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Jillian Fiona MAXWELL

Also known as: Jill

1997 — First woman to head Pul­teney Gram­mar Schools gov­ern­ing body”, as chair, break­ing a 150-year ​“men only” tra­di­tion and first non-cler­gy appoint­ment in 125 years.…

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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…

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Joanne SCHILLING

2007 — First female Gov­er­nor in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Rotary Club.

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Eliza HARRIS

Also known as: née Deed

Wife of an Alice Springs Tele­graph Sta­tion tele­graph operator.

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Margaret BELL

First Aus­tralian woman world pres­i­dent of the Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion for Vol­un­teer Effort.

Marjorie ANDREW

Mar­jorie Andrew worked for the Allied Works Coun­cil in Alice Springs and Dar­win dur­ing World War Two (Alice Springs 1944 – 1945). One of the most press­ing demands on Aus­tralia during…

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…

Marjorie McGREGOR

In 1987, Mar­jorie McGre­gor was appoint­ed Aus­trali­a’s first female Archdea­con, one rank below a Bish­op, the most senior lev­el of ministry.

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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Vincenzina CICCARELLO

Also known as: Vini

Became Aus­trali­a’s first Ital­ian-born female mayor.

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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Robin SMITH

Pos­si­bly youngest female solo glid­er pilot (aged 16) in Aus­tralia (Alice Springs Glid­ing Club, North­ern Territory).

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Nora Clarina MURRAY-PRIOR

Born 3/12/1846, Died 1935

Also known as: née Barton

One of the ​‘hid­den’ pio­neer women of the colo­nial era, who nur­tured her net­work of rel­a­tives through let­ters. In strik­ing­ly direct and flu­ent prose, inter­spersed with…

Kylie Ann MINOGUE

Born 28/05/1968

Biggest sell­ing female artist in Aus­tralian con­cert history.

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Danni Patricia MIATKE

Born 29/11/1987

First North­ern Ter­ri­to­ri­an swim­mer to win at world swim cham­pi­onships (50 meter butterfly).
2006 — Gold Medal­ist at Man­ches­ter Com­mon­wealth Games — swim­ming — 50m butterfly.…

Amy Gwendoline STARK

Born 3/04/1910, Died 28/11/1994

Also known as: née Stark, Gwen, Starkie, Gwen Caldwell

1941 — First ser­vice woman recruit­ed by WAAAF in New South Wales. On 40^th Anniver­sary of Anzac Day, she was the first woman hon­oured to give the Dawn Ser­vice Address in Sydney.
1968 -…

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June Elizabeth APPLEBY

1985 — First woman in South Aus­tralian Par­lia­ment to become Gov­ern­ment Whip in House of Assembly

A mem­ber of the Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty, June Apple­by was elect­ed as the Member…

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Edna Margaret WALLING

Born 4 December 1896, Died 8 August 1973

1918 — First female land­scape gardener.

Ada Beatrice BLOXHAM

Born 13 July 1865, Died 1956

Also known as: Ada Palmer

1884 — Inau­gur­al and first woman to win the Sir W. J. Clarke Schol­ar­ship to the Roy­al Col­lege of Music in Lon­don. ​“She was the first Aus­tralian to enrol at the Roy­al Col­lege of Music…

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Ellen PERRY

Born 1908, Died 2005

Also known as: Nell

The Per­ry fam­i­ly arrived in Ten­nant Creek in 1934 to search for gold. Nell lived in Ade­laide with their three chil­dren for around 10 years, hav­ing a dis­tance rela­tion­ship, before…

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Dorothy GILL

Born 18 November 1925

Also known as: née Adamson, Doff

First female bank clerk in Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Also worked in Com­mon­wealth Bank in 1942.

Daugh­ter of the first post­mas­ter in Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

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Caroline Wilhelmina LEHMANN

Born 15/3/1873, Died 8/5/1955

Also known as: Minnie, Caroline Dux

Pio­neer of Parna­roo and Clare dis­tricts of South Australia.Charity worker.

Bessie Mabel RISCHBIETH

Born 16/10/1874, Died 16/03/1967

Also known as: née Earle

1921 — Founder of the Aus­tralian Fed­er­a­tion of Wom­en’s Soci­eties (lat­er Voters)
OBE

Elsa Margaretta PETRICK

Died 12/1986

Also known as: née Johannsen

Jour­nal­ist of North­ern Territory.

Daugh­ter of pio­neer Johannsen family.

Mary Jane DOUGLAS

Born 9 October 1958

Also known as: née Gillett

First woman employed nation­al­ly by Fed­er­at­ed Store­man and Pack­ers Union.

1996 – 2002 — A mem­ber of the Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty, rep­re­sent­ing Wer­ribee. The seat was abolished.…

Rene KULITJA

Born 12/12/1958

Also known as: Wanuny Kulitja

Rene Kulit­ja is the first Abo­rig­i­nal artist to have her art work paint­ed on a domes­tic Qan­tas air­craft. She designed the Yananyi Dream­ing for the Qan­tas Boe­ing 737. The Yananyi…

Dorothy Margaret TANGNEY

Born 12/03/1907, Died 03/06/1985

Also known as: Dame Dorothy Tangney

The first woman in the Fed­er­al Sen­ate when elect­ed in August 1943, she was a Sen­a­tor for West­ern Aus­tralia for 25 years, the only female mem­ber of the Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty throughout…

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Chrysamthi PASPALIS

Born 13/07/1913, Died 25/04/1995

Also known as: née Kailis, Chrissie, Chrissy

Received The Order of the British Empire — Offi­cer (Civ­il) in 1976.

