Anne Isabella DARCY FOWLER

Born 24 July 1911, Died 13 June 2003

Also known as: née Darcy, Ann, Annie

Annie was one of the first female drovers, and it is believed that she and her broth­ers pho­tos adorn the walls at Daly Waters Pub as charar­c­ters of the Territory.

Annie was part of a…

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Mary EDWARDS

1920 — Began first Moth­er’s Club at Nor­wood School, South Australia.

Amelia Maud GILLEN

Born 26/05/1869, Died 16/11/1928

Also known as: née Besley, Minnie, Amelia Maude

Amelia ​“Min­nie” Gillen was an accom­plished singer and pianist. As a twen­ty-two-year-old bride, she trav­elled from Mount Gam­bier to her new home at Alice Springs in 1891.The…

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

Leah MORCK

Born 1881, Died 10 May 1966

Wife of drover, cat­tle­man, bush­man of West­ern Aus­tralia and North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, Tom MOR­CK. At 15 Mrs MOR­CK was moth­er to her sev­en sib­lings after their moth­er’s death. Managed…

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Carol HITCHCOCK

“The first woman in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to play in the men’s grade Grand Final” [crick­et].

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Phyllis Glory McDONAGH

Born 7/1/1900, Died 17/10/1978

Also known as: Phyllis Glory O'Brien (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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Leah HANDLEY

First Light­ing Tech­ni­cian to train in the North­ern Territory.

Lorrae DESMOND

Born 2 October 1932

Also known as: née Beryl Hunt, Sheila Hunt, Beryl Gorshenin, Lorrae Gorshenin

1962 — First female Gold Logie award win­ner, for her music vari­ety show The Lor­rae Desmond Show.

1970 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for ser­vices to the…

Lillian ARMFIELD

Born 3/12/1884

Lil­lian Arm­field was Aus­trali­a’s first police­woman. She was recruit­ed as pro­ba­tion­ary spe­cial con­sta­ble on 1 July, 1915, earned less than her male coun­ter­parts and was ot…

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.

Florence Isabel BJELKE-PETERSEN

Born 11 August 1920, Died 20 December 2017

Also known as: née Gilmour, Lady Bjelke-Petersen, Lady Flo, Lady Florence, Senator Bjelke-Petersen

Pos­si­bly first woman senator.

1980 — Queens­land Sen­a­tor (Nation­al Par­ty), Aus­tralian Par­lia­ment Senate.1985 – 1990 — Deputy Leader of the Oppo­si­tion, Senate.1993 — Retired from…

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Ranjika

Died 1918

Ran­ji­ka, a West­ern Arrernte woman, was the moth­er of Glo­ria LEE.

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Faith BANDLER

Born 27 September 1920, Died 13 February 2015

Also known as: Ida Lessing Faith Mussing

1976 appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire but declined1984 appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia in recog­ni­tion of ser­vice to Abo­rig­i­nal welfare1994 award­ed an…

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Mary BRYANT

Born 1765, Died after 1794

Also known as: née Broad/Braund

Mary Bryant, arrived on the First Fleet. In just a few months, the food the First Fleet had brought with it had run out or was rot­ten. Des­per­ate and hun­gry, Mary, her hus­band William…

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Laura THOMAS

Born 1967

Also known as: née Perucich

2001 — First woman in Aus­tralia to be ​‘Chief Whip Crack­er’ on a major car launch — Hold­en Monaro’s $60m project.

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Marilyn May WEBB

Born 1 June 1951, Died 2000

Daugh­ter of Pio­neer WEBB fam­i­ly of Mt Rid­dock Sta­tion. Nurse at Gran­ite gold mine for 9 years.Foundation Life Mem­ber of NPWHF. Mem­ber of North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Wom­en’s Advisory…

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Linda WATSON

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

Margaret Helen GETHING

Born 20 December 1920, Died 16 July 2005

Also known as: née Gepp, Mardi

Dur­ing World War II Mar­di joined the Air Trans­port Aux­il­iary deliv­er­ing dif­fer­ent types of air­craft. She and Vic­to­ria CHOL­MONDE­LEY were the only two Aus­tralian women fer­ry pilots in…

Emily DUTTON

Born 13 November 1884, Died 11 May 1962

Also known as: née Martin

1921 — First woman to dri­ve across Australia.

