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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… -
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… -
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… -
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.
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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 150th year, she hooked a 330 pounds striped marlin. The record still stands today…
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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… -
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… -
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.
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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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Sarah Anne CARTHEW
Born 1872, Died 1951
Also known as: Bessie
Dairy farmer and dressmaker at Blackwood SA
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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… -
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… -
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…
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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…
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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… -
Gaby KENNARD
Born 1944
1989 — First Australian woman to fly solo around the world in a single engine fixed wing aircraft
OAM -
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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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…
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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… -
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… -
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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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.
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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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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.…
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Beryl YOUNG
Beryl became famous when she was the chief pilot who flew Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson all over the state.
Pioneer Pilot. -
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.…