Honouring ACT Women
The ACT’s awards and honours have done much to recognise the contributions of women to many facets of life in the Territory and beyond, to the nation and internationally. The ACT Women’s Honour Roll (https://www.communityservices.act.gov.au/women/awards/act-womens-honour-roll) brings together in a digital space all past female recipients of a number of significant awards since the ACT was granted self-government in 1989.
The awards cover a variety of areas – contributions to the local community, to the status and lives of women and girls in the ACT, and fields such as science, the arts, social welfare, and sport. Each entry on the Honour Roll includes a photograph and a brief description of the woman’s achievements.
Perhaps the most significant categories in the Women’s Honour Roll are ACT Australians of the Year and those on the ACT Honour Walk.
There are four categories of ACT Australian of the Year – an overall winner, a young person, a senior person, and a local hero. Winners in each category are considered in the annual national Australian of the Year awards.
The ACT Honour Walk recognises individuals or groups who have made significant, sustained contributions to the ACT. The Honour Walk itself comprises a plaque for each recipient, set in the pavement in Ainslie Place between London Circuit and the Canberra Times Fountain outside the Canberra Centre in the city.
Many women on the Honour Roll are already included in the Australian Women’s Register. This online exhibition is the result of a project to write new, detailed entries for 17 significant women who are on the Honour Roll but ‘missing’ from the Register.
This project was supported with funding made available by the ACT Government under the ACT Heritage Grants Program.
