HerStory Archive

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.

Elizabeth ALLCHURCH

Born 1881, Died 10 June 1969

Also known as: Bessie, née Williams

Bessie, sis­ter to Annie MEY­ERS, was mar­ried to Atlanta BRAD­SHAW’s broth­er Ernest ALLCHURCH.

Amboora

Amboo­ra worked for the Brad­shaw fam­i­ly at the Alice Springs Tele­graph Sta­tion as a housemaid.

Clara Victoria Elizabeth ANDERSON

Born 21 February 1872, Died 6 April 1975

Also known as: née Campbell, Vic Campbell

Pio­neer of Theodore, Queens­land. As a child, Clara lived with her fam­i­ly at sev­er­al dif­fer­ent sta­tions before set­tling at their prop­er­ty, ​“Clar­avale”, in Queens­land. In her…

Bertha Martha ANDREW

Born 16/3/1882, Died 8/11/1963

Also known as: nee Cook

Worked the land with hus­band. Bertha and her hus­band, with their four chil­dren, depart­ed Port Lin­coln, South Aus­tralia, in 1933 and trav­elled over­land to Alice Springs. The journey…

Carol ARMSTRONG

First ​‘Bush Woman’ on the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s Wom­en’s Advi­so­ry Coun­cil (1993), rep­re­sent­ing the inter­ests of Aus­trali­a’s iso­lat­ed women on the land.

Louisa Ann BAILES

Born 10/09/1859, Died 23/01/1922

Also known as: née Wellington, Louise

“Pri­or to com­ing to town, Hazel [GOLD­ER] had worked for Mrs Bailes at Bloods Creek, serv­ing meals to trav­ellers up the track.”

Antjie Henrietta BAKER-McDONALD

Born 8/5/1869, Died 6/6/1924

Also known as: Ettie, née Lau

Pio­neer of West­ern Queens­land. While liv­ing at Fullar­ton, South Aus­tralia, for a few years, she had no female company.

Mary BARRY

Born 09/1886, Died 11/1966

Also known as: Mary Nolan

Mt Mul­li­gan mid­wife, min­er’s wife and goat herder

Emily Mary BARTON

Born 3 December 1817, Died 24 August 1909

Also known as: née Darvall

Emi­ly wrote poems for most of her life and was still being pub­lished at the age of 90. She was the grand­moth­er to A B (Ban­jo) Pater­son who she was a great inspi­ra­tion to.

Jean BEATSON

Born 1904, Died 1983

Also known as: Jean Robertson

1928 — Broke the Perth to Mel­bourne record with Kath­leen GAR­DINER née Howell.
1932 — Motor rac­ing — Monte Car­lo Ral­ly — placed 17^th out of 150.

Coun­cilor of the Victorian…

Frances Emma BENNETT

Born 1871, Died 1965

Also known as: née Lord

One of first land­hold­ers in West­ern New South Wales.

Pio­neer of West­ern New South Wales.1930s — Moved from New South Wales to Ade­laide, South Aus­tralia. Bought Cob­ham, an 88…

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…

Tryphena Lucelle Willesee BENSTEAD

Born 3/08/1860

Also known as: née Rains, Trephina, Triphena, Tryphina, Tryphinia

Tryphena Lucelle Rains mar­ried William (Bill) Ben­stead in 1881. After man­ag­ing Undoolya Sta­tion for five years, Bill became man­ag­er of Bar­row Creek Pas­toral Com­pa­ny, set­ting up home…

Chris BENZ

Cen­tral Aus­tralian. Lived at Her­mans­burg and stud­ied via School of the Air.

Florence Kathleen BERKERY

Born 24 August 1889, Died 1974

Also known as: née Fitzgerald, Catherine Florence Berkery

Pio­neer of Box Hill, Victoria.

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.

Roma BLAIR

Born 1923, Died 5 November 2013

Also known as: née Blair, Swami Nirmalananda

First Aus­tralian Bride to be mar­ried by Proxy.

Author of six (6) books on yoga.Established Roma Blair Yoga Clubs in Syd­ney, New South Wales.1959 — Estab­lished television…

Mary BLIGH

Born 1 April 1783, Died 1864

Also known as: née Bligh, Mary Putland, Lady O'Connell

Daugh­ter of Gov­er­nor William Bligh. Wife of John Put­land. Became Lady O’Connell after husband’s knighthood.

Lillian Myrtle BLOOMFIELD

Born 1916, Died 2005

Also known as: née Kunoth, Lil, Lillian

Daugh­ter of Cen­tral Aus­tralia pio­neers Har­ry and Car­o­line Kunoth of Oodnadatta.
Pio­neer of Cen­tral Australia.
Pas­toral­ist Loves Creek Station.

Writ­ten on the back of the…

Mary Paulena BLOOMFIELD

Born 20 July 1917, Died 9 May 1994

Also known as: née Hayes

Daugh­ter of Ann Jane ​“Jane” Hayes.

