The Australian Women's Register

Josephine Conway is a feminist activist who has made a difference to the lives of women living in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley District for over thirty years. Best known for her long term involvement in the Right to Choose Abortion Coalition, she remains active in the Women’s Electoral Lobby, the Hunter Valley Home-Birth Group, Women’s Action against Global Violence, the Union of Australian Women, Jobs for Women and the Women’s Action Group. In 2005, as a mark of appreciation and respect for her commitment to the promotion of women’s issues, she was awarded the National Foundation For Australian Women’s Edna Ryan Award for Community Activism.

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.

Della Walker, of Gumbainggir descent, was born in 1932 on Ulgandahi Island, an Aboriginal reserve in the Clarence River delta near Maclean, New South Wales. She attended school on the island before her family moved to nearby Yamba, where she was employed in domestic duties at a local guesthouse. When she was 17, the family moved to the Tabulam reserve, 45 kilometres west of Casino. She married there, and worked both as a domestic aid and an assistant to her husband in his seasonal farming jobs.

Walker became an unofficial midwife at the reserve, and subsequently became involved in a number of community activities: organisation of church services and the Djunagun dance troupe; promotion of her mother tongue, Aboriginal education, the teaching of Aboriginal Studies at regional TAFE colleges; and counselling of prisoners at the Grafton gaol. She was also a member of the Aboriginal advisory council of the College of Advanced Education in Lismore, president of the Housing Association and the local Land Council at Tabulam, a director of the Yamboora Aboriginal Corporation at Yamba, and chair of the Nungera Aboriginal Cooperative Society at Maclean.

Walker is a craft worker, screen printer and maker of echidna-spine necklaces.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jan Wade served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the State of Victoria from 1988-99. As a Minister in the Liberal Government from 1992-99, she held the portfolios of Attorney General, Fair Trading and Women’s Affairs.

Educated at Sydney Girls’ High School, Firbank Church of England Girls’ Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, Jan Wade worked as a solicitor in private practice (1964-67), in the Parliamentary Counsel’s office from 1970-79 and as president of the Equal Opportunity Board (1985-88) before entering parliament in 1988.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Jan Wade for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

Mollie Dyer, of Yorta Yorta descent, was instrumental in establishing the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) in 1977, and became its first Program Director. She fostered 20 children from Aboriginal communities in Victoria, as well as having six of her own. She advocated for the adoption legislation in Victoria to prevent Aboriginal families unnecessarily surrendering their children and was involved with the establishment of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in the early 1980s.

Dyer received an Advance Australia medal and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1979 for ‘her outstanding contribution to the advancement and enrichment of Australia, its people and its way of life’.

Mollie Dyer died in 1998 after a long illness.

Jenny Munro became involved with Aboriginal organisations in 1978, when she began working at the Aboriginal Children’s Service as a trainee bookkeeper and then as Administrator in 1979. She was actively involved in endeavours to convince the New South Wales welfare department to change its policies and practices. She was a member of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in its early days, and one of its first chairpersons.

A successful Aboriginal bureaucrat and activist, Linda Burney became the first Aboriginal person elected to the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament in 2003, and only the fourth Aboriginal woman elected anywhere in Australia. She was re-elected in 2007, 2011 and 2015. She held a range of Ministerial portfolios from 2007-2011. In 2016 she was serving as Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Parliamentary and Local Government career

• Elected, Canterbury, 2003, Party: ALP

Pat Davis-Hurst emerged as a community leader as she informally provided the services of counsellor, community nurse, social welfare worker and corrective services liaison officer to Aboriginal people from around her district.

In 1975 she was appointed as an Aboriginal health worker by the New South Wales Department of Health. In 1980 she founded Taree’s Gillawarra (now the Biripai) Aboriginal Health Service, and in 1983 established the Wonnai Cooperative in Taree. She was also a director of the Aboriginal Legal Service, a member of the Taree Housing Commission Board and a Justice of the Peace. She moved to the Taree Community Health Centre in 1983, where she remained until her retirement in 1990 due to ill health.

In 1985 Pat Davis-Hurst received the Times-Telecom Advance Australia Award for her contribution to the Purfleet-Taree community.

Mollie Barry’s varied career as an activist, ALP member and mentor for young people exemplifies the commitment to social involvement so common among her generation. She was an ALP candidate for Coogee in 1971.

Margaret Blaxell was an active and long-term member of the ALP. She was an ALP candidate for Ermington in 1991 and House of Representatives candidate for Dundas in 1983 and 1984.

