First woman in Australia to be ordained as a Theological Lecturer, at Pitt Street Congregational Church, Sydney (1951) 

First woman Mayor of Geelong City Council, the first in this Victorian Council’s preceding 134-year history (2002)

First woman President of the Royal Aero Club of WA; first woman President of the Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia (1989); first woman awarded the Oswald Watt Medal, Australia’s highest aviation award

Pioneering cookery writer, she was the first woman to own and manage a world-class restaurant in Australia for over 20 years (Stephanie’s Restaurant)

Several firsts as a woman in the observer ranks of the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM): first female observer posted to Queensland region (1983); first woman posted to Willis Island (1984); first female for BOM to winter on the Antarctic Continent (1985); first woman to obtain Senior Observer position in BOM (1988); equal first female to be awarded the Antarctic Medal for outstanding service in the Antarctic (1989); first woman ever to complete winter postings at all four Australian Antarctic bases (Macquarie Island: 1985; Mawson: 1986; Davis: 1988; Casey: 1992)

First woman State Librarian in Western Australia for a period of 107 years when appointed in 1989

First woman Chief Superintendent of St John Ambulance Australia (National office: 1992-98)

First woman awarded the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal in its 42 year-old history in 2002, in recognition of her outstanding achievements as an academic and design architect over a sustained period in Australia and overseas

Leader of a team of 3 women Northern Territory Park Rangers in charge of Arltunga Historical Reserve, in the East MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia - believed to be the first Australian park to be solely staffed by female officers (1994)

First woman in Australia to direct a major State Festival of the Arts (Adelaide 1998 & 2000)

First woman film director in Australia since the 1930s (My Brilliant Career: 1979); first Australian woman to direct a Hollywood movie (Mr Soffel: 1985)

One of 10 women to be ordained as Australia’s first female Anglican priests (Perth: Sunday 7 March 1992)

Australia’s first female commercial helicopter pilot, achieving her commercial ratings in rotary wing aircraft in 1967

First woman to fly a helicopter around Australia’s coastline (1997)

First woman in the Northern Territory to become an Associate of the Australian Insurance Institute (1977), she was also the first female President of the Darwin Basketball Association; first female President of the NT Basketball Association; and first female nationally accredited Level 2 Basketball Coach

First woman to become President of the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (the real estate sector’s professional body) in its 80-year history (1996-1998)

First female Mayor of Port Augusta City Council, South Australia (1981)

First woman in Australia to win the Don Banks Composers Award (1990)

First woman to train a Coolgardie Cup winner since this prestigious Western Australian horse race was first established in 1896 (2002).  Desy’s horse Lawmaker went on to win the Triple Crown (Coolgardie, Boulder and Kalgoorlie Cups) that year

First indigenous Australian drama graduate (1979); first indigenous Australian to perform professionally on the Australian operatic stage; first indigenous Australian to sing the National Anthem at Sydney’s Australia Day celebrations (1993)

First occupational therapist in Australia to be awarded a PhD (1988); first Australian President of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (1986-1990); first woman member of the Board of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (1983) 

First woman Governor of NSW (2001)

First woman President of the Shire of Healesville, VIC (1978) during her 12 year stint as a municipal councillor; first woman member of parliament sworn into the Victorian Legislative Council in its history  (1979-1985)

First woman to win 5 world surfing titles, statistically the greatest woman surfer in surfing history (2002)

Australia’s first woman Ombudsman when appointed in South Australia (1985); first female member of the Qantas board (1983-85)

First Convenor of the National Women’s Advisory Council, lobby group of women’s organizations (1978)

First woman to be appointed to professorial level in psychology at the University of Sydney; first woman Dean of Science at University of Sydney.  Foundation President of the Australian Society of Psychophysiologists 

Renowned marine biologist, best known for her pioneering work on the Great Barrier Reef, she was one of the first four women scientists, to visit the Australian Antarctic base on Macquarie Island in 1959

Co-founder (with Margie Fischer and Ollie Black) of Vitalstatistix (Adelaide: 1984) which later became the National Women’s Theatre

First woman Professor of Applied Physics at Sydney University when appointed in 2000

First woman engaged in commercial aviation in Australia when employed by the Far West Children’s Health Scheme to operate her aircraft as an Aerial Ambulance & Baby Clinic west of Bourke in outback NSW (1935).  At 19 she was also the youngest female commercial pilot in the British Empire at that time

First woman from NSW to serve in both the Senate (1987-1994) and the House of Representatives (as Member for Mackellar: from 1994)

