Agnes Jean POLLOCK

Born 13/07/1909, Died 13/02/1996

Also known as: Jean

1952 — Found­ing Prin­ci­pal of ​‘Larnook ​‘Teacher Train­ing College.

Pio­neered edu­ca­tion for women.Trained in Domes­tic Arts (lat­er known as Home Economics).

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Margaret Amelia CORLIS

Born 1840, Died 6 January 1925

Also known as: née Walker, Mrs Dr. Corlis

First woman doc­tor to prac­tice in Aus­tralia. Prac­ticed main­ly in New South Wales in the 1890s with her hus­band, Dr Josi­ah Corlis. 1890s — Went to West­ern Aus­tralia because of a major…

Monica Augustine HAINES

Born 1897, Died 1996

Also known as: née Minahan, Mona, Mona Minahan

1932 — First bar­maid in Cen­tral Australia.
1959 – 60 — First woman to own a Hotel in Alice Springs, ​‘The River­side’ (now Todd Tavern).
Opened first dress shop in Alice Springs,…

Rosalie Edith BANDT

Born 18 August 1951

Also known as: Ros Bandt

Ros Bandt is an inter­na­tion­al­ly acclaimed sound artist, com­pos­er, researcher and per­former and has been described as one of the most indi­vid­ual pres­ences in Aus­tralian music. Since…

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Adelaide IRONSIDE

Born 17/11/1831, Died 15/4/1867

1856 — First Aus­tralian born woman to have an Inter­na­tion­al pro­fes­sion­al career as a painter.
Repub­li­can and close asso­ciate of Daniel Hen­ry Deniehy (for more infor­ma­tion on Deniehy,…

Elizabeth Frances COPPOCK

Born 16 March 1908

Also known as: née Amey, Bess

Pio­neer set­tler of Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Worked with her hus­band at Hatch­es Creek from 1936 – 1939 min­ing for Wol­fram, then to Gibeanie Sta­tion (1939−1959) (locat­ed about 300km north-east…

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Evelyn Ruth SCOTT

Born 1935, Died 21 September 2017

Also known as: née Backo

1991 — First female chair­per­son of the Coun­cil for Abo­rig­i­nal Reconciliation.
2000 — Hon­orary doc­tor­ate award­ed by Uni­ver­si­ty of West­ern Sydney.

Abo­rig­i­nal rights…

Susan Barbara ZOG

Born 28/1/1941, Died 17/7/2004

Also known as: née Cullen-Ward, Roo, Queen Susan, Crown Princess Susan of Albania

First Aus­tralian woman to be queen of a coun­try (Alba­nia) — H.M. The Queen (in exile)

Through her moth­er, she is 22^nd in line of descent from King Edward I of Eng­land and is…

Joan MacCORMAC

Also known as: née Waterton

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Short-term member.

Daphne Jessie AKHURST

Born 22/4/1903, Died 9/1/1933

Also known as: Daphne Cozens

Daphne Akhurst was the first Aus­tralian woman to reach the Wim­ble­don semi-finals (1928), and the first Aus­tralian woman to fig­ure promi­nent­ly in ten­nis in over­seas tours. She reached…

Ann JAMES

Born 1839, Died 6/3/1912

Also known as: née Minogue, Granny

Just arrived from Gal­way, Ann mar­ried Moses Wal­ter JAMES in 1858. In 1863, with three sons, they road pack­hors­es to the gold dig­gings in Dar­go and then on to Omeo. Even­tu­al­ly they…

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Kay Leslie PAGE

Born 1956

Also known as: Katie, Katie Page-Harvey

In 2005, appoint­ed to the Board of the Nation­al Rug­by League, becom­ing the first woman to become a mem­ber of a major sport­ing board in Australia.

CEO/MD Har­vey Norman.…

Elizabeth Ann LEWIS

Eliz­a­beth is a high­ly respect­ed neu­ro­sur­geon with a spe­cial inter­est in medico-legal work, pae­di­atric neu­ro­surgery and spinal neurosurgery.

1958 — Bach­e­lor of Medicine,…

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Wendy SNOOK

1991 — First female chap­lain in the Defence Forces.

Emily Elsie SIMPER

Born 1905, Died 30/08/1999

Also known as: Sister Emily Simper

1933 — Pos­si­bly the only nurse to ever buy her own hos­pi­tal, the War­rawee Pri­vate Hos­pi­tal on Oxide Street, Bro­ken Hill, New South Wales.

Joanne MEIN

Born 1971

Also known as: Jo

First lieu­tenant Joanne Mein is the first woman mem­ber of the Roulettes in the 30-year his­to­ry of the Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force’s for­ma­tion aer­o­bat­ics team.

