HerStory Archive

Ellen Dorothy LITTLEJOHN

Also known as: née Small

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

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Jane Sarah DOUDY

Born 28/09/1846, Died 17/08/1932

Also known as: née Stanes, Jeanne

1879 — First Head­mistress, Advanced School for Girls, the first gov­ern­ment sec­ondary school for girls in Adelaide.

Jean Margaret LEWORTHY

Born 22/7/1921, Died 15/4/2008

Also known as: née Fairbairn, Jean Piaggio

First civil­ian doc­tor to use Peni­cillin in Australia.
1954 — She was the first woman in full-time prac­tice; Bund­aberg, Queensland.
1995 — Order of Aus­tralia, ser­vices to med­i­cine and…

Kylie TENNANT

Born 12/03/1912, Died 28/02/1988

1935 — Win­ner of the S. H. Pri­or Memo­r­i­al Prize for her first pub­lished nov­el Tiburon.

1942 — Aus­tralian Lit­er­ary Soci­ety gold medal for The Battlers.

1960 — Won Children’s…

Erica Margaret McGILCHRIST

Born 10/2/1926, Died 9/5/2014

1967 — First woman to design a Christ­mas stamp.

1951 — She held her first solo exhi­bi­tion and began to exhib­it regularly.1952 – 55 — She under­took fur­ther part-time art studies…

Rosetta FLYNN

Born 1878, Died 3 July 1944

1981 — Award­ed a Medal of the Order of Aus­tralia (OAM) ​‘in recog­ni­tion of ser­vice to the community’.

Sis­ter of Rev. Dr. John FLY­NN. In 1911 she raised a mile of…

Ruby TILMOUTH

Born 11/1915, Died 09/2005

Also known as: née Schaber

Pio­neer and Activist of Cen­tral Australia.1950s — Led and orga­nized a protest march against a racist cur­few in Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Rose SCOTT

Born 8 October 1847, Died 20 April 1925

First pres­i­dent of a wom­en’s com­mit­tee of the Pris­on­er’s Aid Asso­ci­a­tion in 1898.

Known as the voice of wom­en’s suf­frage in Sydney.Campaigned for the education…

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Dianne NICOLIOS

Also known as: Di

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Margaret Sarah THOMAS

Born 23/12/1842, Died 24/12/1929

Also known as: née Cook

1857 — First woman sculp­tor in Australia.

Sculp­tor. Exhib­it­ed a por­trait bust at first Vic­to­ri­an Soci­ety of Fine Arts.

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Veronica Geoghegan SWEENEY

Born 1949

Great great grand­daugh­ter of Irish convicts.Author of his­tor­i­cal sagas set in Ire­land and Aus­tralia, such as The Eman­cip­ist and South Lies The Val­ley. In 1989 her sec­ond nov­el made…

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Jennifer MONDORA

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Monica Mary SHINNICK

Born 1897, Died 2000

Also known as: Sister Sabina

1931 — First Prin­ci­pal of Stel­la Maris Col­lege, Man­ly, New South Wales.
1997 — Made good Samar­i­tan his­to­ry by being the first mem­ber of the order to cel­e­brate 80 years of religious…

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Honora O'NEILL

Born c. 1827, Died 22/1/1906

Also known as: née McGrath

Pio­neer of Eure­ka, Bal­larat, Vic­to­ria, dur­ing The Bat­tle of the Eure­ka Stock­ade. Took up land (orig­i­nal selec­tors) at Glen­ly­on, Victoria.

They went to Amer­i­ca for a few…

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Emma SCHULTZ

Born 1875, Died 1951

Flew with Flo­rence Tay­lor, the first woman in Aus­tralia to fly a heav­ier-than-air machine, who took off from the Narrabeen sand­hills near Syd­ney in a glid­er on 5 Decem­ber 1909. They…

Nora HEYSEN

Born 11 January 1911, Died 30 December 2003

Also known as: née Heysen, Nora Black

Nora Hey­sen, the first woman to win the pres­ti­gious Archibald Prize for por­trai­ture in 1938, was the first woman Offi­cial War artist, sta­tioned in New Guinea and Bor­neo (1943−46).…

Erica WILLIAMS

Insti­ga­tor of endurance horse rid­ing in Aus­tralia and first Tom Quilty 100 mile ride (1966); first woman to win the Aus­tralian Nation­al Cham­pi­onship Quilty Gold Cup (1975).…

Margaret Augusta DE MESTRE

Born 16 November 1915, Died 19 February 1942

Also known as: Sister Margaret DeMestre

First Aus­tralian woman to lose her life in Aus­tralia while on active ser­vice. She was 26 years of age.

