The Australian Women's Register

Dorothy St John was an amateur photographer who was trained by her father, a street photographer. Her photographs record the everyday life in rural Western Australia.

Helen Mackay worked at a photography studio in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, where she specialised in portraiture.

Jan Kennedy was best known for her photography of children, as well as for photographing society people, and for her cinematic work with Stuart Gore.

Joy Falls was a commercial photographer whose professional work was primarily based in Sydney. Falls was the earliest woman photographer to have worked with colour processing in Australia.

Caroline Andrews came to public notice in 1900, when she took her husband to court in Albany, Western Australia, and won a judicial separation with maintenance for their children. The case was heard under an 1896 act which provided that judicial separation was summarily available to a woman whose husband had been convicted of assault against her. A close reading of the court records suggests that she provoked her husband’s assault in order to win the judicial separation. Her aim was to prevent him from returning to England with the profits of their joint business ventures, without making provision for his children.

Recent biographical projects have tended to focus on leading women whose activities had some impact on politics or society. Caroline Edwards’ work was always within the frame of family, whether in family businesses or in care for her 13 children. The wealth of online resources now available for family history research makes it possible to tell the stories of women like Caroline Edwards whose victories and defeats were mostly private.

Susan Jennifer Watkins was a prominent Western Australian photographer. Watkins is said to be the first Western Australian woman to work on photography autonomously. She was highly regarded for her stylish portraiture.

Fanny Balbuk was a prominent Noongar woman and an informant on Noongar culture and history to anthropologist Daisy Bates. She is renowned for protesting at Government House about the occupation of her traditional land around Perth.

The information which Fanny Balbuk passed on to Daisy Bates played an important role in the native title claim of 19 September 2006, whereby Justice Wilcox of the Federal Court of Australia found that Noongar people held native title rights over parts of the Perth area.

After completing a Master of Arts at Cambridge University, Judith Rodriguez taught English at La Trobe University from 1969 until 1985. In 1986 she was writer-in-residence at Rollins College, Florida. Judith took up a lectureship in writing at Victoria College in 1989 (which became part of Deakin University in 1993) where she continued to teach until her retirement in 2003.

Judith published her first poetry collection in 1962 as part of Four Poets, with the others being David Malouf, Rodney Hall and Don Maynard. In 1973 she published her first solo collection, Nu-Plastik Fanfare Red: and other poems.

Water Life (1976) won the inaugural South Australian Biennial Literature Prize in 1978, while one of Rodriguez’s most highly-regarded collections, Mudcrab at Gambaro’s (1980) received both the Sydney PEN Golden Jubilee Award for Poetry and the Artlook/Shell Literary Award in 1981.

Judith is also known for her poems about women’s experiences; the title poem of Witch Heart (1982), published by the feminist press Sisters, records a visit to Robyn Archer’s play about the often disastrous lives of famous women performers.

In 1994 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia, for services to literature, and also received the FAW Christopher Brennan Award.

Myrtle Rose White was an author who published a small number of works, including No Roads Go By, which was an account of life at Lake Elder, South Australia.

Myrtle produced two sequels to her debut publication; Beyond the Western Rivers in 1955 and From That Day To This in 1961.

Although she also wrote three novels, only For Those That Love It (1933) was published.

Romola studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1953 to 1955, followed by a year of study at the University of Western Australia where she became a medical artist. Romola held her first solo exhibition at the age of twenty-one, at Perth’s Skinner Galleries, in 1959.

Romola won the Claude Hotchin Prize and also the Helen Rubinstein Portrait Prize (1960). She was the former director and art consultant of Molongolo Press.

Alexandra Manly won a gold medal in the 4000m Team Pursuit at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Lynne Seymour won a gold medal in the Lawn Bowls Mixed B2/B3 Pairs at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Brianna Throssell won a gold medal in the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Journalist Sally Baker Clinch worked as a feature writer for the Sunday Sun and also as an assistant editor for Women’s Day.

Margaret Anne Feilman was Perth’s first female town planner and a founding member of the Western Australia (WA) Town Planning Institute in 1950. Throughout her career, Margaret helped to establish the WA State Trust, was an inaugural Commissioner of the Australian Heritage Commission and was Chairman of the WA Town Planning Board. She was also a pioneer in heritage conservation techniques. On 13 June 13 1981, Margaret was awarded an Order of the British Empire medal ‘in recognition of service to architecture and conservation’.

Sister May Bartlett joined the Australian Army Nursing Service on 12 June 1915. In 1919 she was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class. She worked at Perth Hospital for many years.

Ivy Verna Peace Bennett, who trained with the London Institute, was the first ‘lay’ psychoanalyst in Australia. She practiced In Australia from 1952 to 1958.

Florence Cardell-Oliver became the first woman in Australia to be appointed to a cabinet or ministry when made Western Australian Minister for Health, Supply and Shipping in 1949.

Ruby Litchfield was appointed as a Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 13 June 1981 for service to the performing arts and the community. She had earlier been appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil), on 1 January 1959, for social welfare.

Dame Ida Mann was a distinguished English ophthalmologist whose long-term association with Australia began when she moved to Perth, Western Australia, after World War II. She diagnosed a trachoma epidemic amongst Indigenous people in the Kimberleys and travelled extensively in Western Australia in order to examine and treat Indigenous people with trachoma. Mann became convinced that better housing and sanitation, rather than administration of antibiotics, would improve this health crisis. She was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 14 June 1980 for services to the welfare of Aboriginal people.

Elsie Curtin maintained an interest in social issues and politics throughout her entire life. Her work in these areas continued even after the death of her husband, Prime Minister John Curtain. For her service to the community, Elsie Curtin was appointed Commander to the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on 1 January 1970.

Ada May Norris, née Bickford was educated at Melbourne High School and the University of Melbourne, where she graduated BA Dip. Ed. In 1924. In 1929 she married John Norris. From 1951, Ada Norris was involved in numerous committees and organisations promoting women, multiculturalism, children and immigration.

Ada Norris was appointed Officer of the British Empire (10 June 1954) and Dame Commander of the of the British Empire on 12 June 1976 for distinguished community service. On 14 June 1969 Norris was awarded the Order of St Michael and St George – Commanders while President of the National Council of Women.

Raigh Roe was appointed Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1979 for services to women. A member of the Country Women’s Association since the age of 18, Roe became Branch President, Western Australian State President and National President. In 1977 she was elected World President of the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW), representing almost nine million women in 74 countries. That year she also was named Australian of the Year.

Sheila Mary McClemans pioneered entry into the legal profession for Western Australian women. Throughout her life, in addition to her legal career, Sheila held a range of high-level positions, including director of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, and became the role model for many Australian women inside and outside the armed forces. During her lifetime Sheila’s efforts never received the full recognition they deserved within the legal profession. She was denied the traditional rewards of QC, Judge or Dame. The Commonwealth, however, recognised the value of her service to the law and women’s affairs, appointing her an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1951 and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1977. She was also awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal (SJM) in 1977.

Olive Eva Anstey was born in Perth in 1920. Against her mother’s judgment, Olive pursued her desire to become a nurse, completing her general training at Royal Perth Hospital. Olive eventually became a top nursing administrator who was well respected and admired for the compassion and leadership qualities she brought to her chosen profession. Throughout her career Olive was a staunch advocate for better working conditions and pay for nurses, working on various committees with the goal of obtaining recognition of nursing as a profession. She was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1969 and in 1982 was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her service to nursing.