The Australian Women's Register

Mary Stevenson was the first woman elected to the ACT Advisory Council and the President and founding member of the ACT Liberal Party Women’s Branch. She was a lifelong advocate for women’s involvement in politics and community affairs. As well as having a full and impressive political career, she devoted a great deal of time to community organisations such as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), the National Council of Women, the Business and Professional Women’s Association and the United Nations’ Association. She was awarded an MBE in 1954.

A student of Newnham College, Cambridge, and a suffragist, Pattie Craske completed a natural sciences degree in botany with second-class honours at a time when the university did not grant degrees to women. After teaching in England, she married Australian entomologist, Robin Tillyard, in Sydney. In 1928, by then the mother of four daughters, she moved to the small, isolated community of Canberra where she became a leader in community, sporting and university organisations and was elected to the Canberra Community Hospital Board in 1935. She was the social face of the growing city, renowned for her welcome to newcomers, in later years being regarded as the ‘grande dame’ of Canberra.

Soroptimist International is a worldwide organisation for women in management and the professions working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. Soroptimists work at all levels of civil society, local, national and international, and are involved with a wide spectrum of women’s concerns. The Soroptimist Club of Canberra was chartered on 1 April 1955 and has met continuously since then.

For almost 20 years the Women’s House in O’Connor was an important feminist space providing support for community based women’s groups and organisations. Activities and events at the house reflected the changing shape of the women’s movement, both locally and nationally, as well as local women’s involvement in broader political campaigns. The House was the first centre for community based women’s services in Canberra with Canberra Women’s Liberation, Women’s Electoral Lobby, the Abortion Counselling Service and the Rape Crisis Counselling Service as the first tenants. Over the years many of the women involved formed significant groups and connections at the House, contributing to the establishment of some of the key women’s services in Canberra. Lesbian Line, a telephone support service for women, operated out of the House for a number of years in the late 1980s and early nineties. An even wider range of women’s groups used the House for meetings. By the mid 1990s there were more women-specific services established in Canberra, both government and non-government. This meant that the House was being used less often after having provided a critically significant place for a diverse range of Canberra women to meet, work, organise and party.

Adele (Jill) Mildenhall arrived in Canberra during the settlement’s infancy. She quickly became involved in several charitable and religious organisations including St John the Baptist Church, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and the Mothercraft Society. She was also a valued member of Canberra’s social scene as a tennis player and an entertainer.

Gladys Pendred was considered in the mid-twentieth century ‘the main Australian authority in the field of early childhood education’. In 1944, after lobbying by Canberra kindergarten and mothercraft groups, Gladys was asked by the Minister of the Interior to draw up a plan for the extension of pre-school care in the Australian Capital Territory, known as the ‘Pendred Plan’. Pendred Street in the Canberra suburb of Pearce recognises her contribution to the Canberra community.

After an upbringing in the bush Lucy Frances Harvey (Lu) Rees worked as a shearers’ cook on a family property during the Depression; she moved to Canberra with her three sons in the late 1930s. In 1950 she became inaugural secretary of the Canberra Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers remaining a central figure in the organisation for many years. In 1955 she opened Cheshire’s Canberra bookshop which she managed for ten years. Always passionate about children’s literature she amassed a personal collection that became the nucleus of the ACT Children’s Book Council collection. It was donated to the University of Canberra where it is named the Lu Rees Archives of Australian Children’s Literature in her honour. She was created a Member of the Order of Australia and awarded the inaugural Dromkeen Medal for services to Australian children’s literature, both awards being announced posthumously.

Dr Gwen Woodroofe undertook research at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University, working on myxomatosis and arboviruses. She also organised the sale of UNICEF Christmas cards in Canberra for many years.

The Business and Professional Women’s Club of Canberra formed in 1954, affiliated to the Australian Federation of Business and Professional Women (now BPW Australia) which had formed in 1947, which was in turn part of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women which had formed in Geneva in 1930. The Club remained active until the 1990s, with separate clubs for Woden and Belconnen meeting in the 1980s.

Jean Mulvaney was an active and committed community worker in Canberra from the mid-1960s until her death in 2004. She was a founding member of Canberra Lifeline, the ACT Girl Guides Commissioner, and president of the Canberra Mothercraft Society, the Queen Elizabeth II Family Centre Committee, and the University House Ladies Drawing Room. She was also an active member of the Civil Rehabilitation Committee (Prisoners’ Aid) and served on the National Council of Women.