Well-known in Dar­win social cir­cles. 1942 — Last woman to be evac­u­at­ed from Dar­win area after February…

Gracemary MacKINNON

Born 1911, Died 20/12/1994

Exec­u­tive and Pub­lic Ser­vant. 1940 — sec­re­tary to Aus­tralian Wool Board Sec­re­tari­at; 1961 until retire­ment in 1971 — sec­re­tary to Inter­na­tion­al Wool Sec­re­tari­at; 1 of only 3 women…

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Susannah Hennessy O'REILLY

Born 25/01/1881, Died 18/06/1960

Also known as: Susie

In 1921 she co-found­ed the New South Wales Asso­ci­a­tion of Reg­is­tered Med­ical Women. For twen­ty-two years she worked as a con­sult­ing physi­cian at the Rachel Forster Hos­pi­tal for Women,…

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Carmel Mary ROSE

Born 1923, Died 13/10/1996

Also known as: née Kerrison

Wid­ow of Colonel Lionel Rose, Chief Vet­eri­nar­i­an Offi­cer for the Ani­mal Indus­try Branch. Her con­tri­bu­tion to Emer­gency Home Help Organ­i­sa­tion was invaluable.

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Sophie SERESE

“At 24 Sophie Serese, a Banyule local, lives and breathes music. Sophie has com­plet­ed twelve full scale operas, found­ed the Aus­tralian Youth Opera, and even stud­ied Musical…

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Jane CHRISTOPHERSEN

Born November 1924

Also known as: née Wilkinson, Garlil (birth first name), Jane Ah Mat

1946 – 1947 — Formed first Abo­rig­i­nal net­ball team ​‘The Kook­abur­ras’. ​“Old timers say that the Ter­ri­to­ry has nev­er pro­duced a bet­ter goal shoot­er, male or female. She was tall,…

Mary Ellinor Lucy ARCHER

Born 13 November 1893, Died 3 May 1979

Also known as: Ellinor Archer professionally

Mary Archer was CSIRO’s first woman sci­en­tist, and chief librar­i­an from 1923 – 1954. She is com­mem­o­rat­ed by the Library Asso­ci­a­tion of Aus­trali­a’s Elli­nor Archer award, first…

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Marie Henriette Dorothea KEMPE

Died 1891

Also known as: nee Queckenstedt, Dorothee

The first white women to set­tle in Cen­tral Aus­tralia were Dorothea Queck­en­st­edt and Wil­helmine Schulze from Ger­many, the wives of mis­sion­ar­ies Kempe and Schwarz. They arrived at…

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Wendy Lloyd HARE

1963 — First women to hold Senior Com­mer­cial Licence and youngest per­son to become an A Grade Flight Instructor.

1979 — By this year she was fling jet air­craft for Stillwell…

Evelyn Helena PARKER

Born 12 October 1907, Died 28 September 1993

1975 — First woman May­or in West­ern Aus­tralia (Subi­a­co Coun­cil). In 1976 she was Cit­i­zen of the Year.

She was a Jus­tice of the Peace. In 1977 she received an Offi­cer of the…

Cathy SALVAIR

Born 17/10/1963

Cathy has flown tour groups around Aus­tralia. She has endorse­ments in aer­o­bat­ics, for­ma­tion fly­ing, and float planes.
1987 — Won the Lady Casey Scholarship.

1979 — Her first…

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Gilda WILLOX

1999 — First North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry nurse to become accred­it­ed in endoscopy.

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…

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Tracey HAYES

Also known as: née Napier

First woman CEO of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Cat­tle­man’s Asso­ci­a­tion (2014 — 2017). Tracey worked as the Exec­u­tive Offi­cer with pre­vi­ous Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Luke Bowen for a peri­od of…

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Ida Grace FRANCIS

Born 22 July 1892, Died 28 September 1959

1923 – 1925 — First Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion (A.I.M.) at Birdsville Hos­pi­tal, Birdsville, Shire of Dia­man­ti­na, Queensland.
1950 — Award­ed Mem­ber of British Empire (MBE) medal by King…

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…

Lottie Edith LYELL

Born 23/2/1890, Died 21/12/1925

Also known as: née Cox

First female star, scriptwriter, and pro­duc­er of silent films.
1907 — First female lead in the Edwin Geach Company’s ​“An Englishman’s Home.”

Worked on at least 28 silent…

Susan BOYD

Born 1946

Sue Boyd was the first woman pres­i­dent of a stu­dents asso­ci­a­tion in Aus­tralia (Guild of Under­grad­u­ates, Uni­ver­si­ty of West­ern Aus­tralia 1969). She spent 34 years in the Australian…

Leone Beth CREAMER

Born 1929

1966 — The first female horse train­er in New South Wales.

1972 – 1973 — First woman horse train­er to reach the top ten train­ers in the South­ern Table­lands and South Coast (New South…

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Katrina LEE

1978 — Kat­ri­na Lee was the first on com­mer­cial television.

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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Matina MOTTEE

Born 1931

Also known as: née Kassimatis

1994 — Award­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, for Com­mu­ni­ty Work with Migrant Women in Sydney.

With Beryl Mul­der, con­vened the Asso­ci­a­tion of Non-Eng­lish Speaking…

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Mabel Mary TAYLOR

Mabel Tay­lor, one of the Brad­shaw’s gov­erness­es, shocked the locals by wear­ing a divid­ed skirt on horse­back instead of rid­ing side sad­dle as was cus­tom­ary for women in c1905.Doris…