The Australian Women's Register

Ivy Lavinia Weber was the first woman to be elected to the Victorian parliament in a general election in 1937. She stood as an endorsed candidate for the Women Electors’ League of Victoria for the seat of Nunawading. As an active member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, she was encouraged to stand for parliament as an independent candidate to represent women. She was re-elected on two occasions, but resigned her state seat in 1943 to contest the federal seat of Henty as part of the League of Women Voters Women for Canberra Movement. She was unsuccessful on that occasion and in 1945 when she again stood for state parliament. She retired from politics after the second defeat.

Anne Fraser Bon had just turned twenty and was newly married when she arrived in Victoria, from Scotland, in 1858. Her husband, John, who was twenty-eight years her senior, was already well-established in pastoralism at Wappan Station in the Bonnie Doon area of south-eastern Victoria. Anne accompanied him to what was then a remote area and bore five children in quick succession. She was widowed at the age of thirty, in 1868, when John Bon died of a heart attack.

Unusually for a women, after her husband’s death, Anne Bon assumed management of the station. She was also unusual amongst her peers for her attempts to act on the behalf of the indigenous people of the region. A devout Presbyterian and humanitarian, Anne Bon supported Aborigines’ resistance to increasing state regimes of control and surveillance. While some of her ideas and goals for the ‘improvement’ of Aboriginal people now seem paternalistic and outdated, many members of indigenous communities nevertheless expressed gratitude for her assistance in thwarting if not defeating the diminution of Aboriginal entitlements and civil rights. It was a cause she remained actively committed to until her death in 1936.

Matilda Thompson was an active member of the Ballarat community. She raised a substantial sum of money for Ballarat’s Avenue of Honour during the First World War and opened her home, Sunways, as a refuge for ex-servicemen.

Una B. Porter (née Cato) was a renowned psychiatrist, philanthropist and devotee of the Methodist Church in Melbourne, Victoria. She was the first female member of staff at Ballarat Mental Hospital in 1946. In 1963 she was elected World President of the YWCA and travelled extensively. In recognition of her services to the community she was appointed Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961, and Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1968.

Fanny Brownbill was the first woman Labor Member of Parliament in Victoria. She held the Legislative Assembly seat of Geelong for ten years from 1938 until her death in 1948. In Parliament she focused on issues relating to women, children and the family.

Nerida Blair, daughter of Harold Blair, was born in Victoria. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Master of Arts (Honours) in Education.

Blair has held a number of positions lecturing in Aboriginal Studies, and counselling and tutoring in various educational institutions. From 1984 to 1989 she was Head of the Aboriginal Education Support Unit at the Catholic Education Centre in Sydney. In 1989 she moved to Canberra to become a Policy Officer for the Department of Employment, Education and Training. She then joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra for one year, and was actively involved in indigenous people’s issues nationally and internationally.

1990 saw Blair move to Sydney to become a Policy Adviser with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In 1998, she was appointed Associate Professor to the Umulliko Indigenous Higher Education Research Centre at the University of Newcastle.

Co-founder of the National Council of Aboriginal and Island Women in 1970, Hyllus Noel Maris co-wrote the award-winning Women of the Sun, which was later adapted as a screen production by the ABC.

Nanny, whose original name is unknown, was probably born into the Toolinyagan group of the Yorta Yorta (Pangerang) people. She married a man named Jackey, of the Pallangan-mittang group of the Waveroo people further up the Murray River. After a number of violent clashes between the Riverina peoples and the incoming pastoralists, Nanny and Jackey settled on Barnawartha station.

In May 1843 Jackey was shot by the convict drover Jack Tunnecliffe, following which the Pallangan-mittang and Yorta Yorta attacked several stations in the vicinity to avenge his death. Two settler shepherds and at least five Aboriginal people were killed during these raids. Nanny protested Jackey’s murder to the Commissioner of Crown Lands at Ulupna, who duly informed Governor Gipps. Nothing, however, was done about it.

In the mid-1870s Nanny, together with her daughter Ellen and son-in-law Charcoal, moved to the Maloga mission, to join her relatives. The women were very distressed when missionary Daniel Matthews showed them some photographs of the dead Yorta Yorta people they had known. When five of Ellen’s grandchildren died, Nanny observed traditional mourning ceremonies by burning herself with firesticks. She herself was among the many Yorta Yorta people who died in 1881-82.

Louise Pepper-Conolly was of Kurnai descent. Her mother was killed by squatters and she, in her grandsons’ words, ‘was overtaken and wounded by gun pellets’. Later, in search of her own people, she settled on the Ramahyuck mission. There she married Nathaniel Pepper, and the couple were given charge of children in the mission orphanage house.

Upon her husband’s death in 1877, Louise remained in charge of the orphanage which, at times, housed 20 children as consumption took its toll on the Kurnai. In 1886, government assimilation policy forced Louise and her family from Ramahyuck to Stratford. She was on call to many of the people who had been residents at Ramahyuck.