1942 — Nurs­ing sis­ter from Bellin­gen in New South Wales on hospital…

Lesley PARKER

Emer­i­tus Pro­fes­sor Les­ley Park­er AM

The first woman appoint­ed to a sig­nif­i­cant senior exec­u­tive role at Curtin Uni­ver­si­ty, Les­ley Park­er was named Senior Deputy Vice-Chan­cel­lor in…

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Jean Dorothy GARDINER

Also known as: Dorothy

“The 14^th woman in Aus­tralia to hold a pri­vate license and pos­si­bly only the sec­ond to own her own plane.”

1929 — With Bob­bie TER­RY was first women in New South Wales/​Australia to…

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…

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Chris WESTWOOD

First Exec­u­tive Pro­duc­er of Inno­v­a­tive State The­atre of South Australia.

Ini­ti­at­ed the first Women Direc­tors’ Work­shops, Women and The­atre Projects, and the Women and…

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Elsie WRIGHT

Born 17/02/1898, Died 20/05/1986

Also known as: née Sallaway

Elsie was award­ed 10,363 prizes and awards for her needlework. 

Prize win­ning needle­work­er. Her prizes pro­vid­ed essen­tial cash, thus boost­ing the fam­i­ly income, especially…

Dianne Maree BYRNES

Born August 1942, Died 1994

Also known as: Di

1963 — At age 20, became the sec­ond woman in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to obtain motor omnibus and hire car licens­es enabling her to com­mence safari and wildlife pho­tog­ra­phy tours.…

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Shelagh ROBINSON

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Maree TOMASETTI

Born 23/08/1925, Died 30/07/2012

1956 — First weath­er girl on Chan­nel 7.
1960 — Aus­trali­a’s first preg­nant tele­vi­sion presenter.

1955 — One of first mem­bers of The Eliz­a­bethan The­atre Company…

Natalee Joy JOHNSTON

Born 19/08/1976

Also known as: née McDougall

1998 — First woman pilot in the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy (RAN) and first woman to grad­u­ate as a pilot for the RAN in its 50 years of naval aviation.
1998 — First female Navy helicopter…

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Lois Gertrude QUARRELL

Born 19/11/1914, Died 19/6/1991

Also known as: Lois Gertrude Hendry

1936 — First woman sports writer for Ade­laide Adver­tis­er newspaper.

1932 — Joined Ade­laide Advertiser.1966 — She found­ed the South Aus­tralian divi­sion of the Sportswomen’s…

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…

Geraldine Dorothea COX

Born 1945

1970 – 1987 — Began her career with the Aus­tralian Depart­ment of For­eign Affairs. Was sta­tioned to embassies Phnom Penh, Cam­bo­dia; Philip­pines, Thai­land, Iran, and the USA.
1987 – 1995 -…

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Debra Lee FLINTOFF-KING

Born 20 April 1960

Also known as: née Flintoff, Debbie

1987 — Award­ed Medal of the Order of Australia.

1987 — Induct­ed into the Sport Aus­tralia Hall of Fame.

2000 — Received Aus­tralian Sports Medal.

1988 — Gold Medal­ist at the…

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.

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Emily Louisa McGOWAN

Also known as: nee Roberts

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Jodi BREEN

Also known as: Lt. Col. Jodi Breen

First woman on Roy­al Guard duty out­side St James Palace, Lon­don (part of Aus­tralian Fed­er­a­tion Guard).

Mary Alice EVATT

Born 15 December 1898, Died 16 June 1973

Also known as: née Sheffer, Mas

1943 — First woman to be appoint­ed a trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales; retired in 1970.

