Joan Elizabeth KIRNER

Born 1938, Died 2015

Also known as: née Hood

Joan Kirn­er became the first female head of gov­ern­ment in Vic­to­ria when she was elect­ed by the Labor Par­ty to suc­ceed Pre­mier John Cain Junior fol­low­ing his res­ig­na­tion in 1990. She…

Jennifer DAETZ

Also known as: Jenny

1997 — First female to com­mand a com­mis­sion­er R.A.N. Ves­sel ​‘HMAS Shepperton’.

She joined the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy in 1986, and has attained the rank of Captain.…

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Jacqueline PAYNE

Also known as: Jacquie

Mag­is­trate Jacque­line Payne was the first Indige­nous woman to be admit­ted as a solic­i­tor in Queens­land. She worked in crim­i­nal defence for four­teen years: for the ATSI Corporation…

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Janice Eileen HEASLIP

Born 03/04/1939

Also known as: née Parnell

Found­ing Mem­ber Alice Springs Branch and Inau­gur­al State Pres­i­dent of Iso­lat­ed Chil­dren’s Par­ents Association.

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Ada Mary WADE

Born 1909

Also known as: née Smith (formerly Pick)

One of first babies bap­tised at Alice Springs Catholic Church

Pio­neer of Arl­tun­ga, Ten­nant creek, Hatch­es Creek and Alice Springs. Attend­ed school behind old Courthouse.When…

Edith Ellen DEMPSTER

Born 31 January 1884, Died 28 May 1967

Also known as: née McLellan, E. E.

Pio­neer on cat­tle sta­tions in South Aus­tralia and North­ern Territory.Top End pio­neers and South Aus­tralian pioneers.Pioneer pas­toral­ist on Vic­to­ria Riv­er Downs.

Jacqui SEGGER

“In Sep­tem­ber 1988, three trail­blaz­ing women — Michelle Field, Jacqui Seg­ger and Vir­ginia Forbes (née Bell) — grad­u­at­ed along­side twen­ty men from the Vic­to­ria Street Training…

Shelley HARKIN

Born 1967

2004 — First Reg­is­tered Nurse trained in Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

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Dorothy Evelyn Lettie BELLAMY

Born 1907, Died 1984

Also known as: née Oliffe, Paddy, Dorothy Evelyn Letty

1940s — First woman to dri­ve alone between Ade­laide and Alice Springs.
1947 — First woman in Alice Springs to actu­al­ly reg­is­ter a busi­ness — the first exclu­sive wom­ens’ store in…

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Doris Evelyn WILLIAMS

Born 1895

1925 — First female optometrist admit­ted to Queens­land Insti­tute of Optometrists, prac­tic­ing until 1981.
​“She was one of the first two women to climb the east­ern face of Mount…

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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…

Rosetta FLYNN

Born 1878, Died 3 July 1944

1981 — Award­ed a Medal of the Order of Aus­tralia (OAM) ​‘in recog­ni­tion of ser­vice to the community’.

Sis­ter of Rev. Dr. John FLY­NN. In 1911 she raised a mile of…

Elizabeth Ann Dewar CHURCHER

Born 11 January 1931, Died 30 March 2015

Also known as: née Cameron, Betty, Betty Blockbuster

First woman direc­tor of a State Gallery when appoint­ed direc­tor of the Art Gallery of West­ern Aus­tralia from 1987 to 1990. She went on to head the pres­ti­gious Nation­al Gallery of…

Ellen O'DONNELL

Born 16/12/1896, Died 8/3/1963

Also known as: Eileen

After 10 years of gov­ern­ment lob­by­ing, she and Zara Dare were appoint­ed as Queens­land’s first two police­women, in March 1931. How­ev­er, they did not share the same pow­ers and…

Catherine Elise BLANCHETT

Born 14 May 1969

Also known as: Cate

Actress, won 2004 Oscar.
2017 — Com­pan­ion of Hon­our (AC) in the Gen­er­al Divi­sion of the Order of Aus­tralia, for emi­nent ser­vice to the per­form­ing arts as an inter­na­tion­al stage and…