Honours and awards
1987 Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of service to literature, particularly in the field of poetry
1996 HonDLitt, University of Sydney
2006 New South Wales Premier’s Special Award
2006 New South Wales Alice award
2001 The Age Book of the Year Book of the Year and Poetry Awards for Untold Lives & Later Poems
1996 Australia Council Writer’s Emeritus Award
1996 Emeritus Fellowship, Literature Board of the Australia Council
1985 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, 1985 for “The Three Fates”
1985 honorary life member of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature
1984 Patrick White Award
1984 Grace Leven Poetry Prize for “The Three Fates”
1980 Senior Fellowship, Literature Board of the Australia Council
1979 Robert Frost Prize
1978 Fellowship of Australian Writers Christopher Brennan Award
1977 Australian National University Honorary Convocation Member
1966 Myer Award II for Australian Poetry for Cock Crow
1948 The Sydney Morning Herald Award for poetry, for “The Ship of Ice”

Poet Rosemary Dobson’s significant contribution to Australian literature is evident in the long list of literary awards she received. She began writing at the age of 7, typeset and printed her first book aged 17 and published over twenty poetry collections and other books during her life. The most recent poetry book, Collected, was published just three months before her death in 2012. Recognised early in her career as a significant poet, Dobson was acclaimed as representing “a coming of age for Australian poetry” along with Gwen Harwood, Judith Wright and David Campbell. Contemplative and meditative, Dobson’s poetry is rich with references to art, history, relationship and the Australian landscape. Her move to Canberra in 1971 brought her into a rich literary and artistic community and she was freed to write again after five years in England when her pen remained still. Dobson became a vital member of Canberra’s literary community contributing generously of her time as mentor to younger poets, providing readings for poetry lovers and continuing to publish her own work until she died in 2012.

Thea Exley was the first woman to head a regional office of the Commonwealth Archives Office (now the National Archives of Australia), its first national Senior Archivist Reference and Access and the first Director Preservation at the Australian Archives (another predecessor of the National Archives). She was an inaugural member of the Australian Society of Archivists and served as a Councillor from 1977 to 1979. After her retirement she completed a PhD in art history.

Beatrice Holt was a leading figure in the development of mothercraft and child welfare services in Canberra, and was active in community organisations in Canberra from the 1920s.

Salme Koobakene was born in rural Estonia and undertook tertiary studies at the University of Tartu. It is likely that the second Soviet invasion of her homeland ended the possibility of her graduating, when she joined tens of thousands fleeing. She reached what became the American zone of Germany and was selected by the Australia Government to be in the first party of refugees to be resettled from Germany. The bulk of her working life was spent at the Menzies Library of the Australian National University. In her estate, she left an endowment to the National Gallery of Australia and another to the Country Women’s Association for annual grants to high school students and young carers in the Canberra-Monaro region.

Yetty Landau was an actor and comedian who worked in Melbourne and with travelling companies. She was a popular broadcaster in Melbourne and Canberra and with her actor husband set up schools which taught drama, elocution and public speaking. After her husband’s death Yetty continued teaching verse speaking, training choirs and successfully preparing students for the examinations of Trinity College, London.

Pamela Burton, lawyer and author, was born and brought up in Canberra. Apart from working holidays in London in 1964 and 1970, Pamela has lived her life in the Canberra and the Bungendore district. After studying law at the Australian National University she worked on a range of cases involving environmental and social justice issues and has been involved in various government tribunals and committees. She was one of the first women to establish a legal firm in Canberra, following Mrs Bruna Romano and Margaret Elizabeth Reid. In 2010 Burton’s biography of the first woman high court justice, Mary Gaudron, was published.

Pamela Burton was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia catalogue record.

A brilliant, prize-winning student in mathematics at the University of Melbourne, Betty Allan won a scholarship to carry out postgraduate studies in mathematics, applied biology, statistics and agriculture at Cambridge University where she studied at Newnham College. In Canberra in 1930 she was appointed to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Division of Plant Industry, as its first biometrician. During the 1930s she also lectured in Statistical Theory and Pure Mathematics at Canberra University College and in Agriculture at the Australian Forestry School. In 1940 following her marriage in April to Dr Patrick Calvert, an assistant research officer at the Division of Plant Industry, she was a victim of the marriage bar in the Public Service which prevented the employment of married women but was able to gain government approval to work until the end of the year. During the war she continued to lecture part-time at the Forestry School and to do part-time work for the Bureau of Census and Statistics. Following the birth of her son, Allan, in 1941 she was active in Canberra community organisations supporting mothers and children. She was secretary of the Canberra Nursery Kindergarten Society (1943-1944) and president of the Canberra Mothercraft Society (1944-1946). She died at the age of 47.

