HerStory Archive

Joyce Irene ACKROYD

Born 23 November 1918, Died 30 August 1991

Joyce Ack­royd was a pro­fes­sor of Japan­ese lan­guage and lit­er­a­ture, and one of the pio­neers who changed the pat­tern of Japan­ese stud­ies in Aus­tralia. In 1965 she found­ed the Department…

Joanna BARKER

Also known as: Jo

Jo Bark­er was the first Aus­tralian Pres­i­dent of World Fed­er­a­tion of Occu­pa­tion­al Ther­a­pists (1986−1990); the first occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­pist in Aus­tralia to be award­ed a Ph.D. (1988); in…

Larissa BEHRENDT

Born 1 April 1969

First Abo­rig­ine to earn a doc­tor­ate from Har­vard Law School in USA. 
Pro­fes­sor of Law at Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty of Technology.

1993 — Won the Lionel Mur­phy Foundation…

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…

Louise ALLARD

2006 — First Aus­tralian woman to ski to the North Pole

Denise ALLEN

1983 — First observ­er woman post­ed to Queens­land 1984 — First woman post­ed to Willis Island 1986 — First woman to win­ter on the Antarc­tic Con­ti­nent for the Bureau of Mete­o­rol­o­gy 1988 -…

Linda Karen BEILHARZ

Born 1960

2004 — First Aus­tralian woman to trek to the South Pole, ski­ing from the Antarc­tic edge.
2010 — First Aus­tralian woman to trek the North and South Poles.

2006 — Induct­ed into…

Marion BELL

Octo­ber 1925 — April 1926 — First woman and third per­son to dri­ve around Australia.
She was the first woman to obtain a taxi license in Perth.

Lily Isabel Maude ADDISON

Born 1887, Died 1968

1906 — First woman to do tech­ni­cal work in archi­tec­tur­al office in Queens­land. Lily assist­ed in her father’s office from about 1906. In 1914 she passed Build­ing Con­struc­tion and…

Ruth ALSOP

Born 1879, Died 1976

First woman to qual­i­fy as an archi­tect in Vic­to­ria. She began work at her younger broth­er Rod­ney’s firm Klin­gen­der & Alsop some­time after 1907. She worked for the firm for…

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…

Beverley Louise BOLIN

Born 23 January 1923

Also known as: Beverley Carter

The first known woman archi­tect to qual­i­fy in South Aus­tralia was Bev­er­ley Bolin, who grad­u­at­ed in 1948. She reg­is­tered in 1950 in South Aus­tralia but moved per­ma­nent­ly to the United…

Emma A BECKETT

Born 1838, Died 1906

Emma A Beck­ett was the Boyd fam­i­ly’s first and most impor­tant patron, buy­ing and pro­mot­ing their work, and pro­vid­ing their main source of income. The Boyds are revered by many as…

Mary Morton ALLPORT

Born 17/5/1806, Died 10/6/1895

Also known as: Mary Morton Chapman (maiden name)

Mary All­port was Tas­ma­ni­a’s first pro­fes­sion­al woman artist. She exhib­it­ed in local exhi­bi­tions and pub­lished lith­o­graphs. She adver­tised her pro­fes­sion­al ser­vices as a portrait…

Alison ANDERSON

Born 1958

Also known as: Alison Nampitjimpa Anderson

Activist and politi­cian for Indige­nous peo­ple with­in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, espe­cial­ly Cen­tral Aus­tralia. She was a mem­ber of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly between 2005…

Julie Moncrieff ANTHONY

Born 24 August 1949

Also known as: née Lush

1980
– She was award­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire.
1983
 — First woman patron of a Vic­to­ri­an foot­ball league club (Fitzroy VFL Club).
1989 — She was made a member…

Margaret ADAMS

Died 1988

Also known as: Margaret Kentley

First Pres­i­dent of the new­ly formed Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Fly­ing Club (AWFC). Pri­or to the out­break of the war, the Aus­tralian wom­en’s piot scene was begin­ning to devel­op and…

Shirley Elaine ADKINS

Born 18 March 1930

Also known as: née Lee

First woman Pres­i­dent of the Roy­al Aero Club of West­ern Aus­tralia (1979−1984).

First woman elect­ed pres­i­dent of the Roy­al Fed­er­a­tion of Aero Clubs of Aus­tralia (1990−1997).

