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Mere RUMBAL

Own­er and Direc­tor of Alice Springs Cen­tral Dance Theatre.2002 — Award­ed world’s first hon­our by British Bal­let organ­i­sa­tion for 50 years ser­vice to the dance industry.

Evelyn Maude WEST

Born 14/09/1888, Died 20/06/1969

Also known as: Eva

Along with Miss Bourne, Aus­trali­a’s first woman licensed audi­tor, she was the first woman to pass the exam­i­na­tions nec­es­sary to gain admis­sion into the Incor­po­rat­ed Insti­tute of…

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Margaret May COLE

Born 1883, Died 1 November 1964

Also known as: née Bridge, Mabel

Pio­neer in Queens­land, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, and West­ern Australia.Taught her­self to read and write​.At 10 years of age drove four-in-hand loaded out­fit, through rough Queens­land country…

Adele Viola PURVIS

A pas­toral matri­ach from Wood­green Sta­tion, Adele was the first per­son to donate a box of papers to the Alice Springs office of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Archives when it opened in 2003.…

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Jean Dorothy GARDINER

Also known as: Dorothy

“The 14^th woman in Aus­tralia to hold a pri­vate license and pos­si­bly only the sec­ond to own her own plane.”

1929 — With Bob­bie TER­RY was first women in New South Wales/​Australia to…

Jacqueline Gail HUGGINS

Born 19 August 1956

Also known as: Jackie

2000 — Received the Queens­land Pre­mier’s Mil­len­ni­um Award for Excel­lence in Indige­nous Affairs.
2001 — Appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, ser­vice to the indigenous…

Olive O'KEEFE

Born 14/05/1907, Died 10/11/1988

Also known as: née Harvey, Keefy, O'Keeffe

Matron at ​“The Bun­ga­low” at the Old Tele­graph Sta­tion, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.
Vol­un­teered to help Catholic nuns with 35 Bathurst Island chil­dren trav­el to Alice…

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Eileen STOTT

Born 1912, Died 26/06/1999

Also known as: née O'Shea

Born in Pine Creek, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Pio­neer of North­ern Territory.1940 — Mar­ried Gor­don STOTT (son of Robert STOTT, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s first Com­mis­sion­er of Police).

Roberta Henrietta JULL

Born 1872, Died 1961

Also known as: née Stewart, Roberta Ferguson-Stewart

Scot­tish born and Glas­gow-trained, she joined her broth­er’s prac­tice in West­ern Aus­tralia and then set up her own in Perth in 1897, becom­ing West­ern Aus­trali­a’s first woman…

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Annie Jean MACNAMARA

Born 1/4/1899, Died 13/10/1968

Also known as: Jean, Jean Connor

First woman Res­i­dent Med­ical Offi­cer at Roy­al Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal, Melbourne.

In May 1923 Jean, with high rec­om­men­da­tions, was appoint­ed res­i­dent at the (Roy­al) Children’s…

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Helen Elizabeth ARCHDALE

Born 21 August 1907, Died 11 January 2000

Also known as: Betty Archdale

Head­mistress of Abbot­sleigh Girls School, Syd­ney. Offi­cer in W.R.E.N.s dur­ing World War II. Became Prin­ci­pal of Wom­en’s Col­lege at Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty. After her tenure at the…

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…

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.

Woo Len AH TOY

Born 24 October 1917, Died 15 November 2001

Also known as: nee Wong, Lily

Lily was born and grew up in Dar­win and was known to many in the Top End for her sto­icism, gen­eros­i­ty and warm good humour. From 1936 to 1942 and con­tin­uin­ing after the war, Lily and…

Ada Emily EVANS

Born 17 May 1872, Died 27 December 1947

Also known as: née Evans

Aus­trali­a’s first female law grad­u­ate received her L.L.B. from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney in 1902 but was not per­mit­ted to prac­tice until The Wom­en’s Legal Sta­tus Act 1918 (New…

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Vicki DARKEN

Born 1929, Died 3/05/2014

Also known as: née Ormond

The first Miss North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry (Vic­ki Ormond); mar­ried (1942) to Con­sta­ble Bob Dark­en, their tent hon­ey­moon gave Hon­ey­moon Gap its name; a ​“pio­neer” who lived in rough…

Betty ROLAND

Born 22/07/1903, Died 12/02/1996

Also known as: née Mary Isabel Maclean/McLean, Betty M. Davies, Mary Isabel Davies

Wrote her first play The Touch of Silk in 1928. Also known for her four vol­ume auto­bi­og­ra­phy. In 1951 she legal­ly changed her name to Bet­ty Roland.

Carla Maria ZAMPATTI

Born 19 May 1942

Car­la Zam­pat­ti is a promi­nent Aus­tralian fash­ion design­er who was the first woman appoint­ed as Chair­per­son of SBS tele­vi­sion in 1999.

1965 — Pro­duced her first collection.…

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Pearl TUIT

1938 — With hus­band began a freight ser­vice to out­sta­tions in Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Lat­er pro­vid­ed a mail ser­vice between Alice Springs and Darwin.1951 — Formed Tuits Tours camp­ing trips…

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Elsie Josephine McFEAT

Born 30/11/1874, Died 14/02/1934

Also known as: née Conigrave

Gov­erness to the Brad­shaw children.

Suzanne LEE

1992 — First Alice Springs’ Miss Australia.

Janet TEMPLETON

Born 1785, Died 1857

Pio­neer in the wool industry.

Sis­ter-in-law to Eliza FORLONGE.
After her husband’s death in 1829, ​“Janet Janet decid­ed to emi­grate to Aus­tralia. … She char­tered the Czar…

Ruby Violet PAYNE-SCOTT

Born 28/05/1912, Died 25/05/1981

First woman radio astronomer.

1930’s — One of a hand­ful of women to earn a degree in Physics from Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.

Isola Florence THOMPSON

Born 18/11/1861, Died 7/12/1915

Also known as: Florence Isola

1885 — One of two female Arts grad­u­ates, with Mary Eliz­a­beth Brown, Syd­ney University.
1887 — She became the first woman to com­plete a Mas­ter of Arts, Syd­ney University.

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Mary SANDERCOCK

1970s — First female Prop­er­ty Val­uer in South Australia.

Elinor Catherine HAMLIN

Born 24 January 1924, Died 18 March 2020

Also known as: née Nicholson, Catherine

“Ham­lin has been recog­nised by the Unit­ed Nations agency UNF­PA as a pio­neer in fis­tu­la surgery for her devel­op­ment of tech­niques and pro­ce­dures for obstet­ric fistula…

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Mary Josephine O'KANE

Born 1954

1989 – 1993 — First Dean of Engi­neer­ing, Uni­ver­si­ty of Can­ber­ra, Aus­tralian Cap­i­tal Territory.
In Octo­ber 1996 she was the first woman, and pos­si­bly the youngest, appointed…

Freidericke Johanna Henriette STREHLOW

Born 31/08/1875, Died 30/04/1957

Also known as: née Keysser, Frieda

Pio­neer wife of Mis­sion­ary Carl STREHLOW and moth­er of Prof. T.G.H. (Ted) STREHLOW.

Natasha Jessica STOTT DESPOJA

Born 9/09/1969

Also known as: née Stott Despoja, Nat

2001 — Sen­a­tor Aus­tralian Demo­c­rat Par­ty. Youngest woman par­lia­men­tar­i­an and youngest par­ty leader in Aus­tralian history.

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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…

Mary Ernestine HILL

Born 21 January 1899, Died 21 August 1972

Also known as: née Hemmings, Ernestine Hill

Author of only pub­lished nov­el My Love Must Wait (1941) based on the life of Matthew Flinders. 
Dur­ing the 1930s, she trav­elled exten­sive­ly across Aus­tralia writ­ing arti­cles for…

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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,…

Bonnie HENDERSON

Born 20 April 1963

Also known as: née Henderson, Bonnie Palmer

Bon­nie was the Aus­tralian Nation­al Aer­o­bat­ic Cham­pi­on for two con­sec­u­tive years, 1994 – 95.

