Erica WILLIAMS

One of the insti­ga­tors of endurance horse rid­ing in Aus­tralia and the first Tom Quilty 100-mile ride in 1966.

She was the first woman to win the Aus­tralian Nation­al Championship…

Molly CLARK

Born 28 December 1922, Died 22 September 2012

Pio­neer pas­toral­ist of North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, at Anda­do Sta­tion and then Old Anda­do Station. 

Pio­neer of the Cen­tral Aus­tralian tourism industry

Founder of Nation­al Pioneer…

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Deborah CLARKE

Artist. Teach­es Fine Arts at the uni­ver­si­ty lev­el (Tafe, New South Wales and Charles Dar­win Uni­ver­si­ty, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry). She cre­ates using a vari­ety of media (cre­ative writing,…

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Katharine Mary BRISBANE

Born 7 January 1932

Also known as: née Brisbane

1967 — Aus­trali­a’s first nation­al the­atre critic.
1971 — First woman to pub­lish Aus­tralian play­wrights through Cur­ren­cy Press.
1993 — Award­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Australia,…

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Rebecca WOOD

Also known as: Becky

First female in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to train as a Tel­stra com­mu­ni­ca­tions technician.

Beryl Elsie PEARCE

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Wife of Methodist minister.

Lillian INKAMALA

Born 1966

Artist

For­mer health work­er at Iman­pa Health Clinic
Worked for two years as an Anan­gu edu­ca­tion work­er at the Iman­pa Pri­ma­ry School

Rosemary Mina De PIERRES

Born 28/05/1926

Also known as: née Vincent

Rose­mary was a good friend of Robin Miller and often helped her with her vac­cine flights. She was the state pres­i­dent of the Aus­tralian Women Pilots Asso­ci­a­tion and then went on to be…

Ricky BURGES

Ricky Burges was the first woman to head the Perth Zoo, when she became the Zoo’s chief exec­u­tive offi­cer between 1995 – 1998.

In 1997, Ricky was the West­ern Australian…

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Ethel Rosina WHITE

Died 1926

Also known as: née Toms

1913 — Accom­pa­nied her hus­band on a camel expe­di­tion from Ood­na­dat­ta to Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Into The Dead Heart by Capt. S. A. White details this sci­en­tif­ic expedition.

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Elizabeth CLAPHAM

1920 — First female coun­cil­lor in West­ern Aus­tralia, Cottes­loe Town.

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Rosalie DEANE

First Aus­tralian woman to be record­ed in Wis­den’s Crick­et­ing annual.

Sis­ters Nel­lie and Lily GRE­GO­RY cap­tained the team.

Nancy Grace Augusta WAKE

Born 30/08/1912, Died 7/08/2011

Also known as: The White Mouse

Recip­i­ent of USA Medal of Free­dom, British George Medal, French Croix de Guerre with Palm (x 2) and Croix de Guerre with Star and Resis­tance Medal.
1988 — Cheva­lier of the Legion of…

Agnes BUNTINE

Born 1821, Died 29 February 1896

Also known as: née Davidson, The Mother of Gippsland

Pio­neer, pos­si­bly first and only woman ​“bul­locky”.

She, and her hus­band, oper­at­ed a small inn at Mor­ris Creek, out­side Tar­rav­ille, Vic­to­ria. 1845 — They established…

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Rebecca MILLS

Died 23/08/1927

First woman on a Board of Direc­tors (although NPWHF researchers have been unable to dis­cov­er details). In 1926, Rebec­ca was award­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire, for…

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Dorothy O'BRIEN

Born 29/11/1923, Died 2004

Twin sis­ter of Moyia O’BRIEN who, togeth­er, were pio­neer Occu­pa­tion­al Ther­a­pists in Queens­land. Their lega­cy to Queens­land ​“The Sun­shine Wel­fare and Remedial…

Sarah Ann Mackereth

Born 1818, Died 1882

Also known as: née O'Brien

Pio­neer of South Aus­tralia and Mount Lofty Range District.