First…

Rosemary ARNOLD

Born 18/4/1934

In 1967, Rose­mary became Aus­trali­a’s first female com­mer­cial heli­copter pilot. She achieved com­mer­cial rat­ings in both fixed and rotary wing air­craft. Rose­mary was the first and…

Allana ARNOT

Born 1967

Also known as: Allana Corbin

In 1997 Allana Arnot became the first woman to cir­cum­nav­i­gate Aus­tralia solo in a heli­copter. She accom­plished this after teach­ing her­self how to walk and fly again fol­low­ing a plane…

Verna ABBERTON

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

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…

Kim ANSON

Born 1955

Kim Anson was the first woman Gen­er­al Man­ag­er appoint­ed at Waver­ley Coun­cil, New South Wales in its then 141 year-old his­to­ry (2001). She has sub­se­quent­ly held senior man­age­ment roles…

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…

Virginia ADLIDE OAM

In 1983, Vir­ginia devel­oped the first Ronald McDon­ald House in Australia. 

Vir­ginia was award­ed the Medal of the Order of Aus­tralia in 1993 for this work in recog­ni­tion of service…

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…

Lynne ALLEN-BROWN

Also known as: Lynne Spencer

In 1993, Lynne Allen-Brown became the first female Chief Super­in­ten­dent of St Johns Ambu­lance. In 1999, she was the first female Chief Com­mis­sion­er of St Johns Ambu­lance. Earlier,…

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…

Reverend Hilda May ABBA

Born 30 May 1918

Also known as: Reverend Hilda May Abba, Hilda May Blackham

First woman in Aus­tralia ordained as The­o­log­i­cal Lec­tur­er (Pitt Street Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, Syd­ney: 1951)

1936: Hil­da May entered Home­r­ton Col­lege, Cam­bridge, where she…

Joyce Irene ACKROYD

Born 23 November 1918, Died 30 August 1991

Joyce Ack­royd was a pro­fes­sor of Japan­ese lan­guage and lit­er­a­ture, and one of the pio­neers who changed the pat­tern of Japan­ese stud­ies in Aus­tralia. In 1965 she found­ed the Department…

Joan Winifred ALLSOP

Born 10 November 1912, Died 12 October 2000

Aus­tralian adult edu­ca­tor. With the assis­tance of a grant, All­sop was able to attend Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty in New York, where she became the first Aus­tralian to obtain a doc­tor of…

Maybanke ANDERSON

Born 1845, Died 15/4/1927

Also known as: Maybanke Wolstoneholme (the name from her first marriage). Maybanke wrote regularly as 'Lois' in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Worked with Rose Scott, Louisa Law­son, the Windey­er fam­i­ly and oth­ers on the strug­gle for wom­en’s suf­frage and oth­er legal, polit­i­cal and edu­ca­tion­al reforms. Helped found the…

Marjorie ANDREW

Mar­jorie Andrew worked for the Allied Works Coun­cil in Alice Springs and Dar­win dur­ing World War Two (Alice Springs 1944 – 1945). One of the most press­ing demands on Aus­tralia during…

Beryl Edith BEAUREPAIRE

Born 24/9/1923

Also known as: Dame Beryl Beaurepaire née Bedggood

A pio­neer­ing Aus­tralian fem­i­nist, Beryl knew how to push boundaries.

Beryl’s first attempts to force accep­tance of equal­i­ty was dur­ing World War Two when she joined the Women’s…

Vivian BULLWINKEL

Born 18 December 1915, Died 3 July 2000

First female Trustee of Aus­tralian War Memorial.

1947 — She received the Flo­rence Nightin­gale Medal.
1973 — Ms Bull­winkel received the Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire…

Janine BUTLER

First woman to fly an RAAF Ori­on air­craft (a mar­itime recon­nais­sance plane).

Frances Margaret ANDERSON

Born 10 February 1897, Died 3 January 1992

Also known as: Judith

“Judith Ander­son was the first Aus­tralian-born actress to be con­ferred with the title of Dame. On 1 Jan­u­ary 1960 she was award­ed the Order of the British Empire — Dames Commander,…

Gillian May ARMSTRONG

Born 18/12/1950

Gillian Arm­strong is an award-win­ning Aus­tralian fea­ture film and doc­u­men­tary direc­tor, whose films often fea­ture female per­spec­tives and pro­tag­o­nists. Gillian became the first woman…

Suzanne Dale BAKER

Born 1 January 1939

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

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…

Elizabeth ALEXANDER

Born 16/4/1943

First woman to be a part­ner at a big eight account­ing firm (Price Water­house) in 1977. First woman to be State and Nation­al pres­i­dent of CPA (Cer­ti­fied Prac­tic­ing Accountants)…

Sheryle Anne BAGWELL

Born 17/02/1958

Only female colum­nist in Aus­tralia devot­ed to women in busi­ness issues.

