- Entry type: Person
- Entry ID: IMP0142
Rischbieth, Bessie Mabel
- OBE
- Maiden name Earle, Bessie
- Born 16 October 1874, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- Died 16 March 1967, Bethesda Hospital Claremont, Western Australia, Australia
- Occupation Feminist, Women's rights activist
Summary
Bessie Rischbieth’s interest in woman’s suffrage was aroused when she attended a suffrage meeting in London in 1908. A co-founder of the Women’s Service Guild of Western Australia in 1909, she was also co-founder and President of the Australian Federation of Women Voters (1921-1942). Rischbieth edited The Dawn, a women’s paper issued in Perth from 1914 to 1939. A talented craftswoman her art embroidery, beaten copperwork and word carvings were exhibited with the West Australian Society of Arts. In the later years of her life Rischbieth clashed with Jessie Street, whom she labelled a communist. Bessie Rischbieth was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her work with women’s movements.
Events
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1898
Married wool merchant, Henry Wills Rischbieth (deceased 1925)
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1906
Founding member of the Children’s Protection Society
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1909
Foundation member of the Women’s Service Guilds of Western Australia
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1911 - 1922
President of the Women’s Service Guilds of Western Australia
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1915
Appointed, in an honorary capacity, to the Children’s Court
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1920
Appointed as a justice of the peace to the Perth Court
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1921 - 1942
Foundation president of the Australian Federation of Women’s Societies (later Voters)
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1925
Co-founder of the British Commonwealth League of Women, becoming foundation vice-president
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1925
Inaugural secretary of the Western Australian Women Justices’ Association
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1926
Joined the board of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship
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1928
Leader of the Australian delegation to the Pan-Pacific Women’s Conference in Honolulu
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1935
Appointed Officer to the Order of the British Emipre for her service with the women’s movements
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1939 - 1945
World for Australian servicemen at the Boomerang Club, Australia House, England
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1946 - 1950
President of the Women’s Service Guilds of Western Australia
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1955
Life member of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship
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1964
Published March of Australian women
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2001
Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women
Archival resources
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National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
- Papers of Ruby Rich, 1906-1984 [manuscript]
- Papers on various Australian women [19--] [manuscript]
- Papers of Irene Greenwood, 1912-1981 [manuscript]
- Papers and objects of Bessie Rischbieth, 1900-1967 [manuscript]
- Papers of Ruby Rich, 1943-1948 [manuscript]
- Papers of Jessie Street, circa 1914-1968 [manuscript]
- State Library of Western Australia
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National Library of Australia
- Badges of women's suffrage groups worn by Bessie Rischbieth, circa 1913 [realia]
- [Biographical cuttings on Bessie Mabel Rischbieth, benefactor, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
- [Sash with inscription: Votes for women] [realia]
- [Order of the British Empire medal awarded to Bessie Rischbieth] [realia]
- [Saucer and plate belonging to Mrs. Pankhurst, presented to Bessie Rischbieth by the Suffragette Fellowship London] [realia] / [manufactured by] Williamsons, Longton, Eng
- National Library of Australia, Pictures Collection
- The University of Melbourne Archives
Published resources
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Resource
- Trove: Rischbieth, Bessie Mabel (1874-1967), http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-703062
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Book
- Reflections : profiles of 150 women who helped make Western Australia's history; Project of the Womens Committee for the 150th Anniversary Celebrations of Western Australia, Popham, Daphne; Stokes, K.A.; Lewis, Julie, 1979
- Uphill all the way: a documentary history of women in Australia, Daniels, Kay and Murnane, Mary, 1980
- Women on the warpath : feminist of the first wave, Davidson, Dianne, 1997
- March of Australian women : a record of fifty years' struggle for equal citizenship., Rischbieth, Bessie Mabel, 1875-1967., 1964
- Women's sphere : a summary of the movement for women's electoral reform and representation in Victoria, Mackay, Louise, 1904- [prepared by ], 1989
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Edited Book
- Who's Who in Australia 1962, Alexander, Joseph A, 1962
- 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Radi, Heather, 1988, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20071105022623/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/78644/20071105-1315/www.200australianwomen.com/index.html
- Photograph
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Resource Section
- Guide to the Papers of Ruby Rich, National Library of Australia, 1999, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-296328435/findingaid
- [Collar with inscription: Votes for women], c. 1913, http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an7853009
- [Portrait of Bessie Rischbieth] [picture]., National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an8328137
- [Saucer and plate belonging to Mrs. Pankhurst, presented to Bessie Rischbieth by the Suffragette Fellowship London], National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an7853019
- Rischbieth, Bessie Mabel (1874-1967), Lutton, Nancy, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110404b.htm
- Conference Proceedings
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Finding Aid
- Guide to the Papers of Bessie Rischbieth, National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-250831564/findingaid
- Book Section
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Site Exhibition
- Faith, Hope and Charity Australian Women and Imperial Honours: 1901-1989, Australian Women's Archives Project, 2003, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/honours/honours.html
- The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Smart, Judith and Swain, Shurlee (eds.), 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders
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