Marcela BILEK

Born 1/1968

In 2000, Marcela Bilek became the first woman Pro­fes­sor of Applied Physics at Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney. She is now Head of the Applied and Plas­ma Physics Research Group at the University…

Loraine Margaret BRAHAM

Born 21/8/1938

Lor­rain Bra­ham was the first woman elect­ed from Cen­tral Aus­tralia to the Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry (1994) and the first woman Speak­er in the North­ern Territory.…

Mary Elizabeth BROWN

Born 1862, Died 1/05/1952

Also known as: Elizabeth

1885 — One of two female Arts grad­u­ates, with Iso­la Thomp­son, Syd­ney University.

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Cheryl KERNOT

Born 5/12/1948

Also known as: nee Paton, formerly Young

1993 – 1997 — First female Leader of the Aus­tralian Democ­rats in Fed­er­al Parliament

For­mer high school teacher.1993 – 1997 — Leader of the Aus­tralian Democrats.1998 – 2001 — Member…

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Muriel CHAPLIN

1998 — First woman in world to be appoint­ed Grand Mas­ter of an Inde­pen­dent Order of Odd­fel­lows Fra­ter­ni­ty Grand Lodge.

Elizabethy E. ARNEY

Born 1932

Also known as: Betty

Bet­ty Arney was the first woman to become a priest in the Angli­can Church of Aus­tralia, ordained with nine oth­er women at St George’s Cathe­dral, Perth 7 March 1992.

Caroline Emily CLARK

Born 6 September 1825, Died 18 November 1911

In 1887 Car­o­line was appoint­ed to the new­ly-cre­at­ed State Chil­dren’s Coun­cil and in the 1890’s helped to win such reforms as the estab­lish­ment of the Chil­dren’s Court in…

Roma Flinders MITCHELL

Born 2/10/1913, Died 05/03/2000

The first woman to ​“take silk”, when pro­mot­ed to Queen’s Coun­sel in 1962, she is Aus­trali­a’s first female Judge when appoint­ed to the Supreme Court of South…

Edna ZIGENBINE

Born 10 October 1926, Died 15 September 2007

Also known as: née Zigenbine, Edna Jessop

Edna was Aus­trali­a’s first female boss drover. She began work­ing full-time as a drover at the age of 14 and was drov­ing with her fam­i­ly across the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry on the…

Grace Emily MUNRO

Born 25/03/1879, Died 23/07/1964

Also known as: née Gordon

1922 — Founder of the Coun­try Wom­en’s Asso­ci­a­tion of Aus­tralia (CWA), with her as the pres­i­dent. She trav­elled New South Wales and Queens­land , and by 1923 formed 68 branch­es and…

Marion F. WRIGHT

Also known as: née Lunn, Brownie, Browny

In 1934 Brown­ie was the first Aus­tralian woman pilot to go night fly­ing. There were no marked run­ways with lights, just kerosene flares made out of tin cans full of burn­ing rags. In…

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Constance ELLIS

Born 1860, Died 1959

Also known as: Connie

Con­nie went ​“to Queens­land in 1889 because she want­ed a job in a new land. … Connie’s first job in Aus­tralia was as a ladies’ com­pan­ion at Kyabra, more than 1100 km west of Brisbane.”

Myra MacKENZIE

Born 1881, Died 1969

Also known as: née Rendle

1899 — First qual­i­fied female den­tist in Queens­land (prac­tic­ing Bris­bane 1899, reg­is­tered 1903).

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Nellie Grace IBBOTT

Born 20 June 1889, Died 25 June 1970

Also known as: née Pugh

1943 — She was Vic­to­ri­a’s first may­or, app­point­ed to Hei­del­berg City Council.
2001 — Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

Ruth HEGARTY

Born 1929

1929 — First Abo­rig­i­nal baby born at Mitchell Hos­pi­tal, Mitchell, Queensland.
Now an author, her first book, Is That You, Ruthie? (1999), was an auto­bi­og­ra­phy. Her sec­ond book is…

Jessie Mary VASEY

Born 19/10/1897, Died 22/9/1966

Also known as: née Halbert

1945 — Founder of The War Wid­ows’ Guild of Aus­tralia, to pro­vide sup­port in social and wel­fare aspects and by pro­vid­ing gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tion on forums and cam­paign­ing for…

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Mabel MEIN-BEL

Born 1934, Died 5/06/2016

Also known as: Mabel Jimarin

First Abo­rig­i­nal woman to have quadru­plets (all girls) in 1968, as well as the first North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry quads. Then, in 1969, gave birth to twin girls.