Karen BROWN

2001 — Became first female to head the Finance Sec­tor Union, and the youngest state secretary.

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…

Shirley Aldythea ANDREWS

Born 6/11/1915, Died 15/9/2001

Shirley grad­u­at­ed in Sci­ence when women were bare­ly tol­er­at­ed as stu­dents. She went on to work for six years at the Vet­eri­nary School of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne. In 1947, she…

Matilda Ann ASTON

Born 11 December 1873, Died 1 November 1947

Also known as: Tilly

The first blind Aus­tralian to go to Uni­ver­si­ty, she even­tu­al­ly had to drop out because of lack of Braille text­books. She went on to estab­lish Australia’s first Braille library when…

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…

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…

Stella ALLAN

Born 25/10/1871, Died 1/3/1962

Also known as: Stella Henderson, 'Vesta' (pen name)

Intro­duced the first wom­an’s page in Aus­tralian dai­ly paper. In 1907, the Argus com­mis­sioned Stel­la to write a series of arti­cles on the first Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Work…

Maybanke ANDERSON

Born 1845, Died 15/4/1927

Also known as: Maybanke Wolstoneholme (the name from her first marriage). Maybanke wrote regularly as 'Lois' in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Worked with Rose Scott, Louisa Law­son, the Windey­er fam­i­ly and oth­ers on the strug­gle for wom­en’s suf­frage and oth­er legal, polit­i­cal and edu­ca­tion­al reforms. Helped found the…

Sheryle Anne BAGWELL

Born 17/02/1958

Only female colum­nist in Aus­tralia devot­ed to women in busi­ness issues.

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…

Sherie BALE

First female accred­it­ed tow­er crane oper­a­tor in Sydney.

Molly CLARK

Born 28 December 1922, Died 22 September 2012

Pio­neer pas­toral­ist of North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, at Anda­do Sta­tion and then Old Anda­do Station. 

Pio­neer of the Cen­tral Aus­tralian tourism industry

Founder of Nation­al Pioneer…

Margaret Gardiner CUTHBERTSON

Born 6 September 1864, Died 17 November 1944

March 1894 – 1920 — First female inspec­tor of fac­to­ries in Australia.
1901-02
 — First pres­i­dent of the Vic­to­ri­an Wom­en’s Pub­lic Ser­vice Association.

1913
– ​“With Henrietta…

Helen DANN

At 17, first woman in Vic­to­ria to get semi-trail­er licence.
2015 — Induct­ed into Shell Rim­u­la Hall of Fame at Nation­al Road Trans­port Hall of Fame.

Bought her own TK Bedford…

Stella ALLAN

Born 25/10/1871, Died 1/3/1962

Also known as: Stella Henderson, 'Vesta' (pen name)

Intro­duced the first wom­an’s page in Aus­tralian dai­ly paper. In 1907, the Argus com­mis­sioned Stel­la to write a series of arti­cles on the first Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Work…

Helen Elizabeth ARCHDALE

Born 21 August 1907, Died 11 January 2000

Also known as: Betty Archdale

Head­mistress of Abbot­sleigh Girls School, Syd­ney. Offi­cer in W.R.E.N.s dur­ing World War II. Became Prin­ci­pal of Wom­en’s Col­lege at Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty. After her tenure at the…

Margaret BATTYE

Born 9 September 1909, Died 16 November 1949

First female lawyer to rep­re­sent a client in a West­ern Aus­tralia Court of Law.
1939 worked for the Coun­cil For Civ­il Liberties. 
1934 joined the West­ern Aus­tralian branch of the…

Cheryl BELL

Also known as: Commander

1992 — First woman to be per­ma­nent­ly appoint­ed to a ​‘Bush Sta­tion’ (at Yuen­du­mu) by North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Police.

Virginia ADLIDE OAM

In 1983, Vir­ginia devel­oped the first Ronald McDon­ald House in Australia. 