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Honor Cameron WILSON

Born 14 August 1913, Died 16 January 1998

Pio­neer phys­io­ther­a­pist. Played a piv­otal role in the devel­op­ment of the phys­io­ther­a­py pro­fes­sion in South Aus­tralia dur­ing two Polio epi­demics before and after the war. Published…

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Margaret Gwen HARDY

Born 5 August 1926, Died 7 December 2001

Also known as: née Sutcliffe

First woman shire pres­i­dent of Lily­dale, Victoria.
First and only woman com­mis­sion­er of the then Mel­bourne Met­ro­pol­i­tan Board of Works, Victoria.

1977 — Award­ed the Queen’s…

Sarah Frances DURACK

Born 27 October 1889, Died 20 March 1956

Also known as: Fanny, Fanny Gately

With Wil­helmi­na (Mina) Wylie, they were Aus­trali­a’s first female Olympians, com­pet­ing in the first ladies’ event — swim­ming — in 1912. The two girls were only permitted…

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…

June NOBLE

June was named the 2008 Cen­tralian of the Year. 

June has also has served as an Alice Springs Town Coun­cil Alder­per­son and Deputy Mayor.
She is a vol­un­teer at the…

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…

Ivy Lavinia WEBER

Born 7/6/1892, Died 6/3/1976

Also known as: née Filshie

1937 — Pres­i­dent, League of Women Electors.
1937 — Can­di­date for the Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly seat of Nunawad­ing, State elec­tion and became the sec­ond woman to be elect­ed to the Victorian…

Carola COHN

Born 25 April 1892, Died 23 December 1964

Also known as: née Cohn, Ola

1 Jan­u­ary 1965 — Appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Most Excel­lent Order of the British Empire (MBE), for her work in the ser­vice of art, espe­cial­ly sculpture.
2007 — Named to the Victorian…

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…

Marlene Jean BROWN

Born 1934

Also known as: nee Chaffer

In 1968, Mar­lene Brown became the first female alder­man elect­ed to the Town Man­age­ment Board of Alice Springs (pre­de­ces­sor of Town Coun­cil) and served a sec­ond term with the board…

Mary Ann MOORE-BENTLEY

Born 6 January 1865, Died 1 September 1953

Also known as: née Bentley, Mary Ling

1903 — First woman — along with Vida Gold­stein, Seli­na Ander­son and Nel­lie Mar­tel — in Aus­tralia and the British Empire to stand for Nation­al Par­lia­ment (unsuc­cess­ful).…

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Emily Mary BARTON

Born 3 December 1817, Died 24 August 1909

Also known as: née Darvall

Emi­ly wrote poems for most of her life and was still being pub­lished at the age of 90. She was the grand­moth­er to A B (Ban­jo) Pater­son who she was a great inspi­ra­tion to.

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Alexa SIMMONS

Also known as: Lexie, Alexa Bates

Author of Kajir­ri, The Bush Missus.

1948 – 1959 — Pio­neer on Vic­to­ria Riv­er Downs (VRD) Station.1958 — she was only the sec­ond white woman ever to live at Mount San­ford Station…

Sheila HEWITT

Born 28 October 1921, Died 14 April 2011

Also known as: née South

1980, Queens Birth­day Hon­ours — Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia medal, com­mu­ni­ty service.

Arrived in Alice Springs, 1950.Written on the back of the draw­ing: For­mer devot­ed member.

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Jenny McKENZIE

Mem­ber (Robyn Fox, Geor­gia Le Plas­tri­er, Jen­ny McKen­zie, Jo Van Son) of the first Aus­tralian all-female canoe team to make the full descent of the Yukon Riv­er (Unit­ed States).

Judy CAMPBELL

1994 — First offi­cial­ly appoint­ed female Town Crier in Australia.
1997 — First female Town Crier to win Run­ner Up World Cham­pi­on (Sid­ney, British Colum­bia, Canada).
2010 — First female…

Michelle PAYNE

Born 29/9/1985

In 2015, Michelle Payne was the first female jock­ey to win the Mel­bourne Cup in its 155-year his­to­ry, rid­ing Prince of Penzance. 

In her win­ning ride, Michelle was,…

Elizabeth Nesta MARKS

Born 28 April 1918, Died 25 October 2002

Also known as: Pat, Patricia

An Aus­tralian ento­mol­o­gist who described 38 new mos­qui­to species, as well as new species of fruit flies, bugs, cock­roach­es, and ticks.