A lifelong campaigner and activist, Freda Brown is a highly respected figure in the history of Australian women’s organizations. She was a Communist Party of Australia candidate for Newtown in 1947 and a Senate candidate in 1949 and 1961.

Actor and activist, Noeline Brown has been involved in social, community and political affairs all her life. She was an ALP candidate for the Southern Highlands in 1999 and 2003.

A once-only candidate, Emma Ekman was Democratic Labor Party candidate for Hawkesbury in 1973. She was married to Russell Ekman, with whom she had a daughter and a son.

The first woman alderman, mayor and among the first women JPs and MPs in New South Wales, Lilian Fowler was a blunt and tenacious politician, who worked on behalf of women and the underprivileged.

Labor candidate for Newtown in 1941 (unsuccessful), 1944 (elected) and 1947 (elected). Lang Labor candidate for Newtown-Annandale in 1950. Alderman Newtown Municipal Council 1928, first woman alderman in NSW, re-elected 1935-37, 1938-40, 1941-44, 1948. Mayor 1938-39.

An indefatigable worker and a contributor to every community in which she lived, Dorothy Frank stood as an Independent candidate for Temora in 1968 and was elected Alderman of Temora Municipal Council.

A long term local government councillor and a seasoned campaigner for her party, Maria Heggie was the Liberal party candidate for Cabramatta in 1984, 1988 and 1991. She was Alderman for Fairfield City Council in 1980-2004 and Mayor from 1987-1988.

Although she only stood for election once (Council for the Defence of Government Schools candidate for Heathcote in 1971), Edna McGill spent a lifetime campaigning for public education.

An Australian Greens activist and candidate for Monaro in 1995, 1999 and 2003, for the House of Representatives, Riverina in 2001, for the Senate in New South Wales (NSW) in 1998 and for the Tallaganda Shire Council in 1995.

Described by her son, Simon Morcom, as a “Lifelong fighter for peace and justice, tempered with an off-key sense of humour. A mentor and an inspiration,” Elfrida Morcom was a Communist Party of Australia candidate for Collaroy in 1956 and 1965 and candidate for the Warringah Shire Council in 1965.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Mary Gillett served as the Member for Werribee in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1996-2002 when the seat was abolished. From 2002 until 2006 she served as the Member for Tarneit. Her ministerial appointments have included Parliamentary Secretary for Volunteers, Commonwealth Games and from 2002 Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Affairs.

Elizabeth Robinson was a remarkable woman and an Independent candidate for Newcastle in 1932.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Wendy Lovell was elected as the Member for North Eastern Province in the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Victoria in 2002. She was re-elected at the November 2006 election as Member for the new Legislative Council Region of Northern Victoria. She was re-elected in November 2010 and took on the ministerial positions of Housing and Children and Early Childhood Development in the newly elected Liberal government. She was successful again at the November 2014 election, although the Liberal government was defeated. She currently holds the position of Liberal Party Whip in the Legislative Council.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Maxine Morland was elected as the Member for Mount Waverley in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria in 2002. She was re-elected at the 2006 election, which was held on 25 November. She was appointed to Cabinet on 30 July 2007 as Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development and Minister for Women’s Affairs . She left parliament in 2010 when she was defeated at the November election.

She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022 for significant service to the Parliament of Victoria, and to community health.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Lisa Neville was elected as the Member for Bellarine in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria in 2002. She was re-elected in 2006, 2010 and 2014, when the Labor party was returned to power after its defeat at the 2010 election.
Her ministerial portfolios have included Health ( Dec 2006- Dec 2010); Aged Care( Dec 2006-Aug 2007); Children ( Dec 2006-Aug 2007); Seniors ( Aug 2007- Dec 2010); Community Services ( Aug 2007-Dec 2010). She is currently Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water.

Cath Grant is a multi-media artist working from a studio in Murwillumbah, northern New South Wales. She has mounted numerous exhibitions, and encourages the work of other artists by hosting collaborative projects and exhibitions in her gallery. She is representative of the thriving arts community in the northern New South Wales region.

As well as her own work, Cath exhibits the artwork of her three children. In 2007 she curated ‘The Art of Love’ exhibition at The Casuarina Convention Centre (June 22nd – August 3rd), featuring the work of over thirty local artists including two of her own children, Joshua and Thomas Worsley.

An active and life long member of the ALP, Irene Anderson was interested in social justice, particularly for women. She was an ALP candidate for Kirribilli in 1973.

Marie Andrews has been a long-term unionist and Labor representative in the Legislative Assembly. She was successfully elected as a member for Peats in 1995, 1999 and 2003. She represented the electorate of Gosford from 2007 until the 2011 election, when she retired from Parliament.