Vir­ginia was award­ed the Medal of the Order of Aus­tralia in 1993 for this work in recog­ni­tion of service…

Katie Louisa ARDILL

Born 3 August 1886, Died 3 January 1955

Katie Ardill Brice was an Aus­tralian doc­tor. She was the first woman to be appoint­ed as a divi­sion­al sur­geon in New South Wales, and a year lat­er was among the first female doctors…

Joanna BARKER

Also known as: Jo

Jo Bark­er was the first Aus­tralian Pres­i­dent of World Fed­er­a­tion of Occu­pa­tion­al Ther­a­pists (1986−1990); the first occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­pist in Aus­tralia to be award­ed a Ph.D. (1988); in…

Margaret BARNES

Also known as: Madge

1906 — One of first women to grad­u­ate in den­tistry from Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.
1910 – 1913 — Per­haps ran Aus­trali­a’s first joint female den­tal prac­tice (with Annie Praed) in…

Barbara ABLEY AM

Bar­bara Abley was elect­ed in March 2001 to the Coun­cil of the City of Greater Gee­long (Vic­to­ria) before becom­ing elect­ed as Deputy May­or lat­er that year.

In 2002 she became the first…

Elizabeth ALLSOP

First woman to be elect­ed to, and lat­er Pres­i­dent of, the Kani­va Shire Coun­cil, Victoria

Pio­neered the mechan­i­cal and dri­ving of both 2 and 4 wheeled vehi­cles for women of the…

Alison ANDERSON

Born 1958

Also known as: Alison Nampitjimpa Anderson

Activist and politi­cian for Indige­nous peo­ple with­in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, espe­cial­ly Cen­tral Aus­tralia. She was a mem­ber of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly between 2005…

Selina Sarah Elizabeth ANDERSON

Born 12 May 1878, Died 30 November 1964

Also known as: Senie, Selina Siggins

1903 ‑First woman along with Vida Gold­stein, Mary Ann Moore-Bent­ley and Nel­lie Mar­tel, in Aus­tralia and British Empire to stand for Nation­al Par­lia­ment (unsuc­cess­ful). Seli­na Anderson…

Lynn ALLEN

Lynn worked for twelve years as the State Librar­i­an and CEO of the West­ern Aus­tralian state library (from 1989 – 2001). Over a peri­od of 107 years, Pro­fes­sor Allen was only the fourth…

Kim ANSON

Born 1955

Kim Anson was the first woman Gen­er­al Man­ag­er appoint­ed at Waver­ley Coun­cil, New South Wales in its then 141 year-old his­to­ry (2001). She has sub­se­quent­ly held senior man­age­ment roles…

Kristen Alanna APPEL

Born 23/7/1964

First female nation­al park ranger to be in charge of a nation­al park/​reserve in Aus­tralia (Arl­tun­ga) — August 1992.

Lillian ARMFIELD

Born 3/12/1884

Lil­lian Arm­field was Aus­trali­a’s first police­woman. She was recruit­ed as pro­ba­tion­ary spe­cial con­sta­ble on 1 July, 1915, earned less than her male coun­ter­parts and was ot…

Reverend Hilda May ABBA

Born 30 May 1918

Also known as: Reverend Hilda May Abba, Hilda May Blackham

First woman in Aus­tralia ordained as The­o­log­i­cal Lec­tur­er (Pitt Street Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, Syd­ney: 1951)

1936: Hil­da May entered Home­r­ton Col­lege, Cam­bridge, where she…

Mary David ALLCHIN

Born 17/5/1913

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Arrived in Alice Springs in 1941, took her final vows with the Catholic Church in 1942 and helped estab­lish Arl­tun­ga mis­sion in 1942. Also worked on…

Elizabethy E. ARNEY

Born 1932

Also known as: Betty

Bet­ty Arney was the first woman to become a priest in the Angli­can Church of Aus­tralia, ordained with nine oth­er women at St George’s Cathe­dral, Perth 7 March 1992.

Pam BOWERS

1973 — Pam Bow­ers and Robin Haskell were the Church­es of Christ first women ministers.

