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Evelyn Ruth SCOTT

Born 1935, Died 21 September 2017

Also known as: née Backo

1991 — First female chair­per­son of the Coun­cil for Abo­rig­i­nal Reconciliation.
2000 — Hon­orary doc­tor­ate award­ed by Uni­ver­si­ty of West­ern Sydney.

Abo­rig­i­nal rights…

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Annie LITTLEJOHN

1916 — One of the first women (along with Juli­et Stawell) to enroll in Archi­tec­ture at Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty — did not com­plete course.

Eva Mabel GARLAND

Born 30 June 1912

Also known as: née Lawrence, Mable

1990 — Received Advance Aus­tralia award.
1992 — Received Aus­tralian Day Cit­i­zen­ship award.
1995 — Recip­i­ent of Adult Learn­ers’ Award.
1999 — Received Premier’s Seniors Achievement…

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Patsy LEE

Born 1925, Died 20/6/2017

“Grand Old Dame of Fish­ing” in Glad­stone, Queens­land and pos­si­bly Aus­trali­a’s old­est and most expe­ri­enced fish­er­woman. Won Queens­land titles.

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Patricia A. WILSON

Also known as: née Bathe, Pat

One of the first two police women to be attached to Alice Springs Police.

She joined Mon­day, 14 July 1969 and ceased Wednes­day, 2 Decem­ber 1970, serv­ing for one year, four…

Brit ANDRESEN

In 2002, Brit was the first woman to be award­ed the pres­ti­gious Roy­al Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Archi­tects (RAIA) Gold Medal, hon­our­ing her con­tri­bu­tion to the archi­tec­ture field and…

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 -…

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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…

Dorothy Muriel CRAWFORD

Born 21 March 1911, Died 2 September 1988

Also known as: née Crawford, D. C.

March 1942 – 1944 — Became one of the Aus­tralian Broad­cast­ing Commission’s first three female announc­ers in Victoria.

1944 — Joined, with her broth­er Hec­tor, the…

Emma Constance STONE

Born 4 December 1856, Died 29 December 1902

Also known as: Constance

Born in Hobart, Tas­ma­nia, she was Aus­trali­a’s first woman doc­tor reg­is­ter­ing with the Med­ical Board of Vic­to­ria in 1890, after train­ing over­seas. She prac­tised one day a week at…

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Beatrice Deloitte DAVIS

Born 28 January 1909, Died 24 May 1992

Also known as: Beatrice Deloitte Bridges

Syd­ney art grad­u­ate, Beat­rice Davis became Aus­trali­a’s first full-time pro­fes­sion­al book edi­tor when she joined Angus & Robert­son in 1937.
1967 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order…

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…

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…

Vida Jane Mary GOLDSTEIN

Born 13 April 1869, Died 15 August 1949

The first Vic­to­ri­an female can­di­date for the Sen­ate in Aus­trali­a’s 1903 first Fed­er­al elec­tion, she was one of the first four unsuc­cess­ful women can­di­dates that year but the one…

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.

Margaret WHYTE

1891 — One of the first two women to grad­u­ate in Med­i­cine from Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty — the oth­er was Clara STONE.
​“When the final results appeared Mar­garet Whyte had done…

Stephanie ALEXANDER

Born 13/11/1940

Pio­neer­ing food writer, first woman to own and man­age a world-class restau­rant in Aus­tralia (Stephanie’s Restau­rant: 1976 – 1997); ini­ti­at­ed inno­v­a­tive pri­ma­ry school pro­gram, The…

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Patricker Catherine Bridgett HOLDEN

Born 5 April 1913, Died 19 February 1997

Also known as: née Callahan, Pat

Estab­lished Pat Hold­en Fash­ions, a ladies dress shop in Alice Springs. Worked for Mona MINA­HAN in her dress shop originally.

Cora Kate CHALMERS

Born 18 February 1885, Died 13 August 1958

Also known as: née Coventry

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia, Mac­Don­ald Downs, sheep and cat­tle station.

Marjorie JACKSON

Born 13 September 1931

Also known as: Lithgow Flash, Marj, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson

1950 — First Aus­tralian woman to break a world record for the 100 metres; won four gold medals (100 yards; 220 yards; 440 yards Med­ley Relay; 660 yards Med­ley Relay), British Empire…

Marion Lillian ADDISON

Born 21 December 1885, Died 27 November 1982

Also known as: Lily

1919 — First Aus­tralian woman to play at Wimbledon. 

At the time, Lily was the wom­en’s sin­gles cham­pi­on of Australia. 

She was the South Aus­tralian Ladies Ten­nis Cham­pi­on in…

Clara SOUTHERN

Born 3 October 1860, Died 15 December 1940

Also known as: Panther

First woman mem­ber and com­mit­tee mem­ber of the Aus­tralian Art Association.

Her work is held by the Nation­al Gallery of Vic­to­ria and the Bal­larat Fine Art Gallery.

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…

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Del HAYMAN

1956 — Appoint­ed first Aus­tralian Girl Guide Inter­na­tion­al Commissioner.
1960 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for ser­vices to Guiding.


Pio­neer of…

Mary Gordon SARD

Born 8/7/1868, Died 29/3/1946

Also known as: née Kennedy

First reg­is­tered Mid­wife in Port Pirie, South Australia.