Linda Carol McGILL

Born 17/12/1945

Also known as: Linda Kruk

The first Aus­tralian woman to swim across the 35 kilo­me­tre Eng­lish Chan­nel in 1965; this Olympic swim­mer was also the first per­son to swim around Hong Kong Island and across Port…

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Margaret CLARKE

Also known as: née Clarke, Woolhouse

1949 — First female crop duster and aer­i­al spray pilot.

Julie BOYD

Julie Boyd was the first woman May­or of Mack­ay City Coun­cil, Queens­land (1997−2008).

With a back­ground in gov­er­nance, Julie has since served in a vari­ety of posi­tions (e.g.…

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Maureen Patricia KIRK

Born 13/9/1955, Died 23/4/2001

Also known as: née Brown

In 1987, Mau­reen became the first Indige­nous vol­un­teer can­cer sup­port work­er in Aus­tralia. She was diag­nosed with breast can­cer in 1987 and, at the time, there were no cancer…

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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.

Josephine McGOVERN

Born 14/1/1924, Died 2/4/2001

Also known as: Josie

1958 — She was appoint­ed female assis­tant in the Library of the Par­lia­ment of Vic­to­ria. Josephine was the first female pro­fes­sion­al appoint­ed to the staff of the Library of the…

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Michelle MILLER

2002 — LCDR (at the time) Michelle Miller was appoint­ed the Com­mand­ing Offi­cer of the patrol craft HMAS Dubbo.

Mid-2007 — Com­man­der Michele Miller assumed com­mand of the ANZAC class…

Mary Gordon SARD

Born 8/7/1868, Died 29/3/1946

Also known as: née Kennedy

First reg­is­tered Mid­wife in Port Pirie, South Australia.

Moth­er of ten chil­dren (five sons and five daughter).
Mary’s hus­band William was a mar­itime engi­neer, work­ing on…

Jill TABART

Born 18 April 1941

1994 – 1997 — First woman pres­i­dent of Unit­ing Church in Aus­tralia (or any oth­er church in Australia).

1964 — Bach­e­lor of Med­i­cine, Bach­e­lor of Surgery, Mel­bourne University.

Eleanor MENGEL

Born 1930

Also known as: née Petrick

Grew up on Mount Swan Sta­tion, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and moved to Neu­tral Junc­tion Sta­tion, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry after her mar­riage. Spent 42 years there in a life of sheep shear­ing and…

Deirdre Frances O'CONNOR

Born 5/2/1941

Also known as: née Buff

First woman Fed­er­al Court Judge and Pres­i­dent of the Admin­is­tra­tive Appeals tri­bunal, she was appoint­ed in 1990 and retired in 2001. She was also the first female pres­i­dent of the…

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Mary Patricia LAHY

Born 24/5/1928, Died 11/5/2004

1979 — Became Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty’s first woman Dean of Arts.
1992 — She was appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, ser­vices to high­er education.

1963 — Graduated…

Amelia KUNOTH

Born 1880s, Died 1984

Also known as: née Pavey

Pio­neer with hus­band, H.E. ​“Trot” Kunoth in ear­ly devel­op­ment of pas­toral prop­er­ties Utopia, Tempe Downs, and others.

Ameli­a’s father Ted Pavey oper­at­ed the…

Mary Jean GILMORE

Born 16/08/1865, Died 3/12/1962

Also known as: née Cameron, Dame Mary Jean Cameron, Em Jaycey, Sister Jaycey, Rudione Calvert

The first woman executive/​member of the Aus­tralian Work­ers’ Union.
1928 — Founder of the Fel­low­ship of Aus­tralian Writers.
1937 — Made Dame of the British Empire for her contribution…

Beryl Grace McINTOSH

Died 12/1/2013

Also known as: née Hansen

Some of her awards:1999 — Received Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day award.2000 — Select­ed to car­ry Syd­ney 2000 Olympics torch.2001 — Received Cen­te­nary medal.2002 — Award­ed Palmer­ston Proud…