First woman curator (of Mollusks) at the Museum of Victoria (1947); one of the first four women scientists, to visit the Australian Antarctic base on Macquarie Island in 1959

Co-founder of the Wimmins Circus (Melbourne: 1979) and Vitalstatistix, (later to become the National Women’s Theatre, Adelaide: 1984) 

The Age’s first woman leader writer and first woman Associate Editor 

First woman governor of a maximum security men’s prison in Australia when appointed General Manager of Yatala Labour Prison, South Australia (1996)

First woman Mayor of Mackay City Council, QLD (1997)

First woman President of the University of Western Australia’s Guild of Undergraduates (1969), possibly the first woman to be elected to head a student body at any Australian University

First woman elected from Central Australia to Legislative Assembly of NT (1994); first woman Speaker in the Northern Territory (1997)

Australia’s first female Crown Solicitor when appointed to head the Attorney-General’s department (SA) in 1984; and first woman to be appointed a Permanent Head in the South Australian Public Service

First woman founder and Chief Executive Officer of a cruise line anywhere in the world when launched her Sydney based Norwegian Capricorn Line in 1999

First woman Alderman elected to the Alice Springs Town Council in Central Australia (1971)

First woman and Australian to gain international status in canoeing when selected to judge slalom at the Munich Olympics (1972)

First woman President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (1999), she had also chaired the Women in Rural Practice group which developed the policy on women as rural doctors for the College’s foundation documents (1996-7) 

One of first women called to the Bar in Queensland in the 1960s

First woman to head Perth Zoo when appointed CEO in 1995

First woman President of the Academics Union of NSW; co-founder of both the National Pay Equity Coalition and the Ernie Awards for sexist remarks, she is one of three sisters, reputedly the first sisters in Australia to have all earned doctorates

First woman elected President of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions Asia Pacific Region (2000)

First Australian (and only second) woman world leader of the Salvation Army (1986-1993)

Known as “the First Lady of Australian Magazine publishing”, she was the first female editor-in-chief of a major daily newspaper (Sydney Daily and Sunday Telegraphs: 1980); and the first woman appointed to the board of Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd Australia

First woman anaesthetic technician registered with the Australian Society of Anaesthetic & Operating Theatre Technicians, she joined the Operating Theatre team at Alice Springs Hospital in 1975, following training in Melbourne where she was the only female member of the class

Founder of Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (1980)

Pioneer of contemporary dance in Australia, she founded the Australian Dance Theatre, this country’s first professional modern dance company 

First woman sports broadcaster on ABC Radio and Television in Victoria; first woman to be appointed to the AFL Tribunal (1996)

First female indigenous umpire to officiate more than 100 AFL (NT) games, she has been involved over the years in Northern Territory basketball, hockey, softball and cycling and was awarded the ATSIC National Sports Award in Perth for her contribution to indigenous sport in 1996

First Liberal Party woman to be elected as Chief Minister or Premier in Australian political history when elected Chief Minister of the ACT in 1995

First woman Minister of Health in South Australian Parliament (1979)

First woman Executive Director of the Australian Conservation Foundation; first woman to be general secretary of the Technical Teachers Union, VIC and Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre as a full time Victorian Trades Hall Council officer

First woman President of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the Northern Territory (1994-2001)

First Aboriginal woman to win the prestigious Wimbledon tennis singles title (1971)

First woman to be awarded the AFL’s inaugural Woman of the Year (1998)

First woman to lead a major political party in NSW when elected Leader of the NSW Parliamentary Liberal Party in 1998

First female Australian Labor Party member in the House of Representatives (1974); Australia’s first female Speaker of either House of the Federal Parliament (House of Representatives: 1986)

1 of the 3 Australian women (with Shelagh Robinson and Jutta Hosel) first on the Antarctic continent with ANARE - Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (Casey: summer 1975-6); first woman member of the ANARE Club 

First veterinarian to establish a private small animal practice in the Northern Territory (Alice Springs: 1948-1951), she also co-pioneered Wombaroo, a replacement milk formula for orphaned marsupials

First woman President of the Local Government Association of SA (1982)

First woman elected as National President of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (1994) 

Founder of the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame, Alice Springs (1993), dedicated to preserving the place of women in history and their special contribution to Australia’s heritage

First woman Chair of the CSIRO Board (1991-1996), she was also the first scientist to be appointed to the prestigious post of Lieutenant Governor of Victoria (1997-2000)

First indigenous woman to represent Australia in the National Hockey Under 21’s team (in a Five-nation tournament in Sydney, 1986), she was also the first Alice Springs woman to represent the Northern Territory in National competitions (Under-16’s and Under-21’s)

