Elizabeth ALLCHURCH

Born 1881, Died 10 June 1969

Also known as: Bessie, née Williams

Bessie, sis­ter to Annie MEY­ERS, was mar­ried to Atlanta BRAD­SHAW’s broth­er Ernest ALLCHURCH.

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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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Monica Mary SHINNICK

Born 1897, Died 2000

Also known as: Sister Sabina

1931 — First Prin­ci­pal of Stel­la Maris Col­lege, Man­ly, New South Wales.
1997 — Made good Samar­i­tan his­to­ry by being the first mem­ber of the order to cel­e­brate 80 years of religious…

Marie Caroline BJELKE-PETERSEN

Born 23 December 1874, Died 11 October 1969

Fem­i­nist, Les­bian and ardent Conservationist.“Instrumental in intro­duc­ing the sport of net­ball to Tasmania.”1892 – 1910 — Wom­en’s instruc­tor at Bjelke-Peter­son Phys­i­cal Culture…

Beryl Grace McINTOSH

Died 12/1/2013

Also known as: née Hansen

Some of her awards:1999 — Received Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day award.2000 — Select­ed to car­ry Syd­ney 2000 Olympics torch.2001 — Received Cen­te­nary medal.2002 — Award­ed Palmer­ston Proud…

Margaret Gwendoline KEATS

Born 1895, Died 6/4/1970

Aus­trali­a’s first woman to qual­i­fy as a vet­eri­nar­i­an with uni­ver­si­ty train­ing, she was also the first and only woman to grad­u­ate from Aus­trali­a’s first vet­eri­nary faculty…

Helen Charmaine BEH

Born 31/7/1941, Died 7/2/2012

Helen Beh was the first woman to achieve fol­low­ing posi­tions in the Sci­ence Fac­ul­ty at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney: Senior Lec­tur­er in Psy­chol­o­gy (1972−1988; ); Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor; Head…

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Faye NAYLER

Born 22/10/1932, Died 25/10/2015

Also known as: Elma Faye

First woman to own and oper­ate an opal mine in Coober Pedy, South Aus­tralia. Estab­lished ​“The Opal Cave” in 1963 and gave the first tour of Coober Pedy.

Faye is the author of…

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…

Dora Elizabeth BURCHILL

Born 4 January 1904, Died 3 December 2003

Also known as: Elizabeth

“Eliz­a­beth Burchill became a triple cer­tifi­cate nurse in the 1930s. She [was] a reg­is­tered nurse in sev­en coun­tries.” After retire­ment, she com­plet­ed three degrees: Bach­e­lor and Master…

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Shane GOULD

Only woman in swim­ming to hold records for every freestyle dis­tance simul­ta­ne­ous­ly — 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m.
First woman to swim 1500m in under 17 minutes

1972 -…

Clare Majaella MARTIN

Born 15 June 1952

In 2001, Clare Mar­tin became the first female chief min­is­ter of the North­ern Territory. 

Clare Mar­tin was the leader of the first labor Gov­ern­ment in the North­ern Territory.

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Grace Smith WOOTTON

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

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Phyllis Mary KABERRY

Born 17 September 1910, Died 31 October 1977

1941 — First woman anthro­pol­o­gist award­ed Yale Study Fellowship.

1930s-1960s — Pub­lished papers on her anthro­po­log­i­cal work in the Kim­ber­ley, Papua New Guinea and Cameroon.…

Enid Esther MATHER

Died 10/1998

Also known as: née L'Estrange, Esther L'Estrange, Esther Mather

1938 — First woman cap­tain of Queens­land Aer­o­bat­ic Team.
1968 — Award­ed the Paul Dis­sandi­er Diplo­ma by the Fédéra­tion Aéro­nau­tique Internationale.
1971 — Award­ed the Nan­cy Bird…

Isobel WILLIAMS

Also known as: Dr Isobel Wiilliams, Constance Isabel Arundel

In 1967, Dr Isoblel Williams became the first woman Pres­i­dent of the Roy­al Aus­tralian and New Zealand Col­lege of Psy­chi­a­trists (RANZCP).