Johanna Maria Luise LIEBLER

Also known as: née Kuffner, Luise

Johan­na Maria Luise Liebler came to Her­manns­burg more than thir­ty years after Dorothee and Wil­helmine. She arrived on 1 May 1910 with her hus­band who was a new­ly grad­u­at­ed missionary.…

Diana Lynn WILLIAMS

Also known as: Dr Lynn Williams, Dr Diana Williams, Lynn

One of two first women (with Denise Allen) to be award­ed the Antarc­tic Medal for out­stand­ing ser­vice in the Antarc­tic (1989), where she was med­ical offi­cer dur­ing two win­ters (1981 and…

Beryl YOUNG

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

Pio­neer Pilot.

Jane Eliza Boynton CURRIE

Born 11 July 1797, Died 17 May 1876

Also known as: née Wood

Jane Eliz­a­beth Cur­rie, the wife of West­ern Aus­trali­a’s first post­mas­ter, has been claimed as Aus­trali­a’s first-named female artist for her water­colour Our First Hut on Garden…

Waveney Constance COXON

Also known as: née Saunders, Constance Waveney Coxon

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Held office at var­i­ous times. Hus­band direc­tor of mines.

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;…

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Myra BLANCH

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

Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd BENNETT

Born 24 June 1872, Died 27 November 1960

First woman to gain a sci­ence degree at Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty (1899).
1915 — Became the first female com­mis­sioned offi­cer in the British Army.
1923 — Became the first pres­i­dent of the…

Lorrae DESMOND

Born 2 October 1932

Also known as: née Beryl Hunt, Sheila Hunt, Beryl Gorshenin, Lorrae Gorshenin

1962 — First female Gold Logie award win­ner, for her music vari­ety show The Lor­rae Desmond Show.

1970 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for ser­vices to the…

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Dorothy M. R. STEWART

Born 1892, Died 19/06/1954

Also known as: Dolly

Lyri­cist (arrange­ment and lyrics) of Now Is The Hour.

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,…

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Dorothy NAPANGARDI

Born 1958, Died 1/06/2013

Dorothy began paint­ing in 1987. Her artist sis­ter Eunice Napan­gar­di intro­duced her to it.
1991 — Dorothy won the Best Paint­ing in Euro­pean Media and 8^th Tel­stra Nation­al Aboriginal…

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Fanny Elizabeth DE MOLE

Born 1 March 1835, Died 26 December 1866

1861 — First woman in South Aus­tralia to write and illus­trate a book on the flo­ra of South Aus­tralia, Wild Flow­ers of SA.

Jill KER CONWAY

Born 9 October 1934, Died 06 June 2018

Also known as: Jill Ker Conway

1975 — First female Pres­i­dent of Smith Col­lege (Unit­ed States of America).


1975 — named as one of Time Mag­a­zine’s Women of the Year. As a writer, par­tic­u­lar­ly known…

Henrietta Augusta DUGDALE

Born 14 May 1827, Died 17 June 1918

Also known as: née Worrell, Henrietta Davies, Henrietta Dugdale, Henrietta Johnson

”In a let­ter to the Argus in 1869 Hen­ri­et­ta Dug­dale was the first woman to ​‘pub­licly advo­cate the moral right of woman to her share in polit­i­cal power’.”

1884 — Elect­ed first…

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Belinda KAY

Born 1881, Died 1903

1895 — After her pio­neer sheep sta­tion par­ents, a broth­er and sis­ter were trag­i­cal­ly drowned in a boat­ing acci­dent, Belin­da (aged 13 ¹⁄₂ years) looked after her remain­ing three sisters…

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Audrey June ATTWOOD

Born 23 June 1927, Died 25 December 2008

1978 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the British Empire for con­tri­bu­tion to education.

1997 — First Pres­i­dent at Fly­nn Lodge Old Timers Vil­lage, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.…

Doris Irene TAYLOR

Born 25/07/1901, Died 23/05/1968

1953 — Founder of first Meals on Wheels organ­i­sa­tion in Aus­tralia (South Australia).

