The Australian Women's Register

Audrey Cahn was the first woman to complete the newly established agriculture degree at the University of Melbourne in 1928. Born to parents who were influential scientists themselves, she developed a life long interest in the field of nutritional science and went on to pioneer the academic field of dietetics. Regarded in the 1950s and 60s as a ‘soft science’ by the then university’s head of biochemistry, Victor Trikojus, Cahn fought a long battle for respect, one in which she was eventually supported by major funding bodies such as Nicholas Pty Ltd (Aspro).

Her research output in the field of nutritional biochemistry is well respected. Some of her studies undertaken during her time at the University of Melbourne (1947-68) included examining the physical properties and energy value of common dietary foods, so that she could compile calorie tables. She was an early proponent of the need to reduce fat intake and to substitute polyunsaturated fatty acids for saturated fats. With colleagues in the anatomy department, she participated in a 17-year longitudinal study of “Child Growth in Melbourne (1954-71)”. The study was compared with similar studies in the United States and Britain and found that Australian children were overweight and inactive compared with their peers elsewhere.

Cahn enjoyed a very long life, thanks, she said, to a combination of good luck and good genes.

Pauline Toner stood as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Council Province of Templestowe at the Victorian state election, which was held on 20 March 1976, but was unsuccessful. She was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly at a by-election for Greensborough in 1977 and served until 1989. While in Parliament she was Minister for Community and Welfare Services (1982-1985) and a former Shadow Minister for Community and Welfare Services and Women’s Affairs.

Following her education at the Brigidine Convent Horsham, Toner obtained the subsequent qualifications TPTC, BA (Melb) and BEd (La Trobe). She held positions at the State College of Victoria (1974-1975), and SCV Hawthorn (1975-1977). Toner began the first woman Shire President of the Diamond Valley Council (1977-1978), where she was a Councillor from 1973 to 1979.

Married to Brian Toner on 2 January 1962 and the mother of five children (1s 4d) her recreations included: canoeing, bushwalking and chess. Also she was a director of the Victorian State Opera and a member of Amnesty International and the National Trust

Miss Marjorie Connor was born in Colac, Victoria in 1906 and died in Balwyn on 7 May 1991 aged 84. She was educated by a governess an later attended Lauriston before training as a nurse at the Alfred Hospital 1925-1928. After graduation she worked in the private consulting rooms of a dermatologist who used radium. She sustained some radium burns to the hand. From 1945-1972 she was the Executive Secretary of the Royal Victorian College of Nursing. Both it and its successor the RANF Vic. Branch awarded her Honorary Life Memberships. After her retirement she became the Hon. Secretary/Treasurer of the Florence Nightingale Committee Vic. Br. until shortly before her death.

(Source: Historical Note University Melbourne Archives)

Isabel Clifton Cookson was born in Melbourne in December 1893 and educated at Hambledon Ladies’ College and later at the Methodist Ladies’ College before entering the University of Melbourne where she graduated B.Sc. in 1916. She tutored at Newman and was appointed as Lecturer in Botany “including evening”) for 1930 and remained associated with the Department until her death on 1 July 1973, when she was still a Research Associate. She visited Europe for the first time in 1925, and in 1929 studied at the University of Manchester under Professor Lang, a specialist in fossil plants. In 1948 she received a Leverhulme Research Grant and in 1952 attended the 40th session of the Indian Science Congress.

Joan Coxsedge was the first Labor woman to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as the Member for Melbourne West Province in July 1979. She served until 1992. While in office she wrote and produced the newsletter, Hard Facts For Hard Times, from her Footscray office, in which she offered a left view of current local, national and international events.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Barclay is the Professor of Family Health and Director of the Centre for Family Health and Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney.

Prior to commencing an academic career Barclay, who is a registered nurse and midwife, worked in a range of midwifery and women’s health and community development roles. She also has degrees in social sciences and education plus doctoral research into sexuality and pregnancy.
In 1997 The Hon. Dr Michael Wooldridge, the Federal Minister for Health, appointed Barclay to the National Health and Medical Research Council. She was re-appointed for a second three-year term in 2000. Also she is a founding member of the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care.

(Source: http://www.familyhealth.uts.edu.au/about/lbarclay.html accessed 18/02/02 and http://www.aut.ac.nz/conferences/healthpolicy/speakers.shtml accessed 18/02/02)

Marjorie Tipping was a prolific writer and historian of art and colonial Australia. In 1990, based on her many published scholarly works, she became the first woman to earn the degree of Doctor of Letters by examination from the University of Melbourne. Tipping’s books include Eugene von Guerard’s Australian Landscapes (1975) Ludwig Becker: Artist & Naturalist with the Burke & Wills Expedition (1978), Melbourne on the Yarra (1978) and Convicts Unbound: The Story of the Calcutta Convicts and Their Settlement in Australia (1988).