Esther BOHNING

Born 14 July 1879, Died 2 January 1952

Also known as: née Jenkins

First lady on Ten­nant Creek goldfields.
She, with her daugh­ter Elsie, became known as ​“The Pet­ti­coat Drovers” and took the first mob of cat­tle between Alice Springs and…

Atalanta Hope BRADSHAW

Died 1928

Also known as: née Allchurch, Atalanta, Attie

Ata­lan­ta Bradshaw’s sto­ry is well doc­u­ment­ed in her eldest daugh­ter Doris Blackwell’s book ​‘Alice on the Line’ describ­ing the family’s dai­ly life at the Alice Springs Tele­graph Station…

Edna Almurta BRADSHAW

Doreen Rose BRAITLING

Born 1904, Died 05/02/1979

Also known as: née Crook

1977: First Pres­i­dent of the Nation­al Trust (North­ern Territory)

1978: First hon­orary life mem­ber of Nation­al Trust

1979: Award­ed British Empire Medal (BEM) for ser­vices to the…

Sarah BROMLEY

1930s — Domes­tic, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.
Pos­si­bly orig­i­nal­ly from Ood­na­dat­ta, South Australia.

Beryl Loyla BROWNE

Born 1898, Died 21 June 1981

Mem­ber of pio­neer­ing fam­i­ly from Bendi­go, gold fields and Mel­bourne, Victoria.

Katherine BROWNE

Died 31 May 1865

Also known as: née Jemott

Pio­neer pas­toral­ist in Queens­land on Moonie Riv­er prop­er­ty ​‘Tartha’.

Beatrice Mary BRUMBY

Born 8 January 1915, Died 31 March 2012

Also known as: née Lennon

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia and north South Australia.

Mary BRYANT

Born 1765, Died after 1794

Also known as: née Broad/Braund

Mary Bryant, arrived on the First Fleet. In just a few months, the food the First Fleet had brought with it had run out or was rot­ten. Des­per­ate and hun­gry, Mary, her hus­band William…

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…

Helene Katharine Frieda BURNS

Also known as: née Albrecht

Daugh­ter of Her­manns­burg Mis­sion pio­neers Pas­tor Friedrich Wil­helm Albrecht and Min­na Marie Mar­garetha née Gevers.

Hazel Audrey CAHILL

Born 1904, Died 1970

Also known as: née Bassett

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Australia.
Hazel and Lar­ry Cahill were new­ly­weds when in 1928 he was offered a job on the con­struc­tion of the new rail­way from Mar­ree to Alice Springs. She loved the…

Amy CAIL

Born 29 March 1833, Died 15 July 1914

Also known as: née Williams

Pio­neer of Bendi­go area of Victoria.

Margaret Cecilia CAIRNS

Born 1905

Also known as: née Egar, Margaret Sawyer

Cen­tral Aus­tralian pio­neer when mar­ried to Con SAWYER (died 1947).Pioneer of Kurun­di Cat­tle Sta­tion with sec­ond hus­band Bill CAIRNS.

Ann CALDWELL

Born 1820, Died 1890

Also known as: née Mooney, Annie

In 1864, aged 44, wid­owed, with sev­en of her chil­dren, she trav­elled in a cov­ered wag­on for eight weeks 900 kilo­me­tres over­land from Gumer­acha (north­east of Ade­laide), South Australia…

Elizabeth CALLAGHAN

Born 1802, Died 31 Mar 1852

Also known as: Eliza, Eliza Thompson, Elizabeth Batman, Sarah Willoughby

Con­vict, who mar­ried John BAT­MAN (founder of Mel­bourne — died ¹⁸³⁹⁄₄₀). Moth­er of sev­en daugh­ters and one son by John BAT­MAN. Lat­er mar­ried John WILLOUGH­BY. Known as Sarah WILLOUGHBY…

Mary Ann CAMPBELL

Born 1838, Died 21/1/1916

Also known as: Mary Ann Johns

1861 — First white woman on Queens­land expe­di­tion to stock prop­er­ty near Sorghum Downs Sta­tion with sheep. 

Mary Ann lived at Sorghum Downs and oth­er sta­tions and at Charters…

Nellie Veir CAREY

Born 1890, Died 15/06/1973

Also known as: née Scott, Nellie Veir Scott

Only female in Vic­to­ria to become a sol­dier set­tler, in Red Cliffs, Vic­to­ria and became a suc­cess­ful grape grower.

1911 — Began train­ing as a nurs­ing sis­ter. Dur­ing the early…

Gladys CARRUTH

Born 20 May 1910, Died 23 May 1979

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

Cora Kate CHALMERS

Born 18 February 1885, Died 13 August 1958

Also known as: née Coventry

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia, Mac­Don­ald Downs, sheep and cat­tle station.

Martha Christina CHARMAN

Born 1849, Died 1914

Also known as: née Ward

Pio­neer of Tim­bar­ra set­tle­ment, Victoria.
​“Martha Char­man emerges in Aunt Vio­lets [sic] writ­ings as the matri­arch of the set­tle­ment — attend­ing to births, sick­ness, acci­dents and the…

May Venetta CHETTLE

Born 20/05/1906, Died 26/08/1997

Also known as: née Robb, May, Maise, formerly Lawrie

Maise Robb was the first teacher at the Bun­ga­low, Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, when it moved to the Old Tele­graph Sta­tion dur­ing the 1930s. She lived in town and drove to work…

Maria Antonia CICCONE

Born 1891, Died 1979

Also known as: née Cotela, Antonia

Maria Anto­nia Cic­cone arrived from Ser­ra­ta, South­ern Italy in 1933 and came straight to Alice Springs to join her hus­band Pat­sy. He had been here sev­en years already, try­ing to get…

Mary CLARK

Died 1960

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

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…

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…