Denise ALLEN

1983 — First observ­er woman post­ed to Queens­land 1984 — First woman post­ed to Willis Island 1986 — First woman to win­ter on the Antarc­tic Con­ti­nent for the Bureau of Mete­o­rol­o­gy 1988 -…

Charlotte Morrison ANDERSON

Born 12/3/1915, Died 15/4/2002

Char­lotte Ander­son was an Aus­tralian pio­neer of pae­di­atric gas­troen­terol­o­gy. She devel­oped a clin­i­cal research pro­gram at the Roy­al Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal in Mel­bourne, where she…

Shirley Aldythea ANDREWS

Born 6/11/1915, Died 15/9/2001

Shirley grad­u­at­ed in Sci­ence when women were bare­ly tol­er­at­ed as stu­dents. She went on to work for six years at the Vet­eri­nary School of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne. In 1947, she…

Mary Ellinor Lucy ARCHER

Born 13 November 1893, Died 3 May 1979

Also known as: Ellinor Archer professionally

Mary Archer was CSIRO’s first woman sci­en­tist, and chief librar­i­an from 1923 – 1954. She is com­mem­o­rat­ed by the Library Asso­ci­a­tion of Aus­trali­a’s Elli­nor Archer award, first…

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…

Daphne Jessie AKHURST

Born 22/4/1903, Died 9/1/1933

Also known as: Daphne Cozens

Daphne Akhurst was the first Aus­tralian woman to reach the Wim­ble­don semi-finals (1928), and the first Aus­tralian woman to fig­ure promi­nent­ly in ten­nis in over­seas tours. She reached…

Sharon Lea Anne ANYOS

Born 13/10/1970

Also known as: Wildthing

Aus­trali­a’s first female World Box­ing Cham­pi­on. First Aus­tralian woman to take out the inau­gur­al Wom­en’s Box­ing Title in first ever ANBF & OBA sanc­tioned women’s…

Helen Elizabeth ARCHDALE

Born 21 August 1907, Died 11 January 2000

Also known as: Betty Archdale

Head­mistress of Abbot­sleigh Girls School, Syd­ney. Offi­cer in W.R.E.N.s dur­ing World War II. Became Prin­ci­pal of Wom­en’s Col­lege at Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty. After her tenure at the…

Gillian Clare CAMPBELL

Born 1967

First woman Tele­com Tech­ni­cian in South Aus­tralia and North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Qual­i­fied in 1988, aged 21.


Daugh­ter of Alice Springs artist and teacher Iain CAMPBELL.

Isabella CLIFF

Aus­trali­a’s first tele­phon­ist was among nine girls employed at the coun­try’s first com­mer­cial tele­phone exchange in Collins Street, Mel­bourne in 1880.

Margaret DOYLE

Born 1920, Died 25 February 2002

Also known as: Margaret Henderson

Aus­trali­a’s first female radio announc­er was appoint­ed by the Aus­tralian Broad­cast­ing Cor­po­ra­tion (ABC) and seen here at their Syd­ney stu­dios in Novem­ber 1940. The major­i­ty of…

Louisa Margaret DUNKLEY

Born 28 May 1866, Died 10 March 1927

Also known as: née Dunkley, Louisa Margaret Kraegen

By the 1870s many women dou­bled as post­mistress and tele­graph oper­a­tor in coun­try areas but were paid less than men, a sit­u­a­tion Louisa Dunk­ley fought to change when she established…

Miriam Edith CANNING

First Abo­rig­i­nal (and first woman) vet­eri­nary sur­geon in Australia.

Born and raised at Leono­ra near Kal­go­or­lie, West Aus­tralia. Qual­i­fied for her pri­vate pilot’s licence…

Margaret Enid CHRISTIAN

Born 1920

Also known as: Peg

1948 — First Vet­eri­nar­i­an to estab­lish pri­vate prac­tice in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and to devel­op vet­eri­nary care for Aus­tralian Fauna
Dr) OAM, BVSc

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…

Janice Leona HILLS

Also known as: Jan, Dr Janice Hills

1964 — First woman to estab­lish a full time vet­eri­nary prac­tice in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry ser­vic­ing Dar­win, Ten­nant Creek, Alice Springs, Kather­ine and Gove.

Verna ABBERTON

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

Mary ADLER

Born 17 February 1862, Died 8 June 1897

Also known as: née Millar

Mary Adler came from Mur­toa in the Wim­mera. In 1893, she and her hus­band select­ed land at Lal­bert, near Swan Hill, which they set­tled with their five sons. She died at 36 years of…

Minna Marie Margaretha ALBRECHT

Born 11/12/1899, Died 18/11/1983

Also known as: née Gevers

Min­na Gev­ers sailed to Cana­da from Ger­many to mar­ry Friedrich Albrecht, who was there learn­ing Eng­lish for his new job as Super­in­ten­dent at Her­manns­burg Mis­sion. Min­na and Friedrich…

Bridget ALLAN

A pio­neer of the Heytes­bury Clos­er set­tle­ment in Vic­to­ria, from around 1959 – 1960.