First woman Artistic Director of South Australia’s State Theatre Company, Adelaide (2000)

First woman to graduate in sound mixing from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) (1982); for nearly a decade she was the first and only female sound mixer with the ABC

First woman appointed to the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) Australian Rally Commission in 1996 and one of the few Australian drivers to be internationally recognized by the FIA (motorsport’s governing body)

First woman to be elected to the Western Australian Parliament as an Independent (in the By-election for the Seat of Floreat) in July 1991

First woman (with team partner Kerri Pottharst) to win an Olympic gold medal for Australia in Beach volleyball (Sydney: 2000)

First woman in Australia to hold a Treasury portfolio in the history of Federation when appointed Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer in 2001

First woman Professor of Information Technology (IT) in Australia when appointed to the University of Wollongong, NSW (1991) 

First woman (and 6th Australian) to win the prestigious Royal Medal of the London-based Royal Society in 2002 for her pioneering work on molecular biology of the immune system, she was also the first Australian to win the L’Oreal/UNESCO Women in Science Award the year prior.

First woman to circumnavigate the world singled-handed when she arrived in Sydney Harbour on 5 June 1988 in her yacht “Blackmore’s First Lady” after her epic 46,000 km voyage

One of the first 10 women ordained to priesthood in the Anglican Church in Australia (Perth: Sunday 7 March 1992)

First Australian woman to win the Wimbledon tennis singles title (1963)

First woman President of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects since it was founded in 1929 (1994)

First woman ALP Member of Parliament elected to the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament (1979-1992)

First woman Executive Director of the National Farmers Federation, Australia’s peak farm lobby group when appointed in 1995

First woman National President of the Australian Liquor, Hospitality & Miscellaneous Workers Union (1999)

First woman in the Federal Parliament to have served on the executive in all three levels of government– local, State and Federal.  First woman Mayor of Fairfield City Council, NSW (1974-5 & 1977-80); first woman Cabinet Minister in NSW (1984-88); ALP member for Prospect, NSW since 1990

First woman ALP Senator for the Northern Territory in Federal Parliament (1999)

First South Australian female member of the ALP in Federal Parliament (1983); first SA woman to be elected to a federal ministry when made Minister for Family Services & Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women (1993)

First woman to win a trophy at the Perth Show (with a Sauvignon Blanc), she pioneered the use of oak in white wine production in Western Australia (1980s)

First woman to win the Qantas/Wine Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year (2000)

First woman appointed as the Chair of the National Australia Day Council (2000)

First female professor of Australian history at the Australian National University, Canberra when she replaced famed historian, Manning Clark in 1995

First Australian to win 3 gold medals in a single Olympic games, being dubbed Australia’s “Golden Girl” (Melbourne: 1956)

Australia’s first marriage celebrant when appointed by Lionel Murphy on 19 July 1973

First female President of the Restaurant and Caterers Association of Victoria since 1906 (1994)

Ordained as a priest in the first ordination for women priests at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne (13 December 1992); first woman in Melbourne to be elected as (clerical) canon for St Paul’s Cathedral (October 1995)

Australia’s first woman captain of a passenger airline (Connair, operating out of Alice Springs:  1974)

First woman President of the Victorian Branch Council of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) when appointed in 1976, she was the first woman in any State or Territory of Australia to hold that position

First Australian woman to win an Olympic medal in athletics (London: 1948), she later challenged the then convention of retiring on marriage and motherhood becoming the first Australian mother to both perform and win at the Olympics (Melbourne: 1956)

First woman appointed to the Senior Executive level in the Commonwealth Treasury since Federation (1991), she later established AMP Direct

Currently the only Australian based fashion designer recognized by the Chambre Syndicale of women’s ready-to-wear designers, she was the first Australian designer to mount a full-scale fashion show at the Paris Collections in 1995

First woman to work underground in Queensland; first woman to obtain the Queensland First Class Mine Managers’ Certificate of Competency (Metalliferous); Queensland’s first woman Mines Inspector (QLD Dept of Natural Resources and Mines, Townsville: 2002)

First woman in Australia to gain a doctorate in Educational Administration (1976); first lay principal of an Order owned independent Catholic girls secondary college; one of first Associate Professors appointed at the Australian Catholic University, Strathfield NSW

First woman Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and first female Vice-Chancellor of any Victorian University when appointed in 2000.