Bobbie TERRY

With Jean Gar­diner, was the first woman to own her own air­craft (a De Sout­ter) which she flew on fam­i­ly prop­er­ty in Quirin­di, New South Wales.

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Cynthia Mary TEAGUE

Born 22 May 1907, Died 08 March 2007

1965 — First woman to reach Sec­ond Divi­sion lev­el in Fed­er­al Pub­lic Service 
(Assis­tant Direc­tor-Gen­er­al of Fed­er­al Depart­ment of Works).

1930 — Won Grice Bronze Medal for…

Elizabeth Rebecca WILSON

Born 21 November 1921, Died 22 January 2010

Also known as: Betty

First Aus­tralian woman to score Test cen­tu­ry against England.
1957 – 58 — First crick­eter to score a test dou­ble of 100 runs and 10 wick­ets in same match.
1985 — First woman cricketer…

Margaret ILLMANN

Born 9/12/1965

Aus­tralian Prin­ci­pal Bal­le­ri­na in Cana­da, New York, Europe, and on Broad­way for which she was award­ed The The­atre Word Award as Best Actress on Broad­way, Fred Astaire Award Best Dancer…

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Elsie Magdalene HARRIS

Also known as: née Bohning, Magdaline, The Little Bush Maid

Esther Bohn­ing and her daugh­ters, Elsie and Edith, from Helen Springs Sta­tion north of Ten­nent Creek, were known as ​“The Pet­ti­coat Drovers.” Esther and Elsie made history…

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Bronwyn Nancy DONAGHY

Born 21/12/1948, Died 23/07/2002

Also known as: née Simeon, Frances Storm

Journalist/​Author of books on youth sui­cide and sex edu­ca­tion. Wrote Anna’s Sto­ry (Anna Wood died after tak­ing an Ecsta­sy tablet at a ​“Rave’ Par­ty.” Anna’s…

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…

Geraldine Dorothea COX

Born 1945

1970 – 1987 — Began her career with the Aus­tralian Depart­ment of For­eign Affairs. Was sta­tioned to embassies Phnom Penh, Cam­bo­dia; Philip­pines, Thai­land, Iran, and the USA.
1987 – 1995 -…

Sue GORDON

Born 1944

First Abo­rig­i­nal magistrate.
First Abo­rig­i­nal woman to head a Gov­ern­ment Depart­ment in West­ern Aus­tralia (Com­mis­sion­er for Abo­rig­i­nal Plan­ning) in 1986.

Only full time…

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Mary Elizabeth VINCENT

Born 1813, Died 1898

Pio­neer of Wan­garat­ta, Victoria.

Elizabeth DURACK

Born 6 July 1915, Died 25 May 2000

Also known as: Eddie Burrup

1966 — Appoint­ed as an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
1982 — Appoint­ed to the Order of St Michael & St George — Com­man­ders (CMG).

Author and artist of…

Maude BONNEY

Born 20 November 1897, Died 24 February 1994

Also known as: Lores

1931 Longest one day flight by an air­woman (Bris­bane — Wan­garat­ta) — 1600 km.

1932 First woman to cir­cum­nav­i­gate Aus­tralia by air — 12 800 km.

1933 First woman to fly from…

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Noreen JOHNS

Born 1925, Died 25/4/1997

Also known as: née Maloney

1952 – 55 — Teacher at Hart­ley Street School (first pri­ma­ry school in Alice Springs). 

1970 — Returned to teach­ing at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Col­lege, fol­lowed by Ross…

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Mary Paulena BLOOMFIELD

Born 20 July 1917, Died 9 May 1994

Also known as: née Hayes

Daugh­ter of Ann Jane ​“Jane” Hayes.

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May RAGETT

Born 28/12/1955

Wife of a stock­man on Mal­la­pun­yah Springs Sta­tion, bring­ing up her fam­i­ly, send­ing them to the sta­tion school then to Char­ters Tow­ers for fur­ther education.

Joy Isabella REDMAN

Born 30 December 1928, Died 7/12/2006

Also known as: née Buik

Artist, print­mak­er and pho­tog­ra­ph­er. Foun­da­tion mem­ber of South Aus­tralian Print Workshop.

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Julie Moncrieff ANTHONY

Born 24 August 1949

Also known as: née Lush

1980
– She was award­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire.
1983
 — First woman patron of a Vic­to­ri­an foot­ball league club (Fitzroy VFL Club).
1989 — She was made a member…

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Grace Smith WOOTTON

One of South Aus­trali­a’s first women ​“Sur­fies.” The State’s first women sur­fies sur­faced in 1915.

Tanya Mary MONRO

Born 1973

Win­ner of The Week­end Aus­tralian Mag­a­zine’s Next 100 Emerg­ing Lead­ers in Science.
An award-win­ning Aus­tralian physi­cist known for her work in photonics.

Physicist.1995 -…

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Vicki TAYLOR

2009 — Tel­stra North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Busi­ness Woman of the Year.

Gen­er­al Man­ag­er — Alice Springs Hos­pi­tal (2004- ).

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Margaret Cecilia CAIRNS

Born 1905

Also known as: née Egar, Margaret Sawyer

Cen­tral Aus­tralian pio­neer when mar­ried to Con SAWYER (died 1947).Pioneer of Kurun­di Cat­tle Sta­tion with sec­ond hus­band Bill CAIRNS.

Nancy GREER

Also known as: Nan

“A triple-cer­tifi­cat­ed nurs­ing sis­ter, Miss Greer trav­elled the iso­lat­ed areas of Vic­to­ria between 1944 and 1951, brav­ing bush­fires, floods, dust storms and all man­ner of emergencies…

Mary Ann BIN-SALLIK

Born 2 November 1940

Hold­ing both a Mas­ters (1986) degree in Edu­ca­tion­al Admin­is­tra­tion and a Doc­tor­ate (1989) in Edu­ca­tion from Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, USA, she was also the first Indige­nous grad­u­ate in…

Margaret Ella BURTON

Born 2 March 1931, Died 17 February 2020

Also known as: née Hayden

Pio­neer of South Aus­tralia. An arts and crafts teacher, car­ry­ing on fam­i­ly arts and crafts tra­di­tions. Taught in Eng­land and Cana­da, where she opened a school for Eski­mo chil­dren who…

Gloria Joan Liles CHILD

Born 1921, Died 23 February 2013

Also known as: Joan

First woman Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty (ALP) mem­ber in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives (1974)

Aus­trali­a’s first woman Speak­er of either House of the Fed­er­al Par­lia­ment (House of…

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Mary MURPHY

A hand­ful of Euro­pean women accom­pa­nied their hus­bands to the mines. Mary Mur­phy, Bet­ty O’Neil and F Suther­land signed a peti­tion to get a polling booth there.

Amy Grace WHEATON

Born 10/07/1898, Died 12/02/1988

Also known as: née Priest

First Direc­tor of South Aus­tralian Board of Social Stud­ies (estab­lished in 1935 as the Board of Social Ser­vice Study and Training).

1946 — Co-Founder of South Australian…

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Jan CHAPMAN

Born 28 March 1950

Pro­duc­er, and pro­duced The Piano, direct­ed by Jane Campion.

1992 — Nom­i­nat­ed for the Best Pic­ture at the AFI Awards, The Last Days of Chez Nous.

1994 — Nom­i­nat­ed for the Academy…

Lalla TRUGERNANNER

Born 1812, Died 8 May 1876

Also known as: Truganini, Trucanini, Trucaninny, Lalla Rooke

One of the fore­most Tas­man­ian Abo­rig­i­nal lead­ers of the 1800s, nego­tia­tor and spokesper­son for her people.

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Ann SVENNSON-McCOY

First female Tor­res Strait Islander to receive a BSc in Vet­eri­nary Biology.