HerStory Archive

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.

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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…

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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…

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Edith Miriel WITT

Born 11/10/1905, Died 19/11/2005

Also known as: Miriel

1943 — First woman phar­ma­cist to become a ​“Phar­ma­cy Aca­d­e­m­ic” in Victoria.

1926 — Grad­u­at­ed Vic­to­ri­an Col­lege of Pharmacy.1927 — Reg­is­tered as a qualified…

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Diane Patricia HAMILTON

Born 11 July 1953

First female Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Union of Postal Clerks and Telegraphists.

1986 — Branch Assis­tant Sec­re­tary, Union of Postal Clerks & Telegraphs.
1988 — General…

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Dianne Lesley HOLLISTER

Born 9 December 1947

Also known as: Di

First woman elect­ed to Brad­don Elec­torate (Tas­ma­nia). Mem­ber of Tas­man­ian Greens Party.

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Dido COOPER

Born 1893

When Ade­laide House was opened in 1926, it was run by nurs­es … with the help of Abo­rig­i­nal women like Dido Cooper.

Dale Roger JONES

Dale made her first flight in Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and went on to fly with oth­er pio­neer­ing women, both barn­storm­ers and com­mer­cial pilots. She helped co-ordi­nate the…

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Jess SAMS

Born 1897, Died 1989

Also known as: née Millard

27 Feb­ru­ary 1938 — In a nation­wide fish­ing con­test (of over 580 anglers) cel­e­brat­ing Aus­trali­a’s 150^th year, she hooked a 330 pounds striped mar­lin. The record still stands today…

Isabella Elizabeth McCOY

Born 1891, Died 1971

Also known as: née Pope, Bella, Ina

1926 – 28 — One of two nurs­ing sis­ters of the Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion appoint­ed to Ade­laide House Hos­pi­tal, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Writ­ten on the back of the…

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Sue LUCAS

2000 — First woman crew and first Vic­to­ri­an to win the Insti­tute of Ambu­lance Offi­cers (Aus­tralia) Nation­al Clin­i­cal Excel­lence competition.
2000 — Won Vic­to­ri­an Clin­i­cal Excellence…

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Valerie UTLEY

Died 11/2007

Also known as: Val

Pio­neer of Top End — ​‘Sun­day Creek Sta­tion’ (Antho­ny’s Lagoon Area), North­ern Territory.Nursed before marriage.

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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.

Matilda Jane EVANS

Born 7 August 1827, Died 22 October 1886

Also known as: née Congreve, Maud Jeanne Franc

¹⁸⁵⁹⁄₆₀ — First South Aus­tralian woman to have a nov­el pub­lished, Mar­i­an; or the light of Some One’s Home, using the pen name Maud Jeanne Franc. Three edi­tions were published…

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Janet HAYES

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Sarah Anne CARTHEW

Born 1872, Died 1951

Also known as: Bessie

Dairy farmer and dress­mak­er at Black­wood SA

Marie Caroline BJELKE-PETERSEN

Born 23 December 1874, Died 11 October 1969

Fem­i­nist, Les­bian and ardent Conservationist.“Instrumental in intro­duc­ing the sport of net­ball to Tasmania.”1892 – 1910 — Wom­en’s instruc­tor at Bjelke-Peter­son Phys­i­cal Culture…

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June Rosalie BAKER

Born 27 June 1937

The first and only WRANS Offi­cer to attend Roy­al Naval Staff Col­lege in Green­wich, Eng­land — 1976 – 1977 -


The only WRANS offi­cer to serve an exchange post­ing with the RN.
The…

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Jeanette WORMALD

Com­pos­er and singer. Debut tape ​“Male Bride,” 1994.

Three Top Ten Hits from the album Opal Blue.Golden Gui­tar nom­i­nee 2007 for Opal Blue.South Aus­tralian Great…

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Margaret WHITE

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Martha BURNS

Born 27 April 1873, Died 5 March 1959

One of the first qual­i­fied female den­tists in Aus­tralia. Martha Burns and (Frances) Dorothy Gray were the first women in Aus­tralia to grad­u­ate in Den­tal Surgery through the University…

Amelia Maud GILLEN

Born 26/05/1869, Died 16/11/1928

Also known as: née Besley, Minnie, Amelia Maude

Amelia ​“Min­nie” Gillen was an accom­plished singer and pianist. As a twen­ty-two-year-old bride, she trav­elled from Mount Gam­bier to her new home at Alice Springs in 1891.The…

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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Karrie Ann WEBB

Born 1974

World Cham­pi­on Golfer

Gaby KENNARD

Born 1944

1989 — First Aus­tralian woman to fly solo around the world in a sin­gle engine fixed wing aircraft
OAM

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Beatrice Anna THORNE

Born 23/01/1904

Pio­neer of the West­ern Aus­tralian ​‘Group Set­tle­ment Scheme’. They pio­neered a bush block in the Mar­garet Riv­er region of West­ern Aus­tralia, i.e., cre­at­ed a dairy farm from…

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Emmeline CHRISTIE

Born 1852, Died 1919

Sal­va­tion Army soldier.