Nanagu group; Brinkin…

Elizabeth KENNY

Born 20/9/1880, Died 30/11/1952

Also known as: Sister Elizabeth Kenny

1911 — First per­son to imple­ment an effec­tive method of treat­ment for Infan­tile Paral­y­sis (Poliomyelitis).
1927 — Designed and patent­ed the ​“Sylvia“ambulance stretch­er which…

Mary Catherine ROGERS

Born 2 August 1872, Died 25 September 1932

Also known as: née Skeahan

1920 — Mary Rogers was the first female coun­cil­lor in Vic­to­ria, Rich­mond City, and the sec­ond in Australia.
2001 — Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

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Belinda KAY

Born 1881, Died 1903

1895 — After her pio­neer sheep sta­tion par­ents, a broth­er and sis­ter were trag­i­cal­ly drowned in a boat­ing acci­dent, Belin­da (aged 13 ¹⁄₂ years) looked after her remain­ing three sisters…

Marjorie ANDREW

Mar­jorie Andrew worked for the Allied Works Coun­cil in Alice Springs and Dar­win dur­ing World War Two (Alice Springs 1944 – 1945). One of the most press­ing demands on Aus­tralia during…

Margaret Rose PRESTON

Born 29/04/1875, Died 28/05/1963

Also known as: née McPherson, Rose McPherson

1920s — First white artist to be deeply influ­enced by Abo­rig­i­nal art.
A Mod­ernist artist, with her main work oil on can­vas and her bold flower paintings. 

Chelsea ROFFEY

Born 1 August 1981

First woman to offi­ci­ate (goal umpire) at an AFL Grand Final (2012).

Prac­tic­ing jour­nal­ist and trained musi­cian; recip­i­ent of a Win­ston Churchill Fel­low­ship in 2014.

Kate LYNCH

Born 1882

First all girl tim­ber cut­ting team in Queensland.

In 1900 the Lynch fam­i­ly faced ruin when their cat­tle were wiped out by fever. Cor­nelius then taught his daugh­ters the art…

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Anne-Marie PRIESTLEY

1999 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s first female Angli­can Priest. First woman to have respon­si­bil­i­ty for a parish.

She ​“was ordained a priest in Alice Springs on Sun­day, May 30,…

Jane Stocks GREIG

Born 12 June 1872, Died 16 September 1939

Also known as: Jean

1896 – 1910 — One of founders of Vic­to­ri­an Med­ical Wom­en’s Society.
16 April 1910 — Received the Diplo­ma of Pub­lic Health at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne, the first woman to do so.…

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Rachel WESTAWAY

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Dido COOPER

Born 1897

When Ade­laide House was opened in 1926, it was run by nurs­es … with the help of Abo­rig­i­nal women like Dido Cooper.

June Mary BRONHILL

Born 26 June 1929, Died 24 January 2005

Also known as: née Gough

Aus­tralian Nation­al Opera and Sadler’s Wells Opera Com­pa­ny Singer. Win­ner of Syd­ney Eisteddfod and Sun Aria Prize. 1949 came third in Syd­ney Eisteddfod behind Joan Sutherland.…

Terry UNDERWOOD

Born 1/1/1948

Also known as: née Augustus

1997 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Tel­stra Busi­ness Woman of the Year award for busi­ness own­er category.
Author of In the Mid­dle of Nowhere and Riv­eren — My Home, My Country.

Began her…

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Isabel Ramsay LETHAM

Born 23/5/1899, Died 11/3/1995

Also known as: Isabel Latham

Jan­u­ary 1915 — The first Aus­tralian to ride in Aus­tralian surf in the Hawai­ian style — the first Aus­tralian surfer, Fresh­wa­ter Beach, New South Wales.
1940s — Brought water bal­let to…

Lillian Rose SAVAGE

Died 17/10/2012

1965 — Arrived with hus­band Bob and six chil­dren at Suple­jack Downs (in Tana­mi Desert) in vir­gin coun­try and made a work­ing sta­tion (15,000 sq. miles).

Katherin Wendy LOWENSTEIN

Born 25/6/1927, Died 16/10/2006

Also known as: née Robertson, Wendy

1974 — Her first [self-]published book Shock­ing, Shock­ing: the improp­er play rhymes of Aus­tralian Children.
1977 — Co-author of The Immi­grants, with Mor­ag Loh.
1978 — Author of…

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Susana FERNANDEZ

Also known as: née Fernandez

A pilot in the Aus­tralian Defence Force, she was the first female in an Aus­tralian Defence Force Recon­nais­sance Squadron; first female Aus­tralian Defence Force Troop Com­man­der in…

Lottie KERR

Born 13 August 1885, Died 16 November 1957

Also known as: née Hill

Estab­lished Del­ny Sta­tion in Cen­tral Aus­tralia, with her hus­band Alexan­der Kerr.