First woman student and oenology (winemaking) graduate at the all-male residential Roseworthy Agricultural College, South Australia (1973)

Lead singer of Australia’s first international chart topping group, The Seekers; first Australian international female pop star (1960s)

First winner of the inaugural Northern Territory Rural Woman of the Year (1994)

First woman Councillor (1969) and Mayor of St Arnaud, VIC (1988-90); first woman editor of the North Central News, St Arnaud, VIC (since 1981)

First woman Commander within the Northern Territory Police when appointed in 1992 

First woman to preside in an Australian Federal Court when appointed Chief Judge of the newly created Family Court of Australia (1975)

Founder of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) in Australia (1972) 

First woman racing driver ever to finish on the V8 Supercar podium when the 20 year old became runner up in the first round of the 2001 Konica series; first woman ever to win a race and a championship round (2000)

One of 3 first female professional firefighters recruited to the Victorian Metropolitan Fire Service (1988)

First woman President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (New South Wales branch) in its then 112 year history (1984-87); and later first woman President of the NSW Council of Professions

First woman to be appointed as Chief Stipendiary Magistrate in Queensland (1999)

First woman police officer appointed to the South Australian Drug Squad (1971); to become Detective Sergeant (1979); to be put in charge of a country region (Yorke Peninsula: 1989)

Co-founder (with Roxxy Bent and Ollie Black) of Vitalstatistix (Adelaide: 1984) which later became the National Women’s Theatre

First woman in peacetime to hold a male rank in the RAAF (1974); first woman doctor to serve in the RAAF

Winner of the first National Parachute Championship for Women, she was also the first woman Australian representative of the National Parachute Association at the World (6th) Championships in Orange, Massachussetts, USA in 1962

First woman to head a government (as ACT’s first female Chief Minister); also first woman to attend a Premiers’ Conference (1989)

First woman Governor of Queensland (1992); first Australian International President of Zonta International, the service club of executive and business professional women (1990-92)

First Australian woman to conduct an ABC orchestra; first woman to be Music Director and Principal Conductor of a major European symphony orchestra, the Royal Netherlands National Ballet Company in Amsterdam (1994)

First and only swimmer in the history of the Olympic Games to have won an Olympic event (100m freestyle) three times in succession (achieved Tokyo: 1964)

First woman in the Brisbane Anglican Diocese to be ordained (Deacon: 1993, Priest: 1995); one of two first ordained women to be representative on General Synod and the first ordained woman in Australia to receive a PhD

First indigenous Australian to win an international track medal (bronze, 4x400m relay, Auckland Commonwealth Games, 1990); first to win Commonwealth gold (Canada, 1994) and first indigenous Australian to win an individual Olympic gold medal (Sydney, 2000)

First woman Mayor of Burnie City Council in Tasmania (1991-96)

First woman Director General of the National Library of Australia, Canberra (1999)

First and greatest of the Australian celebrity cookery writers, with 4 million cookbook sales over the past 40 years, she is credited with being one of the first people to bring international cuisine to the Australian table after WWII

One of 3 first fully trained women wharfies (stevedores) in NSW to join men at Port Botany, Sydney (1997); first Australian woman to represent women transport workers on the international stage (as a Maritime Union of Australia delegate at the International Transport WorkersB9 Federation Women’s Conference, New Delhi, India (1998) 

First female professor of geography in Australia when appointed to University of Adelaide (1978)

First woman Judge to the High Court in Canberra, the highest court in the Australian judicial system (1987)

First woman President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (1995)

First woman Board member of the South Australian Fishing Industry Council (1998), she was the founding Chair of SAWIN (SA Women in Fishing: 1996); as well as instigating the first National conference for Seafood Women and developing the first state seafood women’s Action Plan  (1997)

First woman (with team partner Loudy Tourky) to win Australia’s first Olympic medal (bronze) in synchronized diving (Sydney: 2000)

Co-founder of CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Medial Association: 1980) which includes Imparja, the first Aboriginal commercial TV station (1988), and the first licenced Aboriginal radio station Radio 8KIN FM broadcasting in regional languages

First woman Superintendent with the South Australian Police when appointed in 1998 as Local Service Area Commander of the South Coast Division 

First woman firefighter recruited to the Northern Territory Fire Service in February 1992

One of eight women to be ordained as Australia’s first woman deacons (1986) and one of ten women ordained as Australia’s first female Anglican priests (Perth: Sunday 7 March 1992)

First Aboriginal person to head a government department in Western Australia when appointed Commissioner for Aboriginal planning in 1986, she went on to become the first full-time and first Aboriginal Magistrate in the Children’s Court of WA in Perth (1988)