R.A.A.F…

Amy CAIL

Born 29 March 1833, Died 15 July 1914

Also known as: née Williams

Pio­neer of Bendi­go area of Victoria.

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Leah HANDLEY

First Light­ing Tech­ni­cian to train in the North­ern Territory.

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Robyn Wells MAY

Also known as: née Hammond

Began fly­ing between Mel­bourne and Tasmania.Flew in Papua New Guinea — ​“Only excep­tion­al pilots sur­vive.” Now flies in South Australia.

Nene Claire KING

Born 3/1943

Nene King was the first woman to sit on the board of Ker­ry Pack­er’s pub­lish­ing and broad­cast­ing com­pa­ny which con­trols the Nine Net­work and Con­sol­i­dat­ed Press.

Nene…

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Jennifer THOMPSON

Born 1951

Abo­rig­i­nal health work­er, Alice Springs Hos­pi­tal, North­ern Territory.

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Mavis HOARE

Born 1927

Also known as: née Winn

1951 — First women in the South African province of Natal to gain a com­mer­cial pilot’s licence.

Flew for the Onas­sis and Niar­chos fam­i­lies for four (4) years. Moved to…

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Sally Sophia GOOLD

Born 1 January

Also known as: née Bamblett, Dr Sally Bamblett

First Abo­rig­i­nal Reg­is­tered Nurse at Abo­rig­i­nal Med­ical Ser­vice, Red­fern, New South Wales.

2005 — Award­ed Roy­al Col­lege of Nurs­ing (Queens­land) Dis­tin­guished Nurs­ing Award.
2002 -…

Caroline CHISHOLM

Born 30 May 1808, Died 25 March 1877

Also known as: née Jones

She is com­mem­o­rat­ed on 16 May in the cal­en­dar of saints of the Church of England.
2001 — Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

She was giv­en the title ​“The…

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Joice Mary LOCH

Born 24/1/1887, Died 8/10/1982

Also known as: née NanKivell

Aus­trali­a’s most dec­o­rat­ed woman. 1920s — Helped 150,000 refugees escape Turk­ish per­se­cu­tion. Saved the vil­lage of Oura­noupo­lis from star­va­tion by revi­tal­is­ing its rug industry.…

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Diane Patricia HAMILTON

Born 11 July 1953

First female Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Union of Postal Clerks and Telegraphists.

1986 — Branch Assis­tant Sec­re­tary, Union of Postal Clerks & Telegraphs.
1988 — General…

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Linda WATSON

Founder of Lin­da’s House of Hope — help­ing women get out of prostitution.

Lauren Chantel BURNS

Born 8 June 1974

2000 — Gold Medal­ist at the Syd­ney Olympic Games, Taek­won­do, 49kg Class.
26 Jan­u­ary 2001 – Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia (OAM), ser­vices to sport.
2017 — Induct­ed into the Sport Australia…

Deborah CHEETHAM

Born 24 November 1964

Aus­trali­a’s first female Indige­nous opera singer; in 2007, wrote ​“Pecan Sum­mer,” Aus­trali­a’s first Indige­nous opera, then trained the nec­es­sary Indige­nous singers;…

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Eileen Marjory [Marjorie] FITZER

Born 30 March 1902, Died 27 August 2001

Also known as: née Styles, Eily

Pio­neer triple-cer­tifi­cat­ed nurs­ing sister. 
1930s — First, and only, nurs­ing sis­ter at the min­ing rush­es to Ten­nant Creek (North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry) and Wau­chope (New South Wales).
1980 -…

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Constance Irene DOYLE

Born 15 August 1899, Died 17 October 2004

Also known as: Connie

Pio­neer of Gipp­s­land and Mel­bourne, Victoria.

Jane Sophia WEBB

Died 1933

Also known as: née White

New­ly mar­ried Jane Webb trav­elled by train to Ood­na­dat­ta and then by horse and dray with her hus­band Ben­jamin and broth­er-in-law Joe, to a new life at remote Arltunga.
Her wed­ding ring…

Janet Lindsay GREIG

Born 8 August 1874, Died 18 October 1950

Also known as: Jenny

One of first two women appoint­ed Res­i­dent Doc­tors at Mel­bourne Hospital.
First woman Anaes­thetist in Victoria.

Con­duct­ed pri­vate prac­tice in Fitzroy for many years.Consultant…

Maude NICHOLLS

Born 08/1902, Died 26/01/1999

Also known as: née Cooper, née Pepperill

Lived on Undoolya Sta­tion. Went to school at Ida Stan­d­ley’s Bun­ga­low which was locat­ed in Par­sons Street at that time.Husband was a road builder and builder of ​“Turkey…

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Evangelia PARKER

Born 16 January 1908, Died 3 October 2005

Also known as: née Dioctitis, Ellen

A migrant from Greek Island of Kastel­lori­zo who arrived in Dar­win in ear­ly 1900s. Father worked on build­ing rail­way line from Pine Creek to Kather­ine River.