Stella ALLAN

Born 25/10/1871, Died 1/3/1962

Also known as: Stella Henderson, 'Vesta' (pen name)

Intro­duced the first wom­an’s page in Aus­tralian dai­ly paper. In 1907, the Argus com­mis­sioned Stel­la to write a series of arti­cles on the first Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Work…

Maybanke ANDERSON

Born 1845, Died 15/4/1927

Also known as: Maybanke Wolstoneholme (the name from her first marriage). Maybanke wrote regularly as 'Lois' in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Worked with Rose Scott, Louisa Law­son, the Windey­er fam­i­ly and oth­ers on the strug­gle for wom­en’s suf­frage and oth­er legal, polit­i­cal and edu­ca­tion­al reforms. Helped found the…

Selina Sarah Elizabeth ANDERSON

Born 12 May 1878, Died 30 November 1964

Also known as: Senie, Selina Siggins

1903 ‑First woman along with Vida Gold­stein, Mary Ann Moore-Bent­ley and Nel­lie Mar­tel, in Aus­tralia and British Empire to stand for Nation­al Par­lia­ment (unsuc­cess­ful). Seli­na Anderson…

Helen Elizabeth ARCHDALE

Born 21 August 1907, Died 11 January 2000

Also known as: Betty Archdale

Head­mistress of Abbot­sleigh Girls School, Syd­ney. Offi­cer in W.R.E.N.s dur­ing World War II. Became Prin­ci­pal of Wom­en’s Col­lege at Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty. After her tenure at the…

Ruth HEGARTY

Born 1929

1929 — First Abo­rig­i­nal baby born at Mitchell Hos­pi­tal, Mitchell, Queensland.
Now an author, her first book, Is That You, Ruthie? (1999), was an auto­bi­og­ra­phy. Her sec­ond book is…

Eliza JENKINS

Also known as: née Sharp

… Eliza and Thomas Jenk­ins, worked on Lake Nash Sta­tion in the ear­ly 1890s.Mother of Esther Jenk­ins BOHNING.

Mary Jane Catherine/Kathleen KUHN

Born 20 June 1896, Died 23/06/1966

Also known as: née Ross, Cookie, Kitty, Ma, Sandhill Gertie

Affec­tion­ate­ly known as ​“Kit­ty,” ​“Ma,” and ​“Cook­ie” to the Abo​rig​ines​.ca 1949 – 50 — First cook at Alice Springs Hos­pi­tal and a (first) union…

Mabel MEIN-BEL

Born 1934, Died 5/06/2016

Also known as: Mabel Jimarin

First Abo­rig­i­nal woman to have quadru­plets (all girls) in 1968, as well as the first North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry quads. Then, in 1969, gave birth to twin girls.

Nanagu group; Brinkin…

Minnie BERRINGTON

Born 9 October 1897, Died 13 April 2001

1925 — First woman opal min­er in Coober Pedy, South Australia.

May Victoria BROWN

Born 24 May 1875, Died 23 July 1939

Also known as: née Weedon (aka Wheedon), "The Wolfram Queen"

Pio­neer of North­ern Territory.1921 – 1926 — The first pub­li­can to win the lease on The Vic­to­ria Hotel in Darwin.1928 – 1930 — Bought and man­aged the Pine Creek Hotel, Pine Creek, Northern…

Faye NAYLER

Born 22/10/1932, Died 25/10/2015

Also known as: Elma Faye

First woman to own and oper­ate an opal mine in Coober Pedy, South Aus­tralia. Estab­lished ​“The Opal Cave” in 1963 and gave the first tour of Coober Pedy.

Faye is the author of…

Helen CALDICOTT

Born 7/8/1938

Also known as: Dr Helen Caldicott

Helen Caldicott is the founder of the Wom­en’s Action for Nuclear Dis­ar­ma­ment (1982). In 1985, Helen was nom­i­nat­ed for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was won by the organ­i­sa­tion she…

Pat FLEMING

Born 2/03/1915, Died 9/07/1995

Also known as: née Wallace, Nungala, Daisy Alma was her birth name

Life Mem­ber of Nation­al Trust of Australia.

