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Anne KOLBE

2003 — First female Pres­i­dent of the Roy­al Aus­tralasian Col­lege of Surgeons.

Anne is a pae­di­atric sur­geon from Auck­land, New Zealand.

2011 – 2016 — Served by Min­is­te­r­i­al appointment…

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Barbara MURPHY

Also known as: née Etter

First female Com­man­der of Police in North­ern Territory

Mary CLARK

Died 1960

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Long­stand­ing mem­ber, died 1960. Car­ri­er and wood merchant.

Freidericke Johanna Henriette STREHLOW

Born 31/08/1875, Died 30/04/1957

Also known as: née Keysser, Frieda

Pio­neer wife of Mis­sion­ary Carl STREHLOW and moth­er of Prof. T.G.H. (Ted) STREHLOW.

Frances Blanche Dorothy GRAY

Also known as: Dorothy, Fannie, Fanny

The first woman to grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor of Den­tal Sci­ence in Vic­to­ria, she was award­ed her degree from the Aus­tralian Col­lege of Den­tistry, Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne, in 1907. One of…

Joyce Inga ELLIS

Born 16 February 1926, Died 2006

Joyce Inga Ellis was the first Aer­i­al Med­ical Sis­ter at Alice Springs from 1962 to 1967. With the Aer­i­al Med­ical Doc­tor, she spoke dai­ly by radio to peo­ple with med­ical problems,…

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Myra FILSELL

Born 1904, Died 2001

Also known as: née Scott

First Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion (A.I.M.) nurse at Ood­na­dat­ta, South Australia.

Ita Clare BUTTROSE

Born 17/1/1942

Acknowl­edged for her bril­liant and ground­break­ing media career, Ita But­trose has also ded­i­cat­ed her con­sid­er­able ener­gy and skills to cham­pi­oning med­ical edu­ca­tion and health care. Ita…

Ada Emily EVANS

Born 17 May 1872, Died 27 December 1947

Also known as: née Evans

Aus­trali­a’s first female law grad­u­ate received her L.L.B. from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney in 1902 but was not per­mit­ted to prac­tice until The Wom­en’s Legal Sta­tus Act 1918 (New…

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Katrina LEE

1978 — Kat­ri­na Lee was the first on com­mer­cial television.

Natalee Joy JOHNSTON

Born 19/08/1976

Also known as: née McDougall

1998 — First woman pilot in the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy (RAN) and first woman to grad­u­ate as a pilot for the RAN in its 50 years of naval aviation.
1998 — First female Navy helicopter…

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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).

Verna ABBERTON

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Devot­ed mem­ber, very good fundraiser.

Nancy Eileen BUTTFIELD

Born 12 November 1912, Died 4 September 2005

Also known as: née Holden, Dame Nancy Buttfield

1955 — First South Aus­tralian women to be elect­ed to Aus­tralian Parliament.

1 Jan­u­ary 1972 — Appoint­ed the Order of the British Empire (Dames Com­man­der), for polit­i­cal and public…

Alice Maude NORTHCOTE

Died 06/1934

Also known as: née Alice Brooke, Alice Stephen

She arranged the first ever exhi­bi­tion of Aus­tralian wom­en’s art held at the Exhi­bi­tion build­ing, Mel­bourne in 1907, dur­ing her hus­band’s term as Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al of…

Marina PRIOR

Born 18 October 1963

2006 — She was induct­ed into the list of Australia’s top 100 Enter­tain­ers of the Century.

Opera singer and Aus­trali­a’s First Lady of musi­cal theatre.

Sara Jane HENDERSON

Born 15 September 1936, Died 29 April 2005

Also known as: née Barton

1991 – Aus­tralian Busi­ness Woman of the Year award.

North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry pastoralist.Author.
Daugh­ter is Bon­nie HENDERSON.

Isobelle Violet PRICE

Born 25/04/1876, Died 29/10/1957

Also known as: née Hesketh, Isobel, Ivy

First lone woman (with her four chil­dren) to run a sta­tion in Cen­tral Aus­tralia — Harp­er Springs near Ti Tree (1924 – 1930s). Wid­ow of Tele­graph Mas­ter of Old Tele­graph Sta­tion, Alice…

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Louisa Caroline GREGORY

Born 30 April 1865, Died 17 February 1903

Also known as: née Gregory, Lily, Louie, Louisa Caroline Varley

8 March 1886 — Bendi­go, Vic­to­ria — The first offi­cial organ­ised women’s crick­et match was cap­tained by sis­ters Lily and Nel­lie GRE­GO­RY at a match in Syd­ney, which includ­ed player…

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Heather May MUNRO

Born 10 May 1943

First female Pres­i­dent of the Roy­al Aus­tralian Col­lege of Obste­tri­cians and Gynaecologists.

