The Australian Women's Register

Isabelle Procter was born in Cairns, Queensland. Her family moved to Darwin, where she completed her schooling before training in Perth as an early childhood teacher. She taught in preschools and primary schools in Western Australia. Later, she tutored in tertiary institutions, and worked as a curriculum officer, project coordinator and educational consultant whilst completing Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education and Master of Education degrees at Murdoch University.

Procter has written widely on Aboriginal literacy and preschool education, and has worked on many project teams and committees. She was responsible for producing an Aboriginal employment and training management plan for the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management; a study of community education for disadvantaged consumers for the Western Australian Ministry of Consumer Affairs; and a strategy for achieving social justice through Aboriginal education for the state’s Ministry of Education. She helped write the National Aboriginal Education Committee’s policy guidelines in 1989, and served as a member of Murdoch University’s Aboriginal studies management committee, and the Western Australian Ministry of Education’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander career and employment working party. She chaired the AIATSIS research advisory committee and the Western Australian government’s Aboriginal Advisory Council.

Procter’s varied career has also seen her work as a Western Australian Ministry of Education district superintendent, responsible for 41 government schools and preschools in the south Perth district.

In 1979, Gracia Baylor became the first woman member of the Liberal Party to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council when she was electedthe member for Boronia. That year, she was one of the first two women to be elected to the Upper House, the other being Joan Coxsedge of the Australian Labor Party. Baylor held her seat until 1985 when she resigned to contest (unsucessfully) the Legislative Assembly seat of Warrandyte.

Elsie Roughsey (Labumore), of Lardil descent, was born on Mornington Island in Queensland. She was taken from her parents and placed in the local mission school at the age of eight. She stayed there until World War Two, not knowing that her own brother and sister were living in the same dormitory. When the missionaries were evacuated during the war, she returned to her family and lived in the bush learning Lardil customs.

In 1946 Elsie married Dick Roughsey, then a stockman but later an artist and author. She worked as a nursing aide, teacher’s assistant and voluntary community worker on Mornington Island.

In 1984 she published her autobiography, which became a best seller, and her visits to southern capitals to promote it attracted widespread media interest. She was an authority on the local history of Mornington Island and a famed maker of cottonwood dolls.

Justine Saunders was a member of the stolen generations of Aboriginal people. She became a professional actor in 1974 and was important to the establishment of Aboriginal theatre groups in the 1980s and 1990s.

Lorna Schrieber (Balurr Wuppi), a descendant of the Gungganyji group of Yidinjdji people, was brought up in the girls dormitory between the ages of ten and sixteen, until 1942, when Yarrabah parents successfully appealed to the bishop of north Queensland to allow their children to live at home.

Lorna married Steven Schrieber, who became Yarrabah overseer while she worked in the welfare clinic. They moved to Cairns to give their children better schooling opportunities. They were given a large government house and fostered Aboriginal children from the outback who could then attend school.

In 1977, at the insistence of her people, Lorna was anointed Queen of Yarrabah by the bishop of north Queensland. She was one of the last Gungganyji speakers and custodians, and helped record traditional songs and stories. She paid regular visits to Yarrabah, encouraging children to speak the language and preserve the knowledge of their ancestors.

Gracelyn Smallwood, of Biri descent, was born and grew up in Townsville, Queensland. She obtained general nursing, midwifery and psychiatric nursing certificates from the Townsville hospital. She helped establish the Townsville Aboriginal Medical Service before working for a year as a volunteer among remote Aboriginal communities. In the 1970s and 1980s she studied indigenous health services in the United States and China. Upon her return to Australia, she worked for the national trachoma and eye health program, and the Pitjantjatjara council in northern South Australia. In 1985 she became matron of the Hetti Perkins home for the aged in Alice Springs.

Smallwood continued her studies, enrolling in a Master of Science degree at James Cook University in Queensland. She was appointed adviser on indigenous health to the federal Minister of Health, and has since become a leading commentator on AIDS among Aboriginal communities.

In 1989 Smallwood became the proprietor of ‘Birri’s Walkabout’, an outlet for Aboriginal arts and crafts at the Townsville airport. In 1991 she was a founding member of the advisory committee formed to guide the Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker journal.