Tipping was the first woman president (1972-1975) and fellow (1968) of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. She was a member of the Victorian Council of the Arts and numerous other committees and community organizations, often in a voluntary capacity. Tipping was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (13 June 1981), for her contribution to the Arts.

Tipping was the patron of and one of the founders of the E W Tipping Foundation for Mentally Retarded Children and Adults, established in 1970. Tipping travelled on six continents; her interests included music, theatre, archaeology, Australiana, and Chinese art.

Source(s): Personal Communication (2002), Who’s Who of Australian Women, Who’s Who 2002.

A descendant of the Wergaia and Wamba Wamba people of western Victoria, Eleanor Bourke, née Anderson, formerly Koumalatsos, married Colin Bourke and had two children: Sia and Kelly. Eleanor and her family moved to Murraydale, near Swan Hill, Victoria in 1945. She attended primary and high school in rural Victoria and was awarded the degrees
Dip Arts Journalism (RMIT), BA Writing (CCAE), and MEdStud (Adelaide).

Eleanor’s work includes policy concerning Aboriginal people in both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments and academia. Positions held include: Associate Professor in Indigenous Affairs and the Director of the Aboriginal Research Institute, Faculty of the Aboriginal and Islander Studies, University of South Australia; Professor of Aboriginal and Islander Studies and Director of Aboriginal Programs at Monash University; member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Family Law Council and the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee; Fellow of the Australian College of Education; and Chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission. She was a Co-Chair of Reconciliation Victoria for three years, Board Member for the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council for twelve years and a Board Member of Native Title Services Victoria. Her membership of community-based organisations include the Victorian Aboriginal Advancement League, the Victorian Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and Camp Jungai Cooperative Ltd.

Eleanor Bourke was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll for Women in 2010 and the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll in 2019 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022 for significant service to Indigenous heritage, to justice, and to education.

(Sources: Aboriginal Women by Degrees Mary Ann Bin-Sallik, ed. University of Queensland Press, 2000.)

Grace Cuming was the wife of W.J. (Bill) Cuming, of the Cuming, Smith & Co. family.

(Source: Historical Note Melbourne University Archives)

Dorothy Derham was the daughter of H. and Grace Derham (née Taylor and one of four sisters including Jeannie ‘Mrs Aeneas’ Gunn), graduated at the University of Melbourne (B.A. 1919, Dip.Ed. 1920, M.A. 1921) and taught English and French to the examination forms at Ruyton Girls’ School. She was first cousin to Alfred and Enid Derham, and a close friend of the latter.

Enid Derham was a poet and an academic who photographed her travels to Egypt, the Mediterranean, Europe, and England during 1927.

Margaret Jackson was born on March 17, 1953 in Warragul, Victoria, educated at Warragul High School and studied Economics at Monash and Business Administration at Melbourne University.

Margaret was chairman of Qantas from 2000 to 2007. She has been a director of Qantas since 1992 and her other directorships include ANZ since 1994.
Margaret is married to Roger Donazzan and they have 2 children.

(Source: Herd, Margaret (editor) Who’s Who in Australia, 2002 38th edition, Crown Content, Melbourne.)

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy]

Lorna Sisely, born in 1916 in Wangaratta, was educated at Wangaratta High School, Methodist Ladies College (Melb.) and Janet Clarke Hall University of Melbourne. She was a junior then senior Resident Medical Officer (RMO) at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne from 1942 until 1944. Later Sisely was founder and consultant surgeon at the Monash Medical Centre Breast Clinic. Among her other activities she was a member of the Anti-Cancer Council 1964 – 1981. On 14 June 1980 Lorna Sisely was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her service to medicine.

[NB: the above biography was researched and written by Philida Sturgiss-Hoy for Women’s History Month 2003]

An illustrator of many books on Australian plants, Betty Maloney and her sister, Jean Walker, studied art at Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT).

After teaching art at the National Fitness Council, Melbourne Church of England Grammar School and St Catherine’s School in Melbourne, she travelled to Europe.
With her sister she wrote Designing Australian Bush Garens and Australian Bush Gardens in 1966 and 1967.

The 86 watercolour illustrations used for the publication Proteaceae of the Sydney Region with Alec Blombery are in the Archives of the New South Wales State Library.

Also she illustrated books on mah-jong and thimbles – she maintained a collection of Victorian thimbles, was a co-founder, with her husband, of the Sydney Wagner Society and was involved with volunteer conservation groups, including the Society for Growing Australian Plants.

In the early 1990s her own garden at French’s Forest was approved by the National Trust as a Trust garden and she was presented with a terracotta plaque.

Maude O’Connell worked as a teacher and completed nursing training before becoming involved in social work. She was elected a Governor of the Carlton Refuge in 1909, and was an active member of the Tobacco Workers’ Union before founding “The Company of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament” (more commonly known as ‘The Grey Sisters’).

