The Australian Women's Register

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.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Karen Struthers was elected as Member for Archerfield in the Parliament of Queensland in 1998. After an electoral redistribution before the 2001 election, she became the Member for Algester at that election. In the current parliament she holds the ministerial portfolio of Community Services and Minister for Women.

A member of the Australian Labor Party, Liddy Clark was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Clayfield in 2001. She held the Ministerial portfolio of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy from February 2004 until March 2005. She was defeated at the 2006 election.

Originally a member of the Liberal Party of Queensland, now the Liberal National Party since the amalgamation of the two parties in September 2008, Jann Stuckey was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as Member for Currumbin in 2004. She was re-elected in 2006 and 2009.

Phyllis Mander-Jones was Mitchell Librarian from 1947 to 1957. In 1962 she became the first Australian Joint Copying Project Officer. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1971 in recognition of her contribution to Australian history.

Emily Jane Seebohm is an Australian backstroke and individual medley swimmer. She was a member of the gold medal winning Australian women’s 4 x 100m medley relay team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Seebohm had a successful 2012 Olympic Games, winning two silver medals. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Seebohm represented Australia in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke and won silver in the 4×100m medley relay

Lucy Morice was committed to issues of social justice throughout her life. She, with her aunt, Catherine Helen Spence, founded the Woman’s League in 1895 after women had gained the franchise in South Australia in 1894. It aimed to ‘educate women politically and to work for the interests of women and children’, but did not receive the support of women. Her major commitment however, was to the Kindergarten Union of South Australia, which she helped to found in 1905. She believed that kindergarten was the hope of the future and she saw it as a means of combating what she considered was the regimentation of the state school system. She has a kindergarten named after her in North Adelaide. In 1936 she was appointed Member of the British Empire (M. B. E.) for services to social welfare.

Laura Hope was the first woman to graduate in medicine at the University of Adelaide in 1891. She and her husband, Dr Charles Henry Standish Hope, whom she married in 1893, spent most of their medical careers, as self-supporting missionaries in Bengal. They worked at the Australian Baptist Mission at Pubna and at the New Zealand Baptist Mission Hospital, Chandpur, India. They also spent time at the Bengal Baptist Mission at Kalimpong. They retired to Adelaide in 1934.

Christina Smith worked with Aboriginal people, the Booandik (Buandig) in the Rivoli Bay area of South East Australia and in Mount Gambier. She recorded their customs, legends and social relationships for future generations. In 1854 the family moved to Mount Gambier where they established a night school, cared for Aboriginal orphans and taught adults of mixed race until the death of her husband, James Smith in 1860. In 1865, Christina eventually established a school and home for local Aboriginal children with funding she obtained from Lady Burdett-Coutts. The school however closed in 1868 due to loss of support and an epidemic and became a home for Aborigines.

Nat Davies began her teaching career in the primary sector in South Australia in 1926, but moved into girls’ technical schools in 1939, remaining there until her death in 1951. She was an active unionist, serving as treasurer of the Women’s Assistants’ Association from 1934-37. On the formation of the Women Teachers’ Guild in 1938, Davies served as its liaison officer from 1938-42 and its vice-president from 1945-49. During World War Two she was active in the Defence Society as its president and was the only female civil-defence officer in Adelaide.

After her husband died, Anne Gilfillan took over the management of their farm at Tarlee, South Australia, despite negativity from bank managers and neighbours.

Kay Ebsary runs a farm in partnership with her husband in South Australia.

Deborah Thiele was the inaugural national winner of the Australian Rural Woman of the Year Award in 1994. A graduate of the prestigious Roseworthy Agricultural College (now a campus of the University of Adelaide) not long after it opened its doors to women, she was the first woman to be appointed as an Agricultural Science Senior in the South Australian Education Department. A teacher with a rapidly advancing career in the Department of Education, she returned to farming when she married her husband, Anton. She is joint owner of their farm at Loxton in eastern South Australia. Since 2000 she has worked as an Agricultural Consultant and Lecturer, specialising in Farm Business Management.

In 2007, she stood for the federal electorate of Barker as the National Party Candidate. Prior to that, she stood for election to the South Australian Legislative Council. She stood again at the S.A election in 2010.

Thiele had an impressive record of community engagement at the time she won the award, and continues to maintain that record.

Christine Kearney was a Regional winner (Gippsland, Victoria) of the Rural Woman of the Year Award in 1994. She and her husband were dairy farmers in Dollar, Victoria. Christine was important to the establishment of rural counselling networks in her area.

Lily Addison competed in the All England Tennis Championships at Wimbledon in 1919. She served with the Australian Army Nursing Service 1917-19 in Greece and England.

Elizabeth Bilney was a founding member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in the Australian Capital Territory during the mid-1970s and took a lead in the campaign for working mothers’ access to childcare. She made a significant contribution to the acceptance of the right of children to good care and the responsibility of government to support this in Australia.

Elizabeth also edited and managed the publication of The Heritage of Australia (1981) for Macmillan of Australia in association with the Australian Heritage Commission; she established the journalHeritage Australia for the Australian Council of National Trusts, and was publishing co-ordinator for the National Gallery of Australia, and publications manager for the National Library of Australia.

Annette Edmondson won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London in 2012. She went on to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.

Dr Gwen Woodroofe undertook research at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University, working on myxomatosis and arboviruses. She also organised the sale of UNICEF Christmas cards in Canberra for many years.

Ngingali Cullen, who was formerly known as Audrey Kinnear, was a co-chair of the National Sorry Day Committee that worked to achieve wide recognition of the wrongs suffered by Aboriginal people across Australia. Although scarred by the policies of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, it was healing those wounds that was her constant preoccupation. A proposal initiated by her led to the Journey of Healing campaign launched by the National Sorry Day Committee in 1999.

Necia Mocatta devoted much of her life, energy and enthusiasm to the betterment and dignity of the lives of women and children. She believed that the family unit was the foundation on which a caring, prosperous society was built and focused her attention on strengthening it at local, national and international levels, rather then pursuing broad issues of gender equality. An astute and successful businesswoman, she became actively involved with the National Council of Women at a state, national and international level as president of both NCW South Australia (1980-1983, 1996) and the National Council of Women of Australia (1985-1988), and as a Board member (1988-1991) then vice-president (1991) of the International Council of Women.

Read more about Margaret Ellen Allen in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.