Roberta (Bobbi) Sykes was born and brought up in Townsville, Queensland. She left school at 14 and trained as a nurse. In 1971 she moved to Sydney, and in 1972 helped establish the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. She worked as Education and Publicity Officer for the newly founded Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern, and began a ten-year career as a freelance journalist. She has written poetry and film reviews, and contributed to contemporary discussions on a wide range of indigenous issues.

From 1975 to 1980 Bobbi Sykes was an adviser on Aboriginal health and education to the New South Wales Health Commission, following which she moved to the United States and completed her doctorate on Aboriginal education at Harvard University. Upon her return to Sydney, she continued writing and lecturing. She has held appointments at Charles Sturt and Macquarie universities and has worked as a consultant.

Thancoupie was born at Napranum in Queensland, on the land traditionally occupied by her ancestors. Her father was killed in war. Thancoupie attended the local school before being sent to Brisbane to train as a preschool teacher. Upon her return to Napranum she established a preschool but was unhappy with the situation and resigned.

Thancoupie began writing down and illustrating (with paintings on bark) stories her grandmother had taught her, and had a number of exhibitions of her work. Her application to study at a Sydney art school was rejected because she lacked formal qualifications, however she came across a pottery school which accepted her as a student. Thancoupie then went to America and Mexico and worked with indigenous potters. This helped her develop her own style, and she has since been creating pots and tile murals at her studio in Cairns where she moved in 1976, after the Comalco mining company refused to allow her a house at Napranum because she had left the community. Thancoupie still visits her hometown on a regular basis.

Penny Tripcony was born in Brisbane in 1942 and moved to Melbourne in the mid-1960s. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne in 1975, and a Diploma of Education the following year.

As the administrator of the Aboriginal Cooperative Ltd in Melbourne, she was instrumental in establishing the Aboriginal Housing Board of Victoria and several other Aboriginal organisations. In the early 1980s she was a Research Officer with the Board before becoming superintendent of Victorian Aboriginal Education Services. She was involved with many community-based Aboriginal organisations in Victoria, and tutored in the Aboriginal Community Organisation course at the Swinburne Institute of Technology.

In 1989, Tripcony returned to Brisbane to become Principal Policy Officer (Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Education) with the state Department of Education. She was also a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Project.

In the 2005 Australia Day Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to the Indigenous community, particularly in the field of education as an administrator, policy adviser, researcher and educator.

Shireen Malamoo is an Aboriginal community worker who advocates a holistic approach to indigenous issues. In the 1970s she worked for the Department of Social Security in Townsville, Queensland. Her involvement with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care included membership of the Finance Committee. She was a Commissioner of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) from 1991 to 1993.

In 1972 Pat Eatock became the first Aboriginal to stand for Federal Parliament in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). She participated in the Aboriginal Embassy and Women’s Liberation in 1972. In 1973 she became the first non-matriculated mature aged student at the Australian National University(ANU), graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in 1977. In 1975 she attended the 1975 Women in Politics Conference and the International Women’s Year World Conference in Mexico City. She has worked as a public servant, university lecturer, and established and managed the Perleeka Aboriginal Television, producing films for community television and training Aboriginal film makers from 1992-96. Pat Eatock passed away on 17 March, 2015 after a long period of ill health.

Jenny Pryor is a Bindal clan member of the Birri Gubba nation and Kaanju people. She has been a Commissioner with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission for North Queensland, holding the portfolio of infrastructure, housing, land and natural resources. For eight years she held the position of Administrator of the Northern Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agency in Townsville, and has been associated with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) since its inception in the early 1980s.

Pryor retains strong ties with the Palm Island community where her mother was born.

Cheryl Buchanan studied at the University of Hawaii as a scholarship-holder. Upon her return to Australia she became involved in the Brisbane Tribal Council, and attended the University of Queensland.

During 1974 Buchanan worked as the race relations field director for the Australian Union of Students and spent several months visiting communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, encouraging their struggle for land rights. In 1975 she moved to Melbourne, Victoria, where she became director of the Black Resources Centre (BRC). The Centre later moved to Brisbane, and Cheryl became one of the principal campaigners for the acquittal of ‘The Brisbane Three’, two Aboriginal men and a Chilean charged with conspiracy over an alleged extortion attempt. The three were acquitted due partly to the support of BRC periodical Black Liberation from 1975 to 1977. Buchanan was one of the main contributors to this publication, writing articles on a range of issues including history, politics, education, land rights, prisons and welfare.