Lot­tie Hill grew up in a fam­i­ly of 12 chil­dren and a 13^th adopt­ed child. After the death of…

Emmeline Freda DU FAUR

Born 16 September 1882, Died 11 September 1935

Also known as: Freda

Alpine climb­ing pio­neer in New Zealand. There are fea­tures in New Zealand named after her (e.g., Du Faur Peak and Du Faur Glac­i­er in Mount Cook Nation­al Park). She was the first woman…

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June TUZEWSKI

Also known as: née Bozzini

2000 — Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia for ser­vices to the wel­fare of women and fam­i­lies, The Brown­ies, and the Wom­en’s Advi­so­ry Council.

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Juliet E M STAWELL

1916 — One of the first women (along with Annie Lit­tle­john) to enroll in Archi­tec­ture at Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty — did not com­plete course.

Jane FRANKLIN

Born 4 December 1791, Died 18 July 1875

Also known as: née Griffin, Lady Franklin

Wife of Sir John FRANKLIN, Gov­er­nor of Tas­ma­nia between 1837 – 1843. She was a con­tro­ver­sial reformer for the wel­fare of con­victs and pub­lic education

Patricia Kathleen LITTLEJOHN

Born 23/6/1913, Died 9/1998

Also known as: née Littlejohn, Patricia Abbott

Pat Lit­tle­john was the sec­ond woman to enrol in the Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty fac­ul­ty of Vet­eri­nary Sci­ence, in 1931, but the first to grad­u­ate, in 1935 (Ann Flash­man was the first to enrol in…

Annie Florence LACEY

Born 28/10/1893, Died 1960

Also known as: née Rampton, Nance

Opened first hos­pi­tal for peo­ple with Lep­rosy in Mel­bourne in ear­ly 1950s.

Pio­neer­ing Bush Nurse in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and Far North Queensland.1919 — Trained as nurse, Hobart…

Telka Alathea WILLIAMS

Died 27 April 2018

Also known as: née Rowe, Althea Telka Rowe, Alathea Telka Rowe

One of the first women in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry pub­lic ser­vice to be grant­ed equal pay.
1977 — Tel­ka was made Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire.

1956 – 1984 — Telka…

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Thelma May PYE

Also known as: née Burrows

1962 — Man­ag­er with hus­band David, of Todd Riv­er Sta­tion, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Annie MEYERS

Also known as: nee Williams

Annie Williams arrived in Alice Springs in the late 1890s. Here she mar­ried Char­lie Mey­ers (aka Aaron Schun­ke), the local sad­dler. They had four chil­dren: Dorothy Annie, Her­man John…

Helen LYNCH

Born 1879

Also known as: Nell

Amy Katherine TAYLOR

Born 28/12/1923, Died 28/01/2018

Also known as: née Millgate

1946 — First woman in New South Wales Police to per­form traf­fic duty.
1984 — The first and only woman to be elect­ed to the Com­bined Ser­vices Sub-Branch Com­mit­tee of the Returned and…

Rosemary ARNOLD

Born 18/4/1934

In 1967, Rose­mary became Aus­trali­a’s first female com­mer­cial heli­copter pilot. She achieved com­mer­cial rat­ings in both fixed and rotary wing air­craft. Rose­mary was the first and…

Margaret Helen MITTELHEUSER

Born 25/07/1931, Died 27/12/2013

1964 — First woman stock­bro­ker in Aus­tralia and almost cer­tain­ly the world.

1952 — Received Bach­e­lor of Com­merce degree, Uni­ver­si­ty of Queensland.1952 — She joined the firm…

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Joyce Debenham SEAGER

Born 20/09/1899, Died 7/09/1991

Also known as: née Tearne, Joy, Joyce Debenham HENNIKER

Jan­u­ary 1925 — First woman doc­tor at Kingscote, on Kan­ga­roo Island, South Aus­tralia. She was the sole med­ical prac­ti­tion­er, phar­ma­cist, and dentist.

1945 — She was the only doctor…

Louisa Ann MEREDITH

Born 20/07/1812, Died 21/10/1895

Also known as: née Twamley

1880 — First women in Aus­tralia to design a postage stamp. She sketched the platy­pus on a Tas­man­ian Duty Stamp. Two years lat­er these stamps were autho­rised for postal use.…