Tania VERSTAK

Also known as: née Verstak

1962 — First and only Aus­tralian to win Miss Inter­na­tion­al Beau­ty competition.

1962 — Crowned Miss New South Wales.1962 — Crowned Miss Australia.

Maud Margaret MOLESWORTH

Born 18 October 1894, Died 9 July 1985

Also known as: née Mutch, Mall, Malla

Molesworth was the first Aus­tralian woman ten­nis play­er to be list­ed in the world’s top ten rank­ings. A. Wal­lis Myer of the Dai­ly Tele­graph rat­ed her No. 10 in 1922 and 1923.…

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Marjorie Faith BARNARD

Born 16 August 1897, Died 8/05/1987

Also known as: Marjory

1928 the Bul­letin Prize 

1981 Offi­cer of the Order of Aus­tralia AO

1983 Patrick White Award

1984 NSW Pre­mier’s Spe­cial Award

1986 Hon­orary Doc­tor of Let­ters from the…

Mary READY

Born 1834, Died 06 April 1902

Also known as: née Hayes

First white woman in Mack­ay area of Queensland.

Pio­neer of the Mack­ay area, Queens­land. Wife of bul­locky James READY.

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Lucy SKOSS

Born 1966

Also known as: née Lisle

First North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry woman to win ​“Best Yarn Spin­ner” at Ade­laide fes­ti­val organ­ised by Sto­ry Telling Guild of South Australia.
Win­ner of the first-time entrant award at…

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Adelheid Elisabeth Johanne TAYLOR

Born 12/08/1922, Died 12/10/2011

Also known as: Heide, Mother Zonta

First migrant in South Aus­tralia to be ful­ly recog­nised and reg­is­tered as a med­ical practitioner.
1968 — Was appoint­ed and the first female to hold the posi­tion of Direc­tor of…

Lillian Daphne DE LISSA

Born 25 October 1885, Died 16 October 1967

Also known as: née de Lissa, Lillian Daphne Turner-Thompson

1906 — Founder of South Aus­trali­a’s first kinder­garten in Franklin Street.

Caroline Louisa Waring ATKINSON

Born 25 February 1834, Died 28 April 1872

Also known as: Louisa Atkinson, Caroline Calvert

She con­tributed many nat­ur­al his­to­ry arti­cles to Syd­ney papers and jour­nals becom­ing the first Aus­tralian born woman nov­el­ist when she pub­lished Gertrude the Emi­grant: A Tale of…

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Isabella Mercia McDONAGH

Born 3/1/1899, Died 5/3/1982

Also known as: Isabel, Marie Lorraine (pen/professional name), Isobel Stewart (married name)

1933 — One of the McDon­agh Sis­ters — first all female run film com­pa­ny in Australia.
2001 — Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

Using their home, the McDon­agh sis­ters wrote,…

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Faye BARTLETT

One of the first women police in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. All com­menced their recruit train­ing (with a num­ber of men) in Feb­ru­ary 1961, and the course ​“passed out” on 10…

Eileen Beryl DAVIS

Born 1887, Died 16 July 1978

Also known as: née Atkinson

1920 — The first woman in Vic­to­ria to be grant­ed a license to ride at reg­is­tered race meetings.

Pio­neer of the Birchip/​Wimmera dis­trict of Victoria.Trainer of race and…

Edith Antonia McDONALD

Also known as: née Bohning, Edie

The two Bohn­ing girls, Elsie and Edie, were famous for their sta­tion work.Esther Bohn­ing and her daugh­ters, Elsie and Edith, from Helen Springs Sta­tion north of Ten­nant Creek, were…

Ruth Isabel HODGES

Died 18 June 1974

Set the first record, under inter­na­tion­al rules, by a woman pilot in Aus­tralia — a dis­tance of 1,360.69 km in a Cess­na 210 air­craft at a speed of 312.18 km/​hr in 4 hours 26 min­utes 30…

Jane CAMPION

Born 30 April 1954

“She is the sec­ond of five women ever nom­i­nat­ed for the 66^th Acad­e­my Award for Best Director”.
In 1993, Writer and Direc­tor Jane Cam­pi­on became the first and only woman film­mak­er to…

Barbara Jean WIESE

Born 14 January 1950

1985 — First woman in Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty and Leg­isla­tive Coun­cil of South Aus­tralia to hold office of Min­is­ter — Port­fo­lios: Tourism, Local Gov­ern­ment, Youth Affairs.