Few records remain of Dr…

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Elizabeth Jean ANDREW

Born 1948, Died 12 April 1993

Also known as: Elizabeth Andrew-Oates

North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s first woman to hold an exec­u­tive and Cab­i­net posi­tion. At first, she was the Exec­u­tive Mem­ber for Edu­ca­tion and Con­sumer Ser­vices, then for Edu­ca­tion and Law…

Julie SCOLLARY

2000 — Para­medic, with Sue LUCAS, first woman crew to win the Insti­tute of Ambu­lance Offi­cers (Aus­tralia) Nation­al Clin­i­cal Excel­lence Com­pe­ti­tion. Won back-to-back.

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Mary Carlisle RALSTON

Born 10/11/1900, Died 1/09/1990

Mar­ried World War I vet­er­an in Scot­land then sailed to Aus­tralia to take up sol­dier set­tle­ment block at Urange­line, near Bul­gan­dra, New South Wales. Was first woman on the settlement…

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Nancy KELLY

Born 26 February 1915

Nan­cy Kel­ly was a woman of the land. To keep her fam­i­ly out of debt she took in board­ers, taught danc­ing, did dress­mak­ing, and book­keep­ing. Also cat­tle buy­ing and run­ning several…

Patricia Ann TURNER

Born 23/09/1952

Also known as: Pat

First Abo­rig­i­nal woman to head a gov­ern­ment depart­ment in Canberra.

Top Com­mon­wealth Indige­nous pub­lic servant.Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of Nation­al News Ser­vice (Nation­al…

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Alison S CARE

2009 — Recip­i­ent of Young Inves­ti­ga­tor Award, South Australia.

2004 — Grad­u­at­ed Bach­e­lor of Med­ical and Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Biotech­nol­o­gy with hon­ours, Uni­ver­si­ty of South…

Bertha Martha ANDREW

Born 16/3/1882, Died 8/11/1963

Also known as: nee Cook

Worked the land with hus­band. Bertha and her hus­band, with their four chil­dren, depart­ed Port Lin­coln, South Aus­tralia, in 1933 and trav­elled over­land to Alice Springs. The journey…

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Anna DOIG

Born 4/05/1830, Died 11/09/1894

Also known as: née Moir

Pio­neer of Beltana Dis­trict, South Aus­tralia. Born in Scotland.
Found­ed non-denom­i­na­tion­al Sun­day School (under Wes­leyan Church).
Unof­fi­cial Doc­tor — laid out the dead.
Midwife,…

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…

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Heather Mary MITCHELL-CARMICHAEL

Born 25 September 1917, Died 12 November 1999

Also known as: née Hutchieson

1985 — First woman pres­i­dent of Vic­to­ri­an Farm­ers Fed­er­a­tion, and, with Joan Kirn­er, start­ed the orig­i­nal Land­care Program.

1979 — She was appoint­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of…

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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…

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Robyn Denise COLE

Also known as: née Bland, Denise

At Yuen­du­mu, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, set up one of the ear­ly pre-schools for Abo­rig­i­nal chil­dren in Cen­tral Australia.

Grad­u­at­ed from Teach­ers Col­lege in 1966; came to the…

Joyce Ethel PRICE

Born 8/11/1915, Died 19/08/2009

Also known as: née Brooke

1956 — Life­time devo­tion to Girl Guides as Dis­trict and Divi­sion Com­mis­sion­ers in South Aus­tralia. She served as:

1963 – 1968 — State Com­mis­sion­er of Victoria.


1968 – 1973 — Chief…

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Dorothy Jean HAILES

Born 22 June 1926, Died 27 November 1988

Also known as: Dr Jean Hailes

“Dr Jean Hailes was a pio­neer in women’s health in Aus­tralia. In 1971 she estab­lished the first clin­ic in Aus­tralia ded­i­cat­ed to the man­age­ment of menopause.” [Aleeza Zohar]
9 June…

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Freda BRIGGS

Born 1 December 1930, Died 6 April 2016

Also known as: née Akeroyd

Edu­ca­tor, author, scholar.
Her appeal against manda­to­ry retire­ment paved the way for old­er Aus­tralians to retain work­ing posi­tions after retire­ment age.
Received ANZAC Fellowship…

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Joy STACY

Girl Guides In Ser­vice Social Work­er with refugees in camps in Europe after World War II.

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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).