Ola Cohn was the first Australian sculptor to carve large commissions free-hand in stone. She created the statue for the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden in Adelaide, South Australia, and carved the famous Fairies’ Tree in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens. Examples of Ola Cohn’s work in bronze, stone and wood are in state and provincial galleries nationwide. On 1 January 1965, Cohn was appointed a Member of the British Empire for her work in the service of art, especially sculpture. Her studio home in Gipps St, East Melbourne, is now known as the Ola Cohn Memorial Centre.

Ellis Rowan was a botanical artist who had no formal art training. She received encouragement from her family and husband, Frederick Charles Rowan, whom she married in 1873, to develop her own style in painting wildflowers.
Her work was exhibited in both Australia and overseas for which she won a variety of art prizes.

Jean Blackburn was a feminist, socialist and staunch advocate of the critical importance of good quality teaching and resources in shaping children’s’ lives. After completing an economics major at the University of Melbourne in1940 she became a research assistant for the Department of Economics. A mother who experienced the isolation of suburban living, she worked with Winifred Mitchell in organising the New Housewives’ Association to help overcome this isolation.

She later completed a Diploma in Education and began her teaching career. In 1969 she was seconded as a consultant to the Committee of Enquiry into South Australian Education issuing the Karmel Report in 1973. This was the first of several such appointments. In 1983 she conducted a public enquiry into Victorian senior secondary education, issuing the Blackburn Report in 1985.

Anne Hunt attended Sacred Heart College, Geelong, Victoria, before completing a Science degree at the University of Melbourne.
She began her teaching career in 1978 as a teacher of Maths, Science and Chemistry with the Victorian Department of Education and later transferred to the Catholic schools sector. She also completed a degree in Theology at Yarra Theological Union. From 1983 to 1986 she was Deputy Principal of Loreto Mandeville Hall in Toorak, Victoria.

In 1987 Hunt travelled to the USA, where she completed a Masters degree in Educational Administration at Fordham University in New York City, and the next year a Masters degree in Theology at the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.

Hunt returned to Australia in 1989 and became the first lay principal of Loreto Mandeville Hall. Once again she combined study with her career, completing doctoral studies in Theology in 1994 with the Melbourne College of Divinity. In 2002 Anne Hunt became the Rector of the Aquinas Campus of the Australian Catholic University.

Heather Schnagl is Principal of Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School and a Director of the Invergowrie Foundation.

Prior to completing her Science degree at the University of Melbourne, Butt attended Fintona Girls’ School, Balwyn, Victoria. In 1950 she became a Scientific Officer for the Defence Standards Laboratory (Vic), and in 1952 was appointed Assistant Mistress at Heathfield School, UK. From 1955 to 1959 she taught at Shelford CEGGS, before joining the staff at Fintona in 1960.

Elizabeth Butt became Headmistress at Fintona in 1963, retaining this position for 29 years until her retirement in 1991.

(Source: http://www.fintona.vic.edu.au/history.htm accessed 18/03/2002)

Fay Surtees Marles AM (née Pearce) is a former Australian public servant. She served as Victorian Commissioner of Equal Opportunity from 1977 to 1987 and Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 2001 to 2004.

A former principal of Strathcona Baptist Girls’ Grammar School (1990-2001), Ruth Bunyan became a member (and then a director) of the Invergowrie Foundation Council, a philanthropic organisation that issues grants to community groups to advance girls’ education in Victoria.

Sylvia Walton, daughter of Ronald Ferguson and Ellen Betty Collis, was educated at both Sydney and La Trobe Universities. From 1982 to 1999 she was Principal of Tintern Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, following which she became Principal of the Tintern Schools (Ringwood East, Victoria), comprising Tintern Anglican Girls’ Grammar School and Southwood Boys’ Grammar School.

Walton was Deputy Chancellor of La Trobe University from 1997 and Chancellor from 2006 until 2011. She was also a member of the Invergowrie Foundation.

Christine Campbell was the Member for Pascoe Vale representing the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1996. She was re-elected at the elections held in 1999, 2002, 2006 and 2010. She has held the ministerial portfolios of Community Services, Senior Victorians and Consumer Affairs. She retired from parliament in November 2014.

On 25 February 2003, Monica Gould was elected 18th President of the Legislative Council of Victoria. She was the first female to hold this position and retained it until November 2006.

In 1990 Joan Kirner was elected the first woman Premier for the State of Victoria. She held the position for two years but her legacy will extend for much longer. As the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews said in a statement after her death:

“Through her decades of advocacy for gender equality, [Joan Kirner] fundamentally changed [The Victorian ALP] and our society. In the process, she raised a generation of Victorian Labor women – one of whom became Prime Minister…
She fought every day for fairness. Our state is stronger for her service and our lives are greater for her friendship. She was our first female Premier and because of her work, she won’t be the last.”