In 1980 she published Kargun, the first of a series of poetry volumes by Lionel Fogarty. This publication led to the development of Murrie Coo-ee, an Aboriginal publishing firm at Coominya which continues to operate under Buchanan’s directorship.

From working at the meatworks of Qeerah, Queensland, Rose Colless went on to be Queensland Commissioner for Aborigines and manage a centre for the rehabilitation of alcoholics before being presented with an Order of Australia Medal and an Australian human rights award.

In 1927 Susan Francis stood as a Labor candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Bondi. She then stood as a Lang Labor candidate in the Waverley Municipal Council elections of 1932.

Terri Richardson is a hard working party member of the Australian Democrats, deeply committed to a just society, and passionate on the subject of Indigenous education. Terri was on the State Executive Committee of the Australian Democrats for nine years, 1989-1998, and continues her connection with the party as Acting Convenor of the Cook Electorate branch. She also contested the following elections on their behalf:
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Cronulla, 1991
House of Representatives, Cook, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1998
New South Wales, Legislative Council, 1994.

Terri Richardson grew up in the Sutherland Shire and was educated at Oyster Bay Primary School and St George Girls’ High School. She trained as a primary school teacher at the Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education and taught for 15 years. Subsequently she was a tutor at the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. In 2005, still passionate about the education of indigenous children, she was actively involved in the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme. She was also part way through a Masters of Professional Studies: Aboriginal Studies from the University of New England. She has one daughter.

After working as a teacher, and small business person and being active in community services and local charity, Janelle Saffin stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Lismore (New South Wales Legislative Assembly) in 1991. However in 1995 she was elected to the Legislative Council of the New South Wales Parliament and remained in office until 2003. In 2007 she was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Page, New South Wales and was re-elected in 2010, but was defeated the 2013 election. She joined the Australian Labor Party in 1982 and held senior positions in her local branch. Janelle was a delegate to Country and State conferences and was a member of the Corrective Services Advisory Council. She was also President of the North Coast Breast Screening Program and a committee member of the Northern Rivers Social Development Council.

She is married to Jim Saffin, and has one son and three stepsons. Janelle Saffin completed a Dip Prim T (Northern Rivers CAE), BLegalStud (Macq), and Mbus.

Judy Jakins was a member of the National Party. She was a Member of the directly elected Legislative Council from 24 March 1984 until 1991. She was the first woman elected to represent the National Party in New South Wales when she entered Parliament in 1984. She was an Alderman of Dubbo City Council 1991 – 1995.

Patricia Staunton was a Member of the NSW Legislative Council from 25 March 1995 to 2 September 1997. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party, a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and has worked as a Chief Magistrate, Alderman of the Sydney City Council and Registered Nurse.

Francesca Merenda began work with Department of Immigration in 1969 as the first ever Italian speaking welfare worker. She was a member of the group appointed by Malcolm Fraser in 1977, and chaired by Sir Frank Galbally, to review post-arrival migrant programs and services.

Francesca Merenda had a long association with Co.As.It. Italian Association of Assistance, including as a member of the Board of Directors after the Association was incorporated in 1984.

Margaret Jones was Literary Editor for the Herald and worked as a journalist in the London and New York bureaus of John Fairfax Ltd, before becoming Foreign Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald in the 1970s. She reported from North Korea and North Vietnam, and was staff correspondent in Peking, China. Described as a ‘trailblazer for women journalists’, Jones wrote for the Herald newspaper for a total of thirty-three years.

When Adair Ferguson won the single sculls title at the 1985 rowing World Championships in Belgium, she became Australia’s first female world champion rower. Her performance was excellent enough for her to be named the 1985 Australian Athlete of the Year; in achieving the honour she beat fellow nominees Jeff Fenech and Alan Border. Ferguson proved it wasn’t a fluke when she won a gold medal in the same event the following year in Edinburgh at the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

Ferguson represented Australia eight times at various international competitions but never at an Olympic Games. 1988 was considered to be her best chance of winning a medal but that year the Australian selectors decided not to send any female rowing competitors.