A stone monument commemorating Louise Pepper-Conolly has been placed in the main street of Bairnsdale, Victoria.

In 1979, Gracia Baylor became the first woman member of the Liberal Party to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council when she was elected as the member for Boronia. That year she was one of the first two women to be elected to the Upper House, the other being Joan Coxsedge of the Australian Labor Party. Baylor held her seat until 1985 when she resigned to contest (unsucessfully) the Legislative Assembly seat of Warrandyte.

Valerie Callister served as the Member for Morwell in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian State Parliament from 1981-88. A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1976, she was secretary of the Parliamentary party from 1982 and served on the Privileges Committee of the Victorian Parliament from 1982. Before her election to parliament she had a career as a technical school teacher from 1975-81.

Joan Chambers joined the Mortlake branch of the Liberal Party in 1969 and was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly for the seat of Ballarat South in the Victorian Parliament in 1979. She served on the Subordinate Legislation Committee in 1979 and the Public Review Committee, 1980-82. She suffered defeat at the 1982 election, but was an unsuccessful candidate again in the 1988 election. In 1992 she stood as an Independent candidate in the Legislative Assembly seat of Ballarat West.

Eleanor Jessie (Nellie) Stewart, of Wergaia descent, was born Eleanor Pepper at the Ebenezer Mission in western Victoria. Her family travelled widely, spending some time at Coranderrk before settling at Lake Boga near Swan Hill. There Eleanor learnt housekeeping and cooking skills from the wife of the local baker, A.C. Stone, who was friendly with Aboriginal people.

Nellie married Jackson Stewart, of Wemba Wemba descent, and they lived and worked around the Riverina and raised a large family. Nellie worked as a shearers’ cook, and was able to save enough money to buy a house in Swan Hill. In about 1960 she was visited by Alan Marshall, a well-known author, and they planned to write about the early days in the Wimmera. Eleanor also remembered and recorded in writing some Wergaia words, the lists of which are now deposited with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. The Institute also holds audio-tapes of the stories and vocabulary she recounted for C.J. Ellis and Luise Hercus.

A member of the Liberal Party from 1946, Dorothy Goble served as the member for Mitcham in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1967 until 1976.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1969, Judith Dixon served as the member for Boronia in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament from 1982-88.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jeannette Patrick served as the member for Brighton in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1976-85. She held the position of secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1979-82.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, from 1968, Prue Sibree served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly in the Victorian Parliament from 1981-88.

Jane Hill, a member of the Australian Labor Party from 1978, served as the Member for Frankston in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1982-85 and as member for Frankston North from 1985 until 1992, when the seat was abolished. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the Legislative Assembly seat of Frankston East at the Victorian state election, which was held on 3 October 1992.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1971, Margaret Ray served as the member for Box Hill in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1982 to 1992. She was defeated at the state election, which was held on 3 October 1992.

A member of the Australian Labor Party from 1972, Kay Setches served as the member for Ringwood in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1982-92. She held the portfolios of Conservation, Forests and Land from 1988-90, Community Services from 1990-92 and was Minister Responsible for Child Care 1991-92.On the abolition of the seat of Ringwood she unsuccessfully contested the seat of Bayswater at the state election, which was held on 3 October 1992.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Jan Wilson’s political experience encompassed both local and state politics. She served as the member for Dandenong North in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian parliament from 1985 until her retirement in 1999, and was a City of Dandenong Councillor from 1978-86.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Beth Gleeson served as the member for Thomastown in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian parliament from 1985-89. She died in office in December 1989.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Rosemary Varty served as the member for Nunawading Province in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament from 1985 to 1992 and for Silvan from 1992 to 1999. She held the position of Parliamentary Secretary to Cabinet from 1992 to 1999.

A member of the Liberal party of Australia, Marie Tehan served in both Houses of the Victorian Parliament. She was the Member for Central Highlands in the Legislative Council from 1987-92 and for Seymour in the Legislative Assembly from 1992 until 1999, when she retired. As a minister in the Kennett Liberal Government she held the portfolios of Minister for Health from 1992-96 and Minister for Conservation and Land Management from 1996-99.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Lorraine Elliott served as the member for Mooroolbark in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992-2002. She held the position of Victorian Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier for the Arts from 1996-99. She stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia in the seat of Kilsyth at the 2002 state election, which was held on 30 November 2002.The seat of Mooroolbark was abolished in an electoral redistribution in 2001.

A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Ann Henderson was an unsuccessful candidate in the Legislative Assembly seat of Geelong at the Victorian state election which was held in 1988. She won the seat at the 1992 election and served as the member for Geelong in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992 until 1999, when she was defeated. She achieved ministerial status as Minister for Housing and Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs from 1996-99.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Carole Marple served as the Member for Altona in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1992 to 1996. She held the shadow portfolio of Agriculture and Rural Affairs from 1993 to 1996. At the 1996 election, which was held on 30 March, she stood in the Legislative Council Province of Geelong, but was unsuccessful.