1938 — Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Zoology,…

Beth MILDRED

2000-08 — First woman elect­ed pres­i­dent of Rotary in Cen­tral Australia.

Faith THOMAS

Born 22 January 1933

Also known as: née Coulthard, Faith Thomas

Played hock­ey as well as cricket.
1958 — First Abo­rig­i­nal female Test crick­eter to rep­re­sent Aus­tralia in England.
Award­ed the Queen Eliz­a­beth II Sil­ver Jubilee Medal, ser­vices to…

Evonne Fay CAWLEY

Born 31/07/1951

Also known as: née Goolagong

First Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralian to win the pres­ti­gious Wim­ble­don ten­nis ladies’ sin­gles tour­na­ment title (1971).

Ten­nis — 14 Grand Slam Tour­na­ment Titles — sev­en in…

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Ann HOWE

Born 1802, Died 17 November 1842

Also known as: née Bird, Ann Bird, Ann Salmon, Ann Watt

1829 — First woman pro­pri­etor of a news­pa­per in Australia.
5 March 1803 — First news­pa­per pub­lished in Aus­tralia ​‘Syd­ney Gazette & New South Wales Adver­tis­er” was…

Allana ARNOT

Born 1967

Also known as: Allana Corbin

In 1997 Allana Arnot became the first woman to cir­cum­nav­i­gate Aus­tralia solo in a heli­copter. She accom­plished this after teach­ing her­self how to walk and fly again fol­low­ing a plane…

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Annie Doreen MUNE

Born 6 February 1901, Died 1989

Also known as: née Hensley

In 1924 she was appoint­ed Mel­bourne City Coun­cil’s coor­di­na­tor to com­bat dypthe­ria. Dur­ing this cam­paign she test­ed and immu­nised 11,230 children.

Pio­neer doc­tor in Fiji…

Fanny Kate Boadicea COCKS

Born 5 May 1875, Died 20 August 1954

Also known as: Kate

South Aus­trali­a’s first female pro­ba­tion offi­cer for juve­nile offend­ers in 1906. She was appoint­ed to the South Aus­tralia Police Force with Annie Ross in 1915, the first police…

Christiane Susanne Augustine ZADOW

Born 27 August 1846, Died 7 July 1896

Also known as: née Hofmeyer, Augusta

“Mrs Inspec­tor Zad­ow”, South Aus­trali­a’s first and the nation’s sec­ond woman Inspec­tor of Fac­to­ries was appoint­ed in 1895, hav­ing to share an office, amongst…

Patricia Lyle TOOLE

Born 11/1928, Died 04/2016

Also known as: née Graham, Pat

Pat was the first female to hold a com­mer­cial pilot’s license in Papua, New Guinea, 1952. Her license had lapsed when in her sev­en­ties she decid­ed to renew it. Her first solo…

Jessie Maude MILLER

Born 1901

Also known as: née Beveridge, Jessie Keith, Chubbie

1928 — First woman to com­plete a flight from Eng­land to Aus­tralia. Jessie was a co-pilot with R.A.F. offi­cer Bill Lan­cast­er in an attempt to set a long dis­tance fly­ing record from…

Marlene KONG

1997 – 1998 — Mar­lene and her twin sis­ter Mar­i­lyn were the first Indige­nous women to grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor of Med­i­cine from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.

1993 — Inau­gur­al win­ner of the…

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Myra BLANCH

First fly­ing sis­ter for Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Ser­vice. She served in New South Wales dur­ing 1945 – 1954.

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Margaret BARNES

Also known as: Madge

1906 — One of first women to grad­u­ate in den­tistry from Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.
1910 – 1913 — Per­haps ran Aus­trali­a’s first joint female den­tal prac­tice (with Annie Praed) in…

Eily Rosaline O'CONNOR

Born 19/2/1892, Died 10/1/1921

Also known as: Eileen

1913 — Found­ed, with Father McGrath, Our Lady’s Nurs­es for the Poor. Oppo­si­tion from church author­i­ties threat­ened Father McGrath with expul­sion from his order and Eileen with…

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…