As well as representing Australia as a sportswoman, Ferguson tried her hand at politics. She stood as the Australian Democrats candidate in the blue ribbon liberal seat of Ryan in the 1990 federal election.

Born in 1886 in Marrickville, Sydney, Annette Kellerman was a New South Wales swimming champion who left for England aged 18 to help her cash-strapped family. In Europe, she built a name for herself in long distance swimming and exotic swimming and diving demonstrations. By 1906 she had moved to vaudeville theatre in America as ‘Australia’s Mermaid’ and quickly progressed to the big screen. Kellerman enjoyed tremendous success as a silent movie star in mythological underwater films, including Neptune’s Daughter.

Gertrude McLeod was educated at the Brisbane High School for Girls. McLeod was an enthusiastic, but not an outstanding, golf player. According to Margaret Kowald, her handicap never fell below sixteen. Nonetheless, McLeod was elected president of the Queensland Ladies’ Golf Union in 1934. In this capacity she raised money for country championships and took the first Queensland women’s team to Sydney in 1938. Like many women’s organisations, the Q.L.G.U. offered financial support to patriotic bodies during World War II.

From 1949 to 1954, McLeod served as president of the Australian Ladies’ Golf Union, sending a team to the British Ladies’ Open Championship in 1950. During her presidency, the Union discussed the changing social background of women golfers (once the domain of wealthy women) and dress codes for women.

McLeod was an associate-member of the Royal Queensland and Indooroopilly golf clubs, and was awarded honorary life membership of the Q.L.G.U. in 1962. She supported the establishment at Mt Ommaney (Brisbane) of the first golf club in Australia to be administered entirely by women, named the McLeod Country Golf Club in her honour.

The second youngest of seven children, Mabel Springfield was raised in a sporty family, and began competitive swimming at an early age. At fourteen she was participating in the Queensland Ladies’ Amateur Swimming Association’s first women’s State championship. She won the championship several years in a row. She qualified to compete in the Olympic Games in both 1920 and 1924, but could not afford to join the team until 1928, when she was selected as a chaperon for female competitors at the Games in Amsterdam. It was here that she decided to begin a career in coaching, rather than competing. She coached swimmers at the Booroodabin Baths in Brisbane, taught swimming at local schools, and trained several State representatives as well as Olympian Nancy Lyons.

Springfield died from injuries received in a car accident while returning from a holiday in 1966.

Karla Gilbert’s record speaks for itself. She has won back to back world Ironwoman championships (2000 and 2002), seven consecutive Ironwoman series wins (1996-2002), sixteen Australian championships, seven Queensland titles and numerous other championship events. There is absolutely no doubt of her dominance in the sport throughout the 1990s and early 2000’s. Furthermore, through her involvement at the highest level, Gilbert has helped to raise public awareness of surf lifesaving in the community.

Gilbert entered the sport in 1980, when her parents joined her in the Nippers program at Palm Beach. She won her first attempt at a professional ironwoman event (the first even professional ironwoman race in Australia) ten years later in 1990. She was only fifteen years old.

Vicki Wilson started playing netball in 1972 at the age of seven. By the time she had hung up her skirt in 1999, she was one of Australia’s most decorated and successful players, having earned 104 test caps over the journey, more than any other Australian player. She represented Australia for fifteen years with the last four as captain. She played in four World Championship tournaments (the most of any Australian player), was a member of a victorious team three times (1991, 1995, 1999), and captained the world champion team in her last game in 1999. She was captain of the team that won the first ever gold medal for netball in the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur in 1998, although she says the most memorable moment of her career was winning the 1991 World Championship in Sydney. Arguably the best goal shooter in the world in the 1990s, when asked by a junior netballer in 1999 why she had such great shooting accuracy, her response was, ‘200 shots a day x 6 days a week, and that’s 200 shots that go in. I have been doing that since I was 20 years old’.

A trained physical education teacher, Wilson continued to teach while playing netball, moving to the position of Schools Sports Promotions Officer with the Department of Education in Queensland in 1992. Since then she has held a number of board member ships and government advisory positions, including membership of the Board of the Queensland Academy of Sport. She continues to coach and mentor talented players and works as a senior project manager with Sport and Recreation Queensland in the Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet.