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Robyn Wells MAY

Also known as: née Hammond

Began fly­ing between Mel­bourne and Tasmania.Flew in Papua New Guinea — ​“Only excep­tion­al pilots sur­vive.” Now flies in South Australia.

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…

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Kath BAIRD

1945 — Put her Girl Guide expe­ri­ence to work with British Girl Guides, Gov­ern­ment and Red Cross to help Euro­pean dis­placed peo­ple (main­ly chil­dren) to a bet­ter life. First Ger­man Girl…

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Ann FREAK

Born 22 January 1915, Died 10 March 2002

Also known as: née O'Leary

1930 — One of two first enrolled Girl Guides on South­ern York Penin­su­lar, South Australia.

1998 — Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia Medal (OAM).

1937 – 1956 — Leader of Mag­ill (South…

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Ida Caroline MANN

Born 6 February 1893, Died 19 November 1983

Also known as: née Mann, Caroline Gye (pseudonym), Ida Gye (married name)

1949 — First per­son to diag­nose Tra­choma epi­dem­ic in Indige­nous pop­u­la­tion in the Kim­ber­ley area of West­ern Australia.

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Faith BANDLER

Born 27 September 1920, Died 13 February 2015

Also known as: Ida Lessing Faith Mussing

1976 appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire but declined1984 appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia in recog­ni­tion of ser­vice to Abo­rig­i­nal welfare1994 award­ed an…

Phyllis CURRIE

Also known as: Phyl

1937 – 1939 — Sec­ond air host­ess with Air­lines of Australia.

Pri­or to work­ing for Aus­tralian Nation­al Air­ways (ANA), she ​“had been in charge of oper­a­tions up north”.
1939 -…

Anastasia WITHERS

Born 1825, Died 19 May 1889

Also known as: née Splain

First woman on the Bendi­go goldfield.

One of three women who made the Eure­ka flag which had first been flown as the stan­dard of ​‘The Bal­larat Reform League’ on 29^th…

Nancy MANTHORPE

Born 1929

Also known as: Nan

An avi­a­trix on the muse­um’s Avi­a­trix Tapestry.

Maisie AUSTIN

Born 22 May 1949

Also known as: Maisie Adams

Maisie Austin was the first woman in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to become an Asso­ciate of the Aus­tralian Insur­ance Insti­tute (1977). Dur­ing the 1970s, Maisie start­ed work for an insurance…

Marie HENDERSON

Born 1891, Died 1955

Suf­fer­ing from an hered­i­tary form of deaf­ness which dete­ri­o­rat­ed over the years, in 1945 the for­mer Mel­bourne house­wife was the first Nation­al Sec­re­tary and key fig­ure in the…

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Kerryn PHELPS

Born 14 December 1957

Also known as: Dr Kerryn Phelps

First woman Fed­er­al Pres­i­dent of Aus­tralian Med­ical Association

Ker­ryn Lyn­del Phelps AM was the first woman to be elect­ed pres­i­dent of the Aus­tralian Med­ical Asso­ci­a­tion (AMA).

Beatrice May HUTTON

Born 16 July 1893, Died 7 October 1990

Also known as: Bea

She became the chief draftsper­son of Hock­ing and Palmer [Queens­land] dur­ing Edwin Mor­ton Hock­ings’ war service.
1916 — First woman asso­ciate mem­ber of Queens­land Insti­tute of…

Bertha Louisa EASOM

Born 6 August 1877, Died 1954

Also known as: Bertha Forster

One of the first two women of Euro­pean descent to live at Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, as gov­erness to the Brad­shaw fam­i­ly at the Tele­graph Station.

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Beth PRESS

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

Kay Cathrine Millin BROWNBILL

Born 21 July 1914, Died 3 February 2002

Also known as: Kitty Brownbill, Cathrine Brownbill

1966 – 1969 — First South Aus­tralian woman — and third woman — to be elect­ed to Fed­er­al House of Representatives.
1980 – Award­ed and Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE),…

Lillian Georgina FRANK

Born 16 January 1930

Also known as: née Jacob

First woman hair­dress­er to be trained at Eliz­a­beth Arden.
11 June 1977 — Appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for involve­ment with char­i­ties, includ­ing the…

Layne BEACHLEY

Born 24/5/1972

Also known as: Tania Maris Gardner

Layne Beach­ley is regard­ed as the best female pro­fes­sion­al surfer in his­to­ry. She was the first woman to win sev­en World Surf­ing Titles (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006), six of…

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Mary Hynes SWANTON

Born 22/06/1861, Died 25/11/1940

Also known as: Mamie

1907 — First woman pres­i­dent of Tai­lors and Tai­loress’ Union of West­ern Australia.
First woman award­ed hon­orary life mem­ber­ship of Aus­tralian Natives’ Asso­ci­a­tion in Western…

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.…

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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.

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Kathleen MEYERING

Born 23 March 1929, Died 8 August 2017

Also known as: Kath

1982 — First woman to fly an ultralight.

Jessie Mary COOPER

Born 29 June 1914, Died 28 December 1993

Also known as: née McAndrew

Elect­ed to South Aus­trali­a’s Leg­isla­tive Coun­cil in 1959, she was the first female mem­ber of the South Aus­tralia par­lia­ment, beat­ing Joyce Steele, who had been elect­ed to the…

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Brigid DOLAN

Also known as: Sister Brigid Dolan

2000 — Award­ed Aus­tralia Day Award for Achieve­ment, by Abo­rig­i­nal Hos­tels Lim­it­ed, for 17 years as a vol­un­teer work­er at Het­ti Perkins Home, Alice Spring.

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Elizabeth Jeanette POWELL

Born 4 February 1949

Also known as: née Cushion, Jeanette

Eliz­a­beth Jeanette Pow­ell — a mem­ber of the Nation­al Par­ty, Jeanette Pow­ell served as a local gov­ern­ment coun­cil­lor for the Shire of Shep­par­ton from 1990 – 94 and as Shire pres­i­dent from…

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Theresa Snell WALKER

Born 19 February 1807, Died 17 April 1876

Also known as: née Chauncy

First Aus­tralian woman sculptor.

Dorothy Mabel Vernon SMITH

Born 13/02/1909, Died 26/11/1994

1950 — The first woman in Aus­tralia to grad­u­ate as a radio oper­a­tor from Amal­ga­mat­ed Wire­less of Aus­trala­sia Ltd’s train­ing school in Mel­bourne and in 1951 was appoint­ed marine…

Dorothy Helena HERBERT

Born 24 September 1922, Died 27 August 2014

Dorothy Her­bert start­ed with the Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Ser­vice in 1961, locat­ed at Charleville, Queens­land. She worked 20 years for them, flew all over the out­back, and attend­ed outback…

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Lucelle Stuart BENSTEAD

Born 5/02/1891, Died 1983

Also known as: née Benstead, Lulu, Lucille

Tryphena had three chil­dren includ­ing Lucelle (Lulu) who is claimed to be the first white child born with­in Cen­tral Mac­Don­nell Ranges in the town of Alice Springs (in 1891) and who…

Beth GARRETT

1955 — Beth Gar­rett was the first woman pilot for the Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Service.

1958 — First woman in Aus­tralia to receive her Aus­tralian air­line trans­port licence.

First woman…

Annie PRAED

Born 4 April 1872, Died 26 December 1948

Also known as: née Spraggs, Hannah

1895 – 1900 — One of first women to be prac­tic­ing den­tistry in Australia.
1903 — She became the first woman den­tal grad­u­ate in New South Wales to receive the L. D. S.
1905 -…

Lauren Elizabeth JACKSON

Born 11/5/1981

Also known as: Jacko, LJ, Loz

Regard­ed as Aus­trali­a’s great­est ever female bas­ket­ball play­er. Led the team to four Olympic sil­ver medals. Cho­sen to car­ry the Aus­tralian flag in the 2012 Olympics.…

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Vashti TYRELL

First female to win the Most Out­stand­ing Under­grad­u­ate Sax­o­phon­ist title in Uni­ver­si­ty of Ade­laide’s Elder School of Music Jazz Awards.

Eleanor Towzey STEWART

Born 20 /11/1858, Died 21/06/1931

Also known as: née Stewart, née Towzey, Nellie, Eleanor Row

1877 — Aus­trali­a’s first female com­ic opera star.

Valerie May TAYLOR

Born 9/11/1935

Also known as: née Heighes

1960s — Became first female pro­duc­er and film­mak­er of under­wa­ter doc­u­men­taries in Australia.
1992 — They are cred­it­ed as the ​“first peo­ple to film great white sharks with­out the…

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Rachel WESTAWAY

First Thai/​Chinese woman in Aus­tralia to hold the fol­low­ing positions:
2003-08 — CEO of Coun­try Press (old­est news­pa­per asso­ci­a­tion in Aus­tralia rep­re­sent­ing 120 newspapers);
2003-06 -…

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Ada Eliza RYAN

Born 1844

Also known as: née Smith

First woman into the Cape Riv­er Dig­gings (gold­fields) of North Queensland.

Known as a bul­lock team owner/​driver, pub­li­can, hotel keep­er, gra­zier, innkeep­er, store…

Salome Jean WHITE

Born 1905, Died 15/07/1974

Also known as: Dr Jean White

1937 — First woman Fly­ing Doc­tor, Dr Jean White, was appoint­ed by John Fly­nn, based at Nor­man­ton and Croy­don Hos­pi­tals ser­vic­ing Queens­land’s Gulf Coun­try. She trav­elled thousands…

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.

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Katharine Mary BRISBANE

Born 7 January 1932

Also known as: née Brisbane

1967 — Aus­trali­a’s first nation­al the­atre critic.
1971 — First woman to pub­lish Aus­tralian play­wrights through Cur­ren­cy Press.
1993 — Award­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Australia,…

Helen TIPPET

Born 23/03/1933, Died 11/02/2004

Also known as: née O'Donnell

1994 — Aus­trali­a’s first woman pro­fes­sor of Archi­tec­ture, Deakin Uni­ver­si­ty, Victoria.

1959 — Had Archi­tec­ture prac­tice in Alice Springs and designed Solar hous­es and…

Verna ABBERTON

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

Margaret Sterling BAIN

Born 1923, Died 14/03/2018

Pio­neer Mis­sion­ary who was insight­ful and suc­cess­ful in cross cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment in Finke/​Aputula. She was great­ly respect­ed and trust­ed by the…

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Honor Cameron WILSON

Born 14 August 1913, Died 16 January 1998

Pio­neer phys­io­ther­a­pist. Played a piv­otal role in the devel­op­ment of the phys­io­ther­a­py pro­fes­sion in South Aus­tralia dur­ing two Polio epi­demics before and after the war. Published…

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…

Janet Catherine FINLAYSON

Also known as: Jean

In 1915, John Fly­nn asked Sis­ter Jean Fin­layson to do a one-year tri­al as nurs­ing sis­ter in Stu­art (now known as Alice Springs). 1915 – 1916 — First offi­cial Nurs­ing Sis­ter in Stuart.…

Jennifer Ann GRAVES

Born 24 November 1941

Also known as: née Marshall, Jenny

Inter­na­tion­al rep­u­ta­tion for her work on mam­malian genet­ics, com­par­a­tive genomics, as well as Aus­tralian mar­su­pi­als & monotremes.
2007 – Became first woman ​“Thinker of the Year”.…

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Ola Mary McPHERSON

1940 — First woman grad­u­ate from Queens­land Uni­ver­si­ty Vet­eri­nary School.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Queens­land has a prize named after her, Ola Mary McPher­son Prize.

Marie Louise Hamilton MACK

Born 10/10/1870, Died 23/11/1935

Also known as: née Mack, registered as Mary Louisa, Louise Creed, Gouli Gouli, Louise Leyland, Mary Mack

1914 — First woman war cor­re­spon­dent, Bel­gium, report­ing for the Evening News and the Dai­ly Mail.

Late 1880s — Con­trib­u­tor to The Bul­letin, an Aus­tralian mag­a­zine, Sydney.1896…

Patricia Elizabeth LASCELLES

Born 24/11/1926, Died 4/05/2018

Also known as: née Tuckwell, Bambi Shmith, Bambi Smith, Lady Harewood, Countess of Harewood, Dowager Countess of Harewood

Pos­si­bly first Aus­tralian to mar­ry into British royalty.

Aus­tralian musi­cian (vio­lin) and mod­el (known as Bam­bi Smith).