Emmeline Freda DU FAUR

Born 16 September 1882, Died 11 September 1935

Also known as: Freda

Alpine climb­ing pio­neer in New Zealand. There are fea­tures in New Zealand named after her (e.g., Du Faur Peak and Du Faur Glac­i­er in Mount Cook Nation­al Park). She was the first woman…

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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.

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Shelley TAYLOR-SMITH

Born 03/08/1961

1990 — The first West Aus­tralian to cross the Eng­lish Chan­nel solo.

1991 — Won gold medal in open dis­tance 25km event at the FINA World Aquat­ics Cham­pi­onships, Perth, WA.

1994 -…

Susan Maree RYAN

Born 10 October 1942

1975 – 1988 — First first Labor Sen­a­tor for the Aus­tralian Cap­i­tal Territory.
1990 — Appoint­ed Offi­cer of the Order of Aus­tralia for her con­tri­bu­tion to parliament.

In the Hawke…

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Dianne DIANO

Also known as: née Gleeson

First police women attached to Alice Springs Police Station.

Theodora Esther COWAN

Born 13 November 1868, Died 27 August 1949

Also known as: née Cohen, Theo Cowan

1895 — First Aus­tralian-born woman sculptor.
1906 — Won ​“first prize at the Soci­ety of Women Artists’ exhi­bi­tion at the Aus­tral Club with her bronze Will-o-the-Wisp”.

1908 — Won…

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Suzanne Dale BAKER

Born 1 January 1939

1977 — First Aus­tralian woman to win an Acad­e­my Award (Pro­duc­er) for Best Ani­mat­ed Short Film, Leisure.

Pam HOLLAND

Born 01 October 1946

Pro­pri­etor of Hol­landaise Cater­ing, Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. She began at the Hotel Alice Springs. A cater­er for 34 years, serv­ing guests such as the Arch­bish­op of…

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Louisa Maria FAWKNER

Born 6 September 1876, Died 22 June 1915

Also known as: née MacNamara, née Faulkner

1901 — Founder of Vil­la Maria, an organ­i­sa­tion that pro­vides qual­i­ty ser­vices and life enhanc­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for old­er and dis­abled people.

Loraine Margaret BRAHAM

Born 21/8/1938

Lor­rain Bra­ham was the first woman elect­ed from Cen­tral Aus­tralia to the Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry (1994) and the first woman Speak­er in the North­ern Territory.…

Sharyn FITZGERALD

2009 — Attempt­ed first Aus­tralian female Antarc­tic ice marathon.

2011 — In the North Pole Marathon, in the wom­en’s divi­sion, she came in sec­ond with a time of 6:28:16 3.

Margaret BLACKWOOD

Born 26 April 1909, Died 1 June 1986

Also known as: Dame Margaret Blackwood

First woman Deputy Can­cel­lor at Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty. First woman appoint­ed Hon­orary Life Mem­ber by the Asso­ci­a­tion of Women on Cam­pus Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty. OBE 1981. First constructor…

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Margaret CUNNEEN

Born 15 January 1959

Also known as: née Cunneen

1987 — First Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon-Do

1975 — Queen’s Guide Award, guide, Bev­er­ly Hills, New South Wales.

1981 – 1986 — Indus­tri­al Advo­cate with Pub­lic Ser­vice Board…

Patricia Irene JARRETT

Born 9/3/1911, Died 28/8/1990

Also known as: Pat. Nee Herschell. Her names were registered as Irene Herschell, but she was always known as Patricia.

Grand Old Lady of the Mel­bourne Her­ald. Edi­tor of Wom­en’s pages in the Dai­ly Sun. Cel­e­brat­ed 25 years of con­tin­u­ous ser­vice with the Her­ald and Week­ly Times — the only woman…

Ethel Daffodil WRIGHT

Born 10 August 1900, Died 1981

Also known as: née Sandford, Daff, Daffodil, Daphne

Daf­fodil Wright was a pio­neer woman on cat­tle sta­tions in South Aus­tralia and North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. She lived remote­ly and in rudi­men­ta­ry con­di­tions at Mount Dare with her par­ents in a…

Margret ROADKNIGHT

Born 07/1943

First singer added to the Montsal­vat Jazz Fes­ti­val Hon­our Roll. 1998 — ​‘Artist Of The Year’ at the Port Fairy Folk Festival.
Life­time Achieve­ment Award win­ner at the…

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…

Helena Mabel Checkley FORREST

Born 6/03/1872, Died 18/03/1935

Also known as: née Mills, Mabel, Helena Mabel Mills, Mabel Burkinshaw, Reca

Civic poet of Queens­land and state’s unof­fi­cial Poet Laureate.

1925 — Her first book The Wild Moth was adapt­ed by film mak­er Charles Chau­v­el in his first film The Moth of…

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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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Dorothy DOWLING

First all-women tour group to Cen­tral Australia.

Diana Roselyn TRASK

Born 23/06/1940

Also known as: née Trask

1985 — First woman to sing at the Vic­to­ri­an Foot­ball League Grand Final.

Janet Patteson DARLING

Born 31 August 1913, Died December 2007

Also known as: née Gunther, Pat

Nurse. Pris­on­er of War in Suma­tra dur­ing World War II.
1941 – ​“Enlist­ed in the ²⁄₁₀ Aus­tralian Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal and sent to what was then Malaya [now Malaysia] and lat­er joined the…

Florence Ann GAYLARD

Born 1888

Moth­er of Kath­leen Sned­don’s moth­er. She was artis­tic and made all man­ner of things includ­ing emus out of sea shells. She even­tu­al­ly returned to Dunedin, New Zealand to live.

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…

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;…

Anne-Marie MURPHY

2009 — Appoint­ed Cen­tral Aus­trali­a’s top police officer.

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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Rose COPPOCK

Also known as: née Rawlins

At aged two went to Alice Springs, where her par­ents man­aged Tempe Downs Station.On Newhaven Sta­tion from 1963 till 1999. It is now a bird sanctuary.Authored Cat­tle Sta­tion Woman:…

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Rachel WESTAWAY

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,…

Robin Elizabeth MILLER

Born 8 December 1940, Died 7 December 1975

Also known as: née Miller, The Sugarbird Lady

Robin was a nurse and a pilot. From 1967 – 69 she flew to many remote Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ties admin­is­ter­ing the Sabin polio vac­cine on sug­ar cubes. The chil­dren called her ​“the…

Jessie Mary Grey STREET

Born 18/04/1889, Died 02/07/1970

Also known as: née Lillingston, Lady Street

First and only woman mem­ber of the Aus­tralian del­e­ga­tion at the 1945 found­ing con­fer­ence of the Unit­ed Nations in San Fran­cis­co, she had also found­ed the Unit­ed Asso­ci­a­tions of Women…

Katherine Mary CLUTTERBUCK

Born 1861, Died 31 July 1946

Also known as: Sister Kate

1 Jan­u­ary 1934 — Appoint­ed Order of the British Empire (Mem­ber of the Civ­il Divi­sion), for her ser­vices to dis­ad­van­taged children.

Pio­neer Angli­can nun who com­menced a cottage…

Irene Frances TAYLOR

Born 17 December 1890, Died 26 December 1933

Frances Tay­lor’s ​“morn­ing tea talks” dis­cussing house­hold hints on Radio 3UZ in the 1930s pio­neered the con­cept of ​“wom­en’s pro­grams” on nation­al radio.…

Beryl Ivy BEALE

Born 1898, Died 18/03/1979

Also known as: née Laidlaw, Cloudy

Beryl Ivy Beale was known as ​‘Cloudy’ because she was a heavy smoker.

‘.…..an artis­tic, sen­si­tive, music-lov­ing woman with the down-to-earth deter­mi­na­tion, for­ti­tude and hard…

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May Lorna O'BRIEN

Born 20 May 1932, Died 1 March 2020

Also known as: née Miller

First Abo­rig­i­nal teacher in West­ern Australia.
1970 — Won a Churchill Fellowship.
31 Decem­ber 1977 — Award­ed the British Empire Medal, for work in Abo­rig­i­nal education.
Award­ed the…

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…

Natasha Jessica STOTT DESPOJA

Born 9/09/1969

Also known as: née Stott Despoja, Nat

2001 — Sen­a­tor Aus­tralian Demo­c­rat Par­ty. Youngest woman par­lia­men­tar­i­an and youngest par­ty leader in Aus­tralian history.

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…

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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…

Judy CAMPBELL

1994 — First offi­cial­ly appoint­ed female Town Crier in Australia.
1997 — First female Town Crier to win Run­ner Up World Cham­pi­on (Sid­ney, British Colum­bia, Canada).
2010 — First female…

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Bernadette (Cpl.) TAYLOR

2001 — One of first women in con­tin­gent of Aus­trali­a’s Fed­er­a­tion Guard to take up cer­e­mo­ni­al duties out­side Buck­ing­ham Palace, London.

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.

Christiane Susanne Augustine ZADOW

Born 27 August 1846, Died 7 July 1896

Also known as: née Hofmeyer, Augusta

“Mrs Inspec­tor Zad­ow”, South Aus­trali­a’s first and the nation’s sec­ond woman Inspec­tor of Fac­to­ries was appoint­ed in 1895, hav­ing to share an office, amongst…

Samantha Joy MOSTYN

Also known as: Sam

2005 — First woman to be appoint­ed as mem­ber of Aus­tralian Foot­ball League Commission.

She began her career in law work­ing for for­mer high court judge Michael Kir­by. After…

Evelyn Beatrice MacKENZIE

Also known as: Eveline

1894 — Won the first Aus­tralian wom­en’s golf cham­pi­onship — Gee­long, Victoria.

1895, 1896, 1898 — She won the state champion.

Mary Ann BIN-SALLIK

Born 2 November 1940

Hold­ing both a Mas­ters (1986) degree in Edu­ca­tion­al Admin­is­tra­tion and a Doc­tor­ate (1989) in Edu­ca­tion from Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, USA, she was also the first Indige­nous grad­u­ate in…

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Kerry DIENELT

Born 25 February 1969

First North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry woman to skip­per a nation­al team — softball.
1998 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Sports­woman of the Year.

1988 – 1991 — Played for the Uni­ver­si­ty of California,…

Sheila LAXON

First woman to train a Mel­bourne Cup winner.
2002 — Made an Offi­cer of the New Zealand Order of Mer­it, for ser­vices to racing.

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Beth PRESS

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