held the newly created position of Age Discrimination Commissioner with the Australian Human Rights Commission. She was also the Disability Discrimination Commissioner from July 2014 to 2016.
Susan Ryan passed away on 27 September, 2020. She was a woman of many firsts; a trailblazer for Labor women in parliament. As former prime minister, Julia Gillard, observed, ‘Every Australian’s life has been improved by her leadership on gender equality.’