Sandy COULSON

Also known as: Commander Coulson

First female Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of the Navy’s sub­ma­rine base HMAS Platypus.

First female mem­ber of Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy (RAN) Staff Col­lege’s direct­ing staff.

April 2000…

Marie Louise Hamilton MACK

Born 10/10/1870, Died 23/11/1935

Also known as: née Mack, registered as Mary Louisa, Louise Creed, Gouli Gouli, Louise Leyland, Mary Mack

1914 — First woman war cor­re­spon­dent, Bel­gium, report­ing for the Evening News and the Dai­ly Mail.

Late 1880s — Con­trib­u­tor to The Bul­letin, an Aus­tralian mag­a­zine, Sydney.1896…

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Cheryl BELL

Also known as: Commander

1992 — First woman to be per­ma­nent­ly appoint­ed to a ​‘Bush Sta­tion’ (at Yuen­du­mu) by North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Police.

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Daphne Rosina COLLESS

Born 28 May 1928, Died 10 June 2016

Also known as: née Oliver, Rose

First Aborginal woman man­ag­er of the Alco­hol Relief Cen­tre, Cairns, Queensland.
1984 — Received the Medal of the Order of Australia.

1987 — The first recip­i­ent of the Human Rights…

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Essie STUART

Born 1904

Also known as: née Simpson

With camel dri­ver hus­band, brought goods from Maree and Ood­na­dat­ta to Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

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;…

Edna SAUNDERS

Also known as: née Bradley

Octo­ber 1957 — One of 26 women to take the inau­gur­al ​“women only” ten day tour to ​“Alice Springs and Beyond,” which was Uluru.

In her NPWHF file is a copy…

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Sonya Jean BEGG

Born 7 September 1946, Died 31 May 2012

Also known as: née Mackinnon

1987 — Start­ed Aus­trali­a’s first com­mer­cial snail farm in Orange, New South Wales. It became famous when it sold snails to New Par­lia­ment House for its cock­tail par­ty that Queen…

Gina SMITH

First deputy chair­woman of the Cen­tral Land Council.

She and Rayleen BROWN found­ed Kun­gas Can Cook, Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, an indige­nous cater­ing com​pa​ny​.Ms SMITH…

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Beverley BRUEN

Also known as: Bev

The first of only a small num­ber of stamp illustrators.

Ethel Mary TURNER

Born 24 January 1870, Died 08 April 1958

Also known as: née Burwell, née Ethel Sibyl Turner, Ethel Mary Curlewis, Ethel Sibyl Cope

Author of Sev­en Lit­tle Aus­tralians which was Aus­trali­a’s first chil­dren’s clas­sic (1894). Has writ­ten over 40 books.

Beatrice DAY

Born 1865, Died 5 September 1933

1900 — Beat­rice Day is said to be the first woman in an Aus­tralian film, appear­ing in Aus­trali­a’s, and pos­si­bly the world’s, first film (albeit silent) the Salvation…

Ellen Dorothy LITTLEJOHN

Also known as: née Small

1926 — One of two nurs­ing sis­ters of the Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion appoint­ed to Ade­laide House Hos­pi­tal, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

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Leonora Jessie LITTLE

Born 1870, Died 27/5/1945

Also known as: née Little

1893 — First woman sci­ence grad­u­ate, Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence, Mel­bourne University.
1985 — Award­ed Mas­ter of Science.

1904 — Enrolled at Uni­ver­si­ty College/​The Uni­ver­si­ty of…

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Marcia June HREMEVIUC

Born 30 April 1950, Died 18 January 2017

Also known as: née Smith

1985 — First woman in Aus­tralia to be cer­ti­fied as a train­er for heli­copter pilots.

2012 — Received 10,000 hours badge from Aus­tralian Women Pilots’ Association.

Arrived…

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Gail KELLY

Born 25/4/1956

Also known as: nee Currer

2001 — First woman to be Chief Exec­u­tive of a major bank (St George Bank).
The only CEO of an Aus­tralian bank to have giv­en birth to triplets.

Only female Chief Exec­u­tive of…

Marita MUNRO

Born 1955

Mari­ta Munro was the Bap­tist Church’s first woman min­is­ter when ordained in Vic­to­ria in 1978.