The Australian Women's Register

A member of the Liberal Party of South Australia, Caroline Schaefer filled a casual vacancy in the Legislative Council of the Parliament of South Australia in August 1993. She was elected in 1993, re-elected in 2002 and 2006. Before her election to Parliament she served on the Kimba Local Council from 1989-1993.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Annette Hurley was elected to the Parliament of South Australia in the seat of Napier at the election, which was held on 11 December 1993. She was defeated at the 2002 election, but won a seat in the Australian Senate at the 2004 federal election, representing the State of South Australia. She was not a candidate at the 2010 federal election.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Lea Stevens was elected as the Member for Elizabeth in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia at a by-election, which was held on 9 April 1994. The name of the seat was changed to Little Para in March 2006 after a redistribution. She held the portfolio of Minister for Health from 2002-05. She was re-elected in 2006.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Steph Key was elected as the Member for Hanson, from 2002 Ashford, in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia at the election, which was held on 11 October 1997. She held a range of Ministerial appointments from 2002-06, which included Social Justice, Housing, Youth, Status of Women and Employment, Training and Further Education. She was re-elected in 2002 and 2006.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Vickie Chapman was elected to the seat of Bragg in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia at the election which was held on 9 February 2002. She was re-elected in 2006 and in 2010. She was Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2006-09. Educated at the Parndana Area School, Pembroke School and Adelaide University, Vickie ran her own small legal firm before entering Parliament.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Chloë Fox was elected to the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia to represent the electorate of Bright at the election, which was held on 18 March 2006. She made her first attempt to enter Parliament was in 2004 when she stood in the seat of Boothby at the federal election. She was re-elected in 2010.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Grace Portolesi was elected to the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia to represent the electorate of Hartley at the election, which was held on 18 March 2006. She was re-elected in 2010. She currently holds the ministerial portfolios of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Multicultural Affairs, Youth and Volunteers.

A member of the Liberal Country League, Kay Brownbill was elected to the seat of Kingston in the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament at the 1966 federal election. She was the third woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, but was in Parliament for only one term as she was defeated at the 1969 election. She was made an OBE in 1980 for services to the community.

Rhoda Kernot opened the La Balfour hospital in Broken Hill, New South Wales, in 1924.

Melva MacGillivray was the first woman to drive a T-Model Ford to Broken Hill, New South Wales.

Ivy Barnes was a foundation member of the women’s branch of the Australian Labor Party in Broken Hill, New South Wales. She was the wife of Edwin John Barnes, who was Mayor of Broken Hill from 1934 to 1937.

Nina Bills wrote the social page and the women’s page for Broken Hill’s Barrier Daily Truth in the 1930s.

Rosetta Birks was a member of the South Australian Women’s Suffrage League and the Social Purity Society in Adelaide. She was president of the YWCA.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Elizabeth Harvey was elected to seat of Hawker in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia at the federal election, which was held in July 1987. She lost the seat at the 1990 election by the narrow margin of fourteen votes. The electorate was abolished in 1993.

A member of the Australian Democrats Party, Natasha Stott Despoja was the youngest woman to enter the federal Parliament in Australia as Senator for South Australia in 1995. She was elected Deputy leader of the Party in 1997 and in April 2001 she was elected leader of the Democrats, the youngest person ever to hold such a position in the Australian Parliament. She resigned the leadership position in 2002 and retired from Parliament in June 2008.

Bronwen Standley-Woodroffe is an artist and co-owner of the Horizon Gallery at Silverton and Broken Hill, New South Wales.

Pam Lord moved to Thackaringa Station in outback New South Wales with her husband John in 1948. Conducting regular hospital visits since 1965, she offered more than fifty years of service to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Women’s Auxiliary in Broken Hill.

Selina McHugh was the first woman blacksmith in the Broken Hill district.

Constance Caskey was a pastoralist who lived with her husband and four children on a remote pastoral property near Menindee, New South Wales.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Julie Bishop was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia as the Member for Curtin, Western Australia in 1998. She was re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013. During the period of the Howard Government her ministerial appointments included Ageing, Education, Science and Training, and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women’s Issues. After the defeat of the Howard Government in November 2007, she was elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition and was a member of the Shadow Ministry. After the 2010 election, she retained the Deputy Leadership of the Opposition and was Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. On the election of the Coalition Government in September 2013, Bishop remained Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and became Minister for Foreign Affairs.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Amanda Rishworth was a candidate for the electoral district of Fisher at the state election, which was held in 2006, but was unsuccessful. She was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Kingston, South Australia, in 2007 and was re-elected at each election since then. She served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the Gillard and Rudd Governments, and was appointed to Cabinet positions in the Albanese Government from 2022. A complete record of her parliamentary service, including a link to her first speech, can be found in the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia (see below).

Initially a member of the Liberal and Country League of Western Australia, Agnes Robertson was elected to the Senate of the Australian Parliament in December 1949. On being dropped from the Liberal Party’s Senate ticket in 1955 because of her age, she joined the Country and Democratic League, was listed first on its ticket and won, becoming the first Country Party’s female senator. She retired from parliament in 1962.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Linda Kirk was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia representing South Australia in 2001. She served for one term only as she lost Party pre-selection for the 2007 federal election. She held the position of Deputy Opposition Leader in the Senate from July 2005 until February 2008. She retired from the Senate in June 2008. Before entering parliament, she served as a councillor on the Adelaide City Council from 1998-2000.

Sister Janet was a Roman Catholic nun who is best known for recording a rock version of The Lord’s Prayer. Made in 1973, the recording became the first single to achieve gold record status in both Australia and the United States at the same time. It earned her a Grammy Award nomination in 1974.

Sister Janet continued to sing regularly at the Adelaide Rock Mass services. She was a part of the Romero Community in Adelaide, working for the relief of the poor and disadvantaged of that city. In 2004 she received the Yamaha Golden Gospel Award in recognition of her services to Australian Christian music at the Australian Gospel Music Awards in Canberra. In 2005 she was named South Australian of the Year in recognition of her deep commitment to social justice.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Anne McEwen was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia as a Senator for South Australia in 2004. She currently holds the position of Deputy Government Whip in the Senate. She was re-elected at the 2010 federal election.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Dana Wortley was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia as a Senator for South Australia in 2004. She was defeated at the 2010 federal election.

Columba Boylan was orphaned as a baby and raised by a cousin until she was old enough to board at St Mary’s, Cabra in Dublin. She enter the convent there in January or 1864, made profession in August 1869 and held the office of Mistress of Novices in the convent before emigrating to Australia to take charge of the Dominican order in Adelaide in early 1875. There she held the office of prioress for close to twenty years.

She arrived in Adelaide at a time when the Catholic Church in Adelaide was in some degree of disarray and her tenure coincided with a period of stability for that institution. She is credited with the consolidation and expansion of the Dominican Community’s membership and its integration into the local church community. She was very important in the establishment of a viable Catholic school system in Adelaide.