The Australian Women's Register

On August 6 2005 hundreds of women (and a few men) from all around Australia gathered in Canberra to celebrate the 30th anniversary of International Women’s Year (IWY) and the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration on Women in the United Nations Charter.

Organised by the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW), UNIFEM Australia, the Jessie Street Trust, and the Jessie Street National Women’s Library, and supported by a host of sponsors the event celebrated 30 years of achievements by women and for women, in Australia and worldwide. Participants got a centre stage view of IWY events, including the Mexico Conference, and some keyhole glimpses of how that year and what flowed from it has changed the lives of women around the world.

Highlights of the day included ‘snapshot’ talks with Sara Dowse and other speakers, recreating the events of IWY and reflecting on the present and future. Australian journalist Maxine McKew compered the formal reception and Elizabeth Reid, who led the Australian delegation to the 1975 Mexico Conference, reprised the speech she gave to that historic conference.

Inaugurated on October 10th, 1957, the Canberra Women’s Bowling Club was the first all women’s bowling club in Canberra. Prior to its formation, only the wives or sisters of Canberra City Bowling Club members could play the sport, so one aim of the women’s club was to open it to more participants.

Located on Wentworth Avenue, in the Canberra suburb of Kingston, the first green was installed in 1958 and the second in 1969. The clubhouse was officially opened on 25th February 1961. Until the opening of the Kingston green and clubhouse, members played on the Parliament House green, at the Canberra Bowling Club and on the private green at the Victoria Hotel in Queanbeyan.

The Canberra Women’s Bowling Club’s closure in 1992 was occasioned by dwindling membership and inflation. Membership peaked during the 1960s at about 136 and later dropped to 46.

The ANU Women’s History Group operated from 1982 to 1987. The Group held regular meetings and talks on various aspects of Women’s History. It also sent out monthly newsletters which kept members in touch with other activities, for instance, the Feminism Year at the Humanities Research Centre of the ANU in 1986.

The U3A Warrani Chorale is a choir for senior women organised by volunteers, which is affiliated with the University of the Third Age, Australian Capital Territory. It was established in 1998 by its musical director and conductor, Pixie Gray, OAM, and its piano accompanist, Barbara Hall, OAM, and provides tuition in vocal and choral techniques and musicianship to its members. It holds annual free public concerts, as well as regularly performing at events organised by a wide range of community organizations. Its repertoire is drawn from a range of musical styles such as madrigals, classical, modern and sacred music, spirituals, ballads, folk songs and jazz, all usually sung in four part harmony. In 2006 it participated in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Choir of the Year competition. Its name, ‘Warrani’, is derived from an Aboriginal word for ‘to sing’.

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.

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.

Following preparatory work and approaches to government by the National Council of Women (ACT) and the Nursery Kindergarten Society, the Emergency Housekeeper Service commenced in Canberra in April 1947. A Committee of Management, chaired by the National Council of Women, was established in February 1947 with representatives from the Canberra Mothercraft Society, the Nursery Kindergarten Society and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). An organising secretary, Ella Buttsworth, was appointed in March 1947. In July 1977, responsibility for providing the service passed to the ACT Division of the Australian Red Cross Society. With ACT self-government in 1989, Home Help Service ACT adopted its own constitution, becoming an incorporated association. It now operates as a community sector not-for-profit organisation that provides quality in-home support to the elderly and people with disabilities and their carers in the ACT, under the Home and Community Care Program and the Veterans’ Home Care Program.

The Canberra Branch is the oldest of four located in the Australian Capital Territory. All four belong to the Monaro Group of the Country Women’s Association of NSW. The Canberra Branch was founded in 1946. By March 1953 the members had raised enough funds to build their own rooms on the edge of what was then the Central Business District of Canberra. In the early 1980s high-rise office blocks were being built next to the rooms and the branch was able to negotiate the sale of its lease to a developer who provided the branch with a large area of the ground floor of a new building on Barry Drive. The branch provides education, health and social welfare support to its community with the funds it raises and through its crafts and cooking.

The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory was established by the Commonwealth Seat of Government Supreme Court Act, 1933. It commenced operation from 1 January 1934 as the superior court of record for matters originating in the ACT. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters (although matters involving less than $250 000 are usually brought in the Magistrates Court), and hears the most serious criminal matters.

Within the Australian court system it is one of eight state and territory Supreme Courts having unlimited jurisdiction in their respective parts of Australia. These Supreme Courts are second only to the High Court of Australia as the final court of appeal in the Australian judicial hierarchy.

The ANU Club for Women Inc was established in 1961 by the Vice Chancellor’s wife, Lady Molly Huxley. It was formed to provide support to the families of academics, staff, and visitors coming to the University.

Originally membership of the Club consisted mostly of wives of academics, past Vice Chancellors’ wives and professional officers of the ANU. Today, however, members include all staff, as well as those who have a close association with the ANU.

The Club has various sub-groups, including: the Monday Group; the Bushwalking Group, the Morning Book Reading Group; and the Evening Book Reading Group.

The Catholic Women’s League of Narrabundah was founded in 1960.

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 South Canberra Branch of Soroptimist International was inaugurated in February 1971 and ceased operation in 2001.

The Women’s Union Committee of the ACT was formed in 1976 and promoted the role of women and their interest in unions. Some of the Committee’s key areas of activity included petitioning for anti-sex discrimination laws to be introduced into the ACT, increased funding for child care and new child care centres.

As its name suggests, the Federal District Women’s Bowling Association Past Presidents’ Association is comprised of the past presidents of the Federal District Women’s Bowling Association. The Association held its inaugural bowling match on Thursday 14 February, 1957.

Women with Disabilities ACT (WWDACT) is a systemic advocacy and peer support organisation for women, girls, feminine identifying and non-binary people with disability in the ACT region.

The WWDACT was established in 1995 and since then has worked with government and non-government organisations to improve the status and lives of women with disabilities in the area.

St Gabriel’s School was renamed the Church of England Girls’ Grammar School in 1933.