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Diana MacMULLIN

South­ern Region­al Man­ag­er, Cham­ber of Commerce.

Myrtle Edna NOSKE

Born 22/11/1926, Died 25/02/2020

Also known as: née Johannsen

Artist and author.

As an artist, was award­ed the following:

1974 — Cal­tex Art Award
1977 — Cal­tex Reli­gious Theme & Gen­er­al Motors Hold­en Best Land­scape Award
1978 — Caltex…

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…

Jennifer BURGE

First female Chair­man of Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Embalmers.

Jan­u­ary 1994 — Began work­ing in the funer­al industry.

Trang THOMAS

Born 1946

Also known as: Ngoc Trang Thomas

The first Viet­namese-Aus­tralian to be award­ed a first class degree in psy­chol­o­gy in 1969, she and her fam­i­ly had migrat­ed from war-torn Viet­nam a few years ear­li­er with only limited…

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Patricia A. WILSON

Also known as: née Bathe, Pat

One of the first two police women to be attached to Alice Springs Police.

She joined Mon­day, 14 July 1969 and ceased Wednes­day, 2 Decem­ber 1970, serv­ing for one year, four…

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Ida Grace FRANCIS

Born 22 July 1892, Died 28 September 1959

1923 – 1925 — First Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion (A.I.M.) at Birdsville Hos­pi­tal, Birdsville, Shire of Dia­man­ti­na, Queensland.
1950 — Award­ed Mem­ber of British Empire (MBE) medal by King…

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José PETRICK

Born 14 February 1924

Also known as: née Tizard

Win­ner of the Chief Min­is­ter’s Wom­en’s Achieve­ment Award and the Alice Springs branch of Zon­ta International.
Woman of Achieve­ment Award.
Jan­u­ary 2000 — Award­ed an Order of…

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…

Jean St George KERR

Born 31/12/1922, Died 13/3/2013

1946 — Aus­trali­a’s sec­ond full-time uni­ver­si­ty account­ing aca­d­e­m­ic and the first such female appointee, Uni­ver­si­ty of Melbourne.
1956 — Her ​”Three Con­cepts of Business…

Ellen Mary STACK

Born 4/05/1929

Also known as: née Stack, Ella, Ellen Mary "Ella" Lawler

The North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s first woman may­or when appoint­ed in 1975, she also became Dar­win City Coun­cil’s first Lord May­or from 1979 – 1980, one of the ear­li­est female Lord…

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Clarrisa BURGENS

The only North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry woman For­mu­la 500 racer.

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Joan McGUIGAN

Vol­un­teer at Guide House, Bris­bane, Queensland.
Formed a group known as ​“Women of Sub­stance” for busi­ness and pro­fes­sion­al women to pro­mote Guiding.
Pio­neer Aus­tralian nurse…

Marita MUNRO

Born 1955

Mari­ta Munro was the Bap­tist Church’s first woman min­is­ter when ordained in Vic­to­ria in 1978.

Eileen Maxwell WARD

Born 06/03/1918, Died 27/07/2001

Also known as: née Taylor

COL­SON of Aileron Station

Pio­neer of West­ern Aus­tralia. Helped estab­lish Gle­nayle Sta­tion with hus­band, Hen­ry. Life Mem­ber of Nation­al Pio­neer Wom­en’s’ Hall of…

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…

Edith Agnes HUBBE

Born 1859, Died 2 April 1942

Also known as: née Cook, Edith Agnes Cook, Edith Agnes Hübbe

The first woman to matric­u­late at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ade­laide; she received her diplo­ma (nec­es­sary for degree lev­el stud­ies) in 1877 despite the fact women were not admit­ted to the…

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Kathleen Audrey HALL

Born 1915, Died 2007

Pio­neer of ball­room danc­ing in Ade­laide, South Australia.

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Kathryn A FLYNN

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.…

Beryl YOUNG

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

Pio­neer Pilot.

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Kate Isabel CAMPBELL

Born 1899

1930 — First per­son in Aus­tralia to be appoint­ed to Lec­ture­ship in Neo-Natal Pae­di­atrics (Uni­ver­si­ty of Melbourne)
(DBE) (Dame)

Raelene BOYLE

Born 24/6/1951

Rae­lene Boyle was an Olympic cham­pi­on sprint­er. She won the Sil­ver Medal at the Mex­i­co Olympics (1968) at 16 yrs of age — which, at the time, was the youngest Aus­tralian medal winner.…