1959 — Appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire.
The South Aus­tralian Electoral…

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Beth PRESS

From Yuan­du­ma — Chair of Coun­cil Indige­nous Advi­so­ry Coun­cil — to sug­gest ways to win Indige­nous disadvantage.

Enid Muriel LYONS

Born 9/7/1897, Died 2/9/1981

Also known as: née Burnell

First woman to win a seat in Fed­er­al Par­lia­ment. In 1943 Enid was elect­ed to the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives for the Unit­ed Aus­tralia Par­ty and became the first woman in Cab­i­net. She…

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Vivienne ROTHWELL

Well known expe­ri­enced Ornithol­o­gist from Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.1962 — Appoint­ed Hon­orary Ornithol­o­gist for North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Museums.

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Anna LICHTENBERG

Lec­tur­er in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy (IT) (now PhD and con­sul­tant at Curtin Uni­ver­si­ty. First woman involved in the IT depart­ment at the Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege in Alice Springs, Northern…

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…

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Phyllis Burgh LETT

Born 1884, Died 1/6/1962

Also known as: née Lett, Phyllis Burgh Ker, Charlie, Pat, Mick, Pete

Lived on Wyal­dra Sta­tion (Julia Creek) and Tweedsmuir (at Rich­mond, North Queensland).World famous Contralto.

Maud Margaret MOLESWORTH

Born 18 October 1894, Died 9 July 1985

Also known as: née Mutch, Mall, Malla

Molesworth was the first Aus­tralian woman ten­nis play­er to be list­ed in the world’s top ten rank­ings. A. Wal­lis Myer of the Dai­ly Tele­graph rat­ed her No. 10 in 1922 and 1923.…

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…

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June TUZEWSKI

Also known as: née Bozzini

2000 — Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia for ser­vices to the wel­fare of women and fam­i­lies, The Brown­ies, and the Wom­en’s Advi­so­ry Council.

Georgiana Huntly McCRAE

Born 15 March 1804, Died 24 May 1890

Also known as: née Gordon

At age 17 — She won a sil­ver medal for por­trait paint­ing, of her grand­fa­ther the fourth Duke of Gor­don, and it was exhib­it­ed at the Roy­al Acad­e­my in London.

1840 — Arrived in…

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…

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Merle THORNTON

Born 2/10/1930

Also known as: née Wilson

Known for, with Ros­alie BOGN­ER, chain­ing them­selves to a bar rail in protest of the exclu­sion of women in bars in Queens­land. Wom­en’s Rights Activist. Author. Moth­er of actress…

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Margaret STILLER

Born 1931, Died 10 February 2000

Also known as: née Hanckel

Award­ed MBE for ser­vice to edu­ca­tion and community

Author of ​‘Barossa Woman’, ​‘Alice Springs Assign­ment’, ​‘Cen­tralian Assign­ment’, ​‘Noth­ing…

Suzi HUTCHINGS

Born 25 March 1962

Also known as: Dr Susan Jane Hutchings, Dr Suzi Hutchings

1995 — Pio­neer Arrente woman with PhD from Ade­laide University.Co-ordinates and teach­es in Indige­nous Policy.

Miles FRANKLIN

Born 14/10/1879, Died 19/09/1954

Also known as: née Franklin, Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, Brent of Bin Bin, Mr and Mrs Ogniblat L'Artsau

Wrote under the name of Miles FRANKLIN; author of ​“My Bril­liant Career” (1901).
1948 — Estab­lished Miles Franklin Award for Aus­tralian Lit­er­a­ture, which she pro­vid­ed for in…

Ella Vivian WILKINSON

Born 1877, Died 1943

Also known as: née Mould

First school teacher in Yates’ Flat sub­sidised school sys­tem, Clarence Riv­er Dis­trict, New South Wales.

Corn Beef and Damper by daugh­ter Isabel Wilkin­son tells her story.

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…