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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,…

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…

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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…

Mientje Adriana Anthonius Septimus MAAS

Born 1923

Also known as: Miki, Mikie

Mem­ber of the Dutch Under­ground Resis­tance Move­ment dur­ing World War II.
Engaged by Dutch Gov­ern­ment to enter­tain troops in Dutch East Indies (Indone­sia).
Met and mar­ried hus­band, Max,…

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Joyce Charlotte WHALEY

Died 08/06/2002

Also known as: Joy, Mumma Joy

Known as ​‘Mum­ma Joy’ in Tim­or. Pio­neer in ded­i­cat­ed ser­vices to dis­abled chil­dren in both Aus­tralia and East Tim­or. Award­ed the Medal of the Order of Aus­tralia, for service…

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Edna Margaret WALLING

Born 4 December 1896, Died 8 August 1973

1918 — First female land­scape gardener.

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Marilyn Jodie CLARKE

Also known as: née Kong

First Aus­tralian Abo­rig­i­nal spe­cial­ist, Obstetrician/​Gynecologist.

1997 – 1998 — Mar­i­lyn and her twin sis­ter Mar­lene were the first Indige­nous women to grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor of…

Anna Maria BUNN

Born 1808, Died 19 September 1889

Also known as: née Murray

1838 — Author of first nov­el pub­lished in Aus­tralia, The Guardian: a Tale (by an Australian).

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…

Annie Florence LACEY

Born 28/10/1893, Died 1960

Also known as: née Rampton, Nance

Opened first hos­pi­tal for peo­ple with Lep­rosy in Mel­bourne in ear­ly 1950s.

Pio­neer­ing Bush Nurse in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and Far North Queensland.1919 — Trained as nurse, Hobart…

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Edna Almurta BRADSHAW

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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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Elizabeth CLAPHAM

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

Edith Emily DORNWELL

Born 31 August 1865, Died 18 November 1945

Also known as: née Dornwell

The first woman to grad­u­ate from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ade­laide in 1885, she was this insti­tu­tion’s and Aus­trali­a’s ear­li­est sci­ence grad­u­ate, pass­ing with First Class Honours.…

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Mary SANDERCOCK

1970s — First female Prop­er­ty Val­uer in South Australia.

Gladys CARRUTH

Born 20 May 1910, Died 23 May 1979

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Long-stand­ing mem­ber devot­ed worker.

Sally HENDERSON

She is an anthro­pol­o­gist from Queensland.Sally and her hus­band, Jere­my, estab­lished a pri­vate­ly fund­ed ele­phant and endan­gered ani­mal research pro­gram, Ele­friends, and has devot­ed her…

Helen Mary MAYO

Born 1 October 1878, Died 13 November 1967

1914 — First woman elect­ed to a uni­ver­si­ty coun­cil in Aus­tralia (Coun­cil of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ade­laide). Held this posi­tion con­tin­u­ous­ly for 46 years.
3 June 1935 — Appoint­ed an…

Myrtle Lillias Hope BINET

Born 31 May 1906, Died 11 November 1985

Also known as: née Bell

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Fam­i­ly woman and hap­py work­er — hus­band in gov­ern­ment service.

Winifred Doris BLACKWELL

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

Also known as: née Bradshaw, Doris

Wrote Alice On The Line.

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Polly

Min­nie GILLEN ran the house­hold with the help of two Arrente Abo­rig­i­nal women, … and Pol­ly, who also looked after her two boys.

Margaret Anne FEILMAN

Born 22 June 1921, Died 24 September 2013

First chair­woman of the West­ern Aus­tralia Plan­ning Board. First female to under­take an archi­tec­tur­al cadet­ship in West­ern Aus­trali­a’s Pub­lic Works Depart­ment. First female Town…

Joan SUTHERLAND

Born 1926, Died 2010

Also known as: Dame Joan Sutherland, La Stupenda

Joan Suther­land was a world famous sopra­no, one of the great­est voic­es of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry. Joan stud­ied at the Roy­al Col­lege of Music in Lon­don, mak­ing a suc­cess­ful debut at…

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Marise PAYNE

Born 29 July 1964

Marise Payne was appoint­ed Australia’s Min­is­ter for For­eign Affairs on 28 August 2018.

A Sen­a­tor for New South Wales since 1997, she has more than two decades’ parliamentary…

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Nikki BART

Nik­ki along with her moth­er are the first women to com­plete the Explor­er’s Grand Slam, the Sev­en Sum­mits which includes Mt Ever­est. May 2008.

Togeth­er with her moth­er, Cheryl,…

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Joan Margaret BANKS

Born 02/1926

1987 Hon­o­ry Mem­ber of Region of Victoria

1990 Medal of the Order of Aus­tralia for Ser­vice to Sci­ence, Edu­ca­tion and Wom­en’s Affairs (OAM)

1998 Hon­orary Mem­ber of Soroptimist…

Kareena BALLARD

From 1996 – 1998, Kareena Bal­lard was the first female pres­i­dent of both the Real Estate Insti­tute of WA and the Real Estate Insti­tute of Aus­tralia. She was award­ed the REI­WA Kevin…

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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Alison S CARE

2009 — Recip­i­ent of Young Inves­ti­ga­tor Award, South Australia.

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

Mary HARGRAVE

Born 27 January 1916, Died 24 January 1987

Also known as: née Minto

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Hus­band a solicitor.