Pat came to the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry with her hus­band Bap­tist min­is­ter and mis­sion­ary, Tom Flem­ing in 1950. Their son Adri­an was two…

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…

Heather Mary MITCHELL-CARMICHAEL

Born 25 September 1917, Died 12 November 1999

Also known as: née Hutchieson

1985 — First woman pres­i­dent of Vic­to­ri­an Farm­ers Fed­er­a­tion, and, with Joan Kirn­er, start­ed the orig­i­nal Land­care Program.

1979 — She was appoint­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of…

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…

Agnes BUNTINE

Born 1821, Died 29 February 1896

Also known as: née Davidson, The Mother of Gippsland

Pio­neer, pos­si­bly first and only woman ​“bul­locky”.

She, and her hus­band, oper­at­ed a small inn at Mor­ris Creek, out­side Tar­rav­ille, Vic­to­ria. 1845 — They established…

Francesca Louise CAIRNS

Also known as: Fran

First Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, woman to be employed as a grad­er driver.

Author of Draw­ing From the Well, inspired by her work ​“as a grad­er dri­ver, a pho­tog­ra­ph­er and…

Thora Daphne HOLZHEIMER

Born 5 July 1934, Died 29 February 1992

Also known as: née Bishop, Toots

*“First female truck dri­ver to clock up over one mil­lion miles dri­ving through some of Queenland’s most inhos­pitable ter­rain – Cape York Penin­su­la. Toots deliv­ered freight to the…

Michelle NYKAMP

Aus­trali­a’s first woman to gain a Dan­ger­ous Goods Licence.

Road Train Dri­ver — Trav­els 250,000kms a year in a 50m rig.

Winifred Marie Narelle BULLARD

Born 1900, Died 1 May 1983

Also known as: Narelle

1937 — Began first Girl Guides Asso­ci­a­tion in Tan­ganyi­ka, Africa.

1953 — First Aus­tralian Dea­coness to receive Impe­r­i­al Hon­ours, when appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the British Empire (MBE)…

Pat FLEMING

Born 2/03/1915, Died 9/07/1995

Also known as: née Wallace, Nungala, Daisy Alma was her birth name

Life Mem­ber of Nation­al Trust of Australia.

Pat came to the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry with her hus­band Bap­tist min­is­ter and mis­sion­ary, Tom Flem­ing in 1950. Their son Adri­an was two…

Sheila CLARKE

Born 20 June 1916, Died 4 May 2006

Also known as: née O'Loughlin

1944 — First woman elect­ed to the Com­mit­tee of the Fed­er­at­ed Clerk’s Union in the North­ern Territory.
1950 — Found­ing Com­mit­tee mem­ber of the Half-Caste Progress Asso­ci­a­tion in…

Marie Yvonne COLEMAN

Born March 1933

Also known as: née Burns

She was edi­tor of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney stu­dent news­pa­per, Honi Soit, and was only the sec­ond woman to hold that title.

1972 – 1975 — Appoint­ed as first chair of the Nation­al Social…

Esme E MARTENS

Born 1940

Aus­trali­a’s first woman shire engi­neer was Miss Esme E Martens, when appoint­ed to Wood­burn Shire Coun­cil in New South Wales in 1967. (Still work­ing in 2016).

Stephanie ZANK

Born 1969

Aus­trali­a’s first woman to become a Mer­chant Marine Engi­neer (1994).


To become a Mer­chant Marine Engi­neer requires a recog­nised qual­i­fi­ca­tion, qual­i­fy­ing sea-time and…

Irene M. HALL

Also known as: Irene Shackcloth

Pio­neer of radio writ­ing for chil­dren. Her first work was broad­cast on ABC in 1936. Her radio ser­i­al play ​“The Faka­m­a­gangees” was on the air with 3DB Jean Lawson’s children’s session…

Kaarene Noelle FITZGERALD

Born 12 December 1944, Died 24 May 2003

1999 — Appoint­ed Com­pan­ion of the Order of Aus­tralia for her ser­vices to the com­mu­ni­ty and for ​“coor­di­na­tion of world-wide efforts to devel­op and research edu­ca­tion­al strategies…

Rosemary YOUNG

1999 — First woman and first lay per­son to head the Unit­ing Church of Aus­trali­a’s Fron­tier Ser­vices, for­mer­ly the Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion (AIM) when appoint­ed as Director.…

Catherine HAYES

Born 1975

Also known as: Cath

2014 — First female in Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy (RAN) to com­mand a ship (HMAS Toowoom­ba) in the Mid­dle East region.