Ruth Arndt was a qualified social worker who, while unable to practise her profession because her British qualifications were not recognised in Australia, was a tireless advocate and community worker in Canberra, particularly for migrants and foreign students. She taught English to many new arrivals, taught German and Economics at both Canberra Boys’ and Girls’ Grammar Schools and worked as a research officer in the Department of External Affairs. She also served on the Australian National University Council, the Governing Body of Bruce Hall and was president of the Ladies Drawing Room at University House.

Dorothy Buckmaster was a member of the Canberra branch of the Country Women’s Association (New South Wales). She held various positions including President and Secretary between 1961 and 1980.

Born to Belgian and Scandinavian parents, Hilma Dymphna Lodewyckx grew up surrounded by languages which, combined with a natural talent, saw her master over eight languages and become a successful linguist. Her most ambitious and important work was a translation from German to English of Baron Carl von Hügel’s New Holland Journal. After meeting her future husband Manning Clark at Melbourne University, the couple journeyed to Germany and England, respectively, to continue their studies. They married at Oxford in 1939. Returning to Australia to escape the war in Europe, the couple and their growing family eventually settled in Canberra where Manning took up a position at what would become the Australian National University. Dymphna worked to raise her young family and establish their home as a warm welcoming space for friends and colleagues, as well as assisting Manning with translations and editing for his historical works. By 1959 Dymphna returned to teaching, eventually taking up a position at the ANU German Department. She was also an activist for Aboriginal rights and the environment. After Manning’s death in 1991 Dymphna worked tirelessly to turn the home they shared into Manning Clark House – a cultural hub for scholars, artists and writers. Today, Manning Clark House still plays a vital role in the Canberra community.

Elizabeth McKeahnie was a successful, independent pastoralist between 1882 and 1911, at a time when women generally did not run their own properties. She owned and operated Blythburn, an 810ha dairy and cattle property next to her parents’ property, Booroomba, near Tharwa. She usually worked the property singlehanded, when necessary employing only women to assist her. McKeahnie was also a poet, publishing poems in the local newspaper, particularly after the deaths of friends and relatives.

Gwen Pinner was a significant figure in the medical profession in Canberra. In addition to her work as a radiologist, she conducted a tuberculosis survey of the Australian Capital Territories and Queanbeyan and was involved in the establishment of the John James Memorial Hospital. As a child, however, it was her role of presenting a bouquet to the Duchess of York at the opening of Parliament House in 1927 that created an enduring image.

Beulah McAppion is descended from several pioneer families in Canberra’s Ginninderra district, the Southwells, Gribbles and Currans. Her grandfather, Henry Curran, was the last Ginninderra blacksmith. Educated at Hall Primary School and Canberra High School, she joined the Commonwealth Department of Price Control in 1942 and following the war served as a clerk in he Commonwealth Superannuation Retirement Benefits Office until 1968. She then managed a cake shop and in the 1980s worked as a volunteer visitor in the Red Cross service for home bound people. From 2002 she was a volunteer counsellor with the Uniting Church.

Born to English parents, and daughter of the Surveyor General, Mary Emily Twynam married wealthy pastoralist James ‘Jim’ Cunningham and became an important and formative figure in the developing pastoralist community in the Tuggeranong district. She was a compassionate, sensitive and intellectually curious woman whose capacity for friendship and kindness turned her homestead ‘Tuggranong’ into the social focal point of the community. Her early married years were taken up with raising eight children and battling with the bouts of serious depression that would shadow her for her entire life. As her children grew she found time to indulge in her love of gardening as well as pursue her passion for poetry and the written word. Cunningham was also an outspoken advocate for conscription during the two referenda in 1916 and was dedicated to fundraising for soldiers in the Great War.

Elizabeth Bilney was a founding member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in the Australian Capital Territory during the mid-1970s and took a lead in the campaign for working mothers’ access to childcare. She made a significant contribution to the acceptance of the right of children to good care and the responsibility of government to support this in Australia.

Elizabeth also edited and managed the publication of The Heritage of Australia (1981) for Macmillan of Australia in association with the Australian Heritage Commission; she established the journalHeritage Australia for the Australian Council of National Trusts, and was publishing co-ordinator for the National Gallery of Australia, and publications manager for the National Library of Australia.

Sue Walpole was appointed the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 1993, becoming well-known in the role. She assisted with education campaigns which were designed to make the Sex Discrimination Act more accessible and available to women. She held the position until 1997.