1997 — Wrote the book Her Father’s Daughter.
Daugh­ter of Sara HEN­DER­SON of Bullo…

Grata Flos Matilda GREIG

Born 7 November 1880, Died 31 December 1958

Also known as: Flos

Grad­u­ati­ing from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne 28 March 1903 becom­ing Vic­to­ri­a’s first female law grad­u­ate, she was the first woman in Aus­tralia to enter the legal pro­fes­sion 1…

Emma MILLER

Born 26 June 1839, Died 22/01/1917

Also known as: née Holmes, Grand Old Woman of Queensland Labour, Mother of the Australian Labor Party, Mother Miller

1890 — Found­ed a women’s union, advo­cat­ing equal pay and votes for women.
The first woman and life mem­ber of the Bris­bane Work­ers’ Polit­i­cal Organisation.
1894 – 1905 — Foundation…

Margaret Sterling BAIN

Born 1923, Died 14/03/2018

Pio­neer Mis­sion­ary who was insight­ful and suc­cess­ful in cross cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment in Finke/​Aputula. She was great­ly respect­ed and trust­ed by the…

Joan ANDREWS

Joan hand­built her house con­sist­ing of three cot­tages using 14,000 bot­tles and cans in a nine-year peri­od in Light­ning Ridge. She built these cot­tages after being in hos­pi­tal for two…

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Heather WHITTAKER

Born 1929

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia in teach­ing in remote set­tle­ments. Her first post was Papun­ya, North­ern Territory.

Elizabeth BLACKBURN

Born 1948

In 2009, Eliz­a­beth Black­burn became Australia’s first female Nobel Lau­re­ate. With Amer­i­can co-researchers Car­ol Grei­der and Jack Szostak, Eliz­a­beth Black­burn won the Nobel Prize in…

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Nellie TRUMAN

Born 28 June 1900

Also known as: née Moyle

Stayed in Alice Springs for 20 months while trav­el­ling with hus­band and four sons in 1952. Embroi­dered a table­cloth when she left with 24 sig­na­tures of local C.W.A. members.

Margaret Edgeworth McINTYRE

Born 28/11/1886, Died 2/09/1948

Also known as: née David

First woman to enter Tas­man­ian State Government.

1 Jan­u­ary 1948 — Appoint­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (Civ­il) for ser­vices to education.

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Jane DAVIS

Died 1800

Also known as: née Reid

Con­vict who arrived on ​“Lady Juliana” on 30 July 1790. Mar­ried and went to live on Nor­folk Island.

Joanna BARKER

Also known as: Jo

Jo Bark­er was the first Aus­tralian Pres­i­dent of World Fed­er­a­tion of Occu­pa­tion­al Ther­a­pists (1986−1990); the first occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­pist in Aus­tralia to be award­ed a Ph.D. (1988); in…

Agnes Knight GOODE

Born 31 January 1872, Died 20 February 1947

Also known as: née Fleming, Mrs A K Goode

1916 — One of the first South Aus­tralian female Jus­tices of the Peace and the first to take her seat on the bench with the Stipen­di­ary Magistrate.
1923 — The first woman pre-selected…

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Judith Arundell WRIGHT

Born 31 May 1915, Died 25 June 2000

Also known as: née Wright, McKinney

Judith Wright has pub­lished more than fifty books and was the first Aus­tralian poet to receive the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poet­ry (1992). She has also received many oth­er prizes…

Mary Alice HOLMAN

Born 18 July 1893, Died 20 March 1939

Also known as: May

Aus­trali­a’s first female Labor Par­lia­men­tar­i­an (West­ern Aus­tralia) who served more than ten years.

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Sue GIBSON

2009 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Para­medic of the Year.

Ethel Harriet RAYBOULD

Born 31/07/1899, Died 17/01/1987

First female Lec­tur­er in Math­e­mat­ics at Uni­ver­si­ty of Queens­land. She taught from 1928 – 1955.

1927 — Bach­e­lor of Arts, Math­e­mat­ics, Uni­ver­si­ty of Queens­land, with first class…

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NGANYINYTJA

Born late 1920s

1993 — Made a Mem­ber of the Order of Australia.

5 Feb­ru­ary 1980 — She chaired the first mod­ern polit­i­cal wom­en’s meet­ing on Anan­gu Pit­jan­t­jat­jara Lands.

Miles FRANKLIN

Born 14/10/1879, Died 19/09/1954

Also known as: née Franklin, Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, Brent of Bin Bin, Mr and Mrs Ogniblat L'Artsau

Wrote under the name of Miles FRANKLIN; author of ​“My Bril­liant Career” (1901).
1948 — Estab­lished Miles Franklin Award for Aus­tralian Lit­er­a­ture, which she pro­vid­ed for in…