Moth­er of ten chil­dren (five sons and five daughter).
Mary’s hus­band William was a mar­itime engi­neer, work­ing on…

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Emma BOYD

Born 1858, Died 1936

Also known as: Minnie Boyd

High­ly regard­ed land­scape painter. One of the most pro­lif­ic in Mel­bourne of her gen­er­a­tion. Exhib­it­ed in Lon­don at the Roy­al Acad­e­my in 1891 and at the Grafton Gal­leries in 1898.…

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,…

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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.

Phoebe Elizabeth FARRAR

Born 19 December 1862, Died 19 August 1960

Also known as: née Wright, Bush Mother

2003 — A recip­i­ent of the Trib­ute to North­ern Territory.

Pio­neer on cat­tle sta­tions in Top End North­ern Territory.Known as ​“Bush Mother.“Contributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to…

Patricia Julianne EVANS

Also known as: née Morris

Qual­i­fied as an accoun­tant in 1948, and in 1949, at 21, became the first female accoun­tant to be employed by Bitu­men and Oil Refiner­ies (Aus­tralia) Lim­it­ed (Boral). One of the…

Beryl YOUNG

Beryl became famous when she was the chief pilot who flew Queens­land Pre­mier Joh Bjelke-Peter­son all over the state.

Pio­neer Pilot.

Winifred Doris BLACKWELL

Born 1/05/1891, Died 14/01/1983

Also known as: née Bradshaw, Doris

Wrote Alice On The Line.

Josie BLAKELEY

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia Net­ball Association.

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Jude MUNRO

First woman Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of two cities: Ade­laide and Brisbane.

Chief Exec­u­tive of coun­cils: Ade­laide, Bris­bane, More­land, and St Kilda.2010 – Ms. Munro received…

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…

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Tryphena Lucelle Willesee BENSTEAD

Born 3/08/1860

Also known as: née Rains, Trephina, Triphena, Tryphina, Tryphinia

Tryphena Lucelle Rains mar­ried William (Bill) Ben­stead in 1881. After man­ag­ing Undoolya Sta­tion for five years, Bill became man­ag­er of Bar­row Creek Pas­toral Com­pa­ny, set­ting up home…

Ida Joy BRUCEK

Born 4/4/1923, Died 2/7/1997

Also known as: Joy Brucek, Ida Joy Cuskey (maiden name)

1953 — Estab­lished first library in Alice Springs. 1962 — Grant­ed first restau­rant liquor licence in Alice Springs for Zde­na Motel (where Alice Resort is now locat­ed, on Stott Terrace,…

Sarah Johnston CHINNERY

Born 30 January 1887, Died 24 March 1970

Also known as: née Neill

The ​“sec­ond woman in Eng­land to have” a motorbike.
​“The first woman to ride a lady’s bicy­cle in” Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.


Sarah set her­self the task of record­ing her…

Elizabeth Lilian Maud FOWLER

Born 7 June 1886, Died 11 May 1954

Also known as: née Gill, Lilian

Aus­trali­a’s first woman may­or when elect­ed to New­town Munic­i­pal Coun­cil in 1938, when she had been New South Wales’ first female alder­man when first appoint­ed ten years…

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Edna Margaret WALLING

Born 4 December 1896, Died 8 August 1973

1918 — First female land­scape gardener.

Daisy May BATES

Born 16/10/1863, Died 18/4/1951

Also known as: Daisy May O'Dwyer

Daisy May Bates led a colour­ful life which includ­ed three mar­riages two of which are pre­sum­ably big­a­mous and pos­si­ble change/​changes of name for what­ev­er rea­son. Her first mar­rage was…

Millie Gertrude PEACOCK

Born 3 August 1870, Died 7 February 1948

Also known as: née Holden, Lady Peacock

1933 — First woman to enter Vic­to­ri­an State Government.
2002- Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

Ruth Evelyn WILSON

In 1976 Ruth became the first female com­mer­cial bal­loon pilot in Aus­tralia, own­ing and oper­at­ing her own balloon. 

In 1979 became Aus­trali­a’s first Nation­al Bal­loon­ing Champion.…

Heather Mary SCOTT

Born 9 November 1939

Also known as: Jill

A pio­neer of con­tem­po­rary tourism in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry from 1969 until 1992.
Jill began her pro­fes­sion­al life as a reg­is­tered nurse. Her expe­ri­ence includ­ed trav­el­ling to England…

Magdalene JOHNSON

Born 1/7/1905, Died 26/1/2010

Also known as: Maggie

Worked as drover, cook, teacher, car­er. Dur­ing World War II ​“she worked as a cook for hun­dreds of peo­ple” at the mis­sion at Arltunga.

At time of death, 2010, Alice…

Ellen Dymphna CUSACK

Born 21 September 1902, Died 19 October 1981

Also known as: née Cusack, Nell

Wrote 11 books. Author of Pio­neers of Par­adise (1939) with Miles Franklin and Come In Spin­ner (1951) with Flo­rence James.
1920 — Won an exhi­bi­tion and Teach­ers’ Col­lege scholarship,…

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.

Joan MacCORMAC

Also known as: née Waterton

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Short-term member.

Karen Louise ROLTON

Born 21/11/1974

2000 — First woman to play Men’s Grade crick­et in South Australia.

Vice Cap­tain Aus­tralian wom­en’s One Day Crick­et team which won the World Cup in India in…

Fran WEST

Born 1952

1999/2000 — First woman to fly a sin­gle engine Cess­na 172, as sole pilot in com­mand, around the coast of main­land Aus­tralia and Tasmania.

A for­mer pub­lic library man­ag­er, bed…