First woman to hold position of Minister for Industrial Relations in the Victorian government (1999)

First and only woman in history to win three individual swimming Olympic gold medals in world record time (Munich: 1972); only woman in field of swimming to hold records for every freestyle distance simultaneously

First woman to be appointed as General Secretary for the Queensland Council of Unions in its 115 year history (2000)

A women’s soccer international and qualified horticulturalist, she was said to be Australia’s only female cricket pitch boss when employed by Alice Springs Town Council, her work being praised by the West Indian cricket team when they visited in 2000

First woman Mayor of Maroochy Shire Council, in the heart of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, when appointed March 2000

First woman Chair of the Legislative Council Labor Caucus (1984); first woman Chair of the St Margaret’s Hospital Advisory Board (1984)

First woman Cabinet Minister in Australia to head a department as Minister for Social Security (1975-80)

First woman to command an operational unit in the RAAF (Electronic Warfare Squadron, 1992); first serving woman in the history of the Australian Defence Force to be promoted to Air Commodore (1999) 

First woman Vice-Chancellor at Central Queensland University (CQU) when appointed in 2001; first woman Vice-Chancellor at any of the nine universities in Queensland 

First woman Mayor of Kempsey Shire Council, NSW when elected in September 2001

First woman commercial photographer in Alice Springs (1930s), she produced the town’s first postcard and developed photographs for pioneering anthropologist Ted Strehlow 

Foundation and first woman teacher employed by the School of the Air which was officially opened at the Royal Flying Doctor Base, Alice Springs in June 1951, the first school of its kind in the world.  

First woman Deputy Chancellor of Monash University (2001); first female lecturer in the Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Melbourne; first female President of the Melbourne University Staff Association; and first female CEO in higher education in Victoria when appointed Director of the Hawthorn Institute of Education (1987)

First Superintendent of St Mary’s Church of England Hostel, Alice Springs (1946)

First Australian woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in a single-engine aircraft (1978); first woman to complete solo back-to-back flights across the Pacific; founder of the first Fear of Flying Clinic in NSW (1979)

First woman Chair of the Board of the Botanic Gardens & State Herbarium, Adelaide (2000)

First woman to lead a Northern Territory parliamentary party, when she became Leader of the Labor Opposition in 1996

First veterinarian to set up a full-time practice in the Northern Territory, she opened for business in 1964 servicing Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine and Gove in the early days

Australia’s first Vietnamese-born woman Mayor, the first Vietnamese woman to achieve such high office in local government in this country when elected Mayor of Footscray, VIC, 1997-8

First woman President of an Australian National Sportfishing Association (Cairns Sportfishing Club, QLD: 1982)

First woman & Charter President of Rotary Club of Derby WA District 9450 (1997-8); first woman District Governor in Australia and New Zealand for Rotary International (District 9450: 1999-2000)

First totally deaf woman to obtain a degree from an Australian university when she achieved Honours in Zoology at the University of NSW in 1962.  She followed in the footsteps of her great aunt Fanny Hunt, the first woman science graduate from Sydney University (1888)

First woman member of the Australian Reserve Bank Board (1992)

First Australian member of the International Association of Culinary Professions

First woman Chair of the National Health & Medical Research Council, Australia’s most influential government advisory and research funding body (1991-93); first female Chief Executive Officer of an Area Health Service in Australia when appointed to Central Sydney Area Health Service (CSAHS) in 1992

First woman elected to the Committee of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA), an organisation that represents the common interests of all aircraft owners and pilots (1986).  In 1999 Jenny and Ruth Wilson (see page ?) were the first all-female crew to compete in the prestigious Gordon Bennett Cup, an international gas-ballooning competition, since it began in 1906, traveling over 1000 km from New Mexico to Oklahoma.

Australia’s first woman Press Photographer, from 1938 she worked on several Sydney newspapers and women’s magazines for 40 years 

Australia’s first woman judge within the field of Working Sheepdog Trials, she judged competitions in various outback towns in Far West NSW including Bourke and Broken Hill 

First woman to head a drug squad in Australia, reaching rank of Detective Inspector on retirement in 1989 from the Tasmanian Police Department

First woman Mayor of Lismore City Council, NSW (1997-1999), she was also that Council’s first female Deputy Mayor (1995-97).  She was also the first woman Chair of the regional water supply authority, Rous Water (1995-97)

Founding Director of the Women’s Circus (1991), an innovative project of the Footscray Community Arts Centre in Melbourne

First Australian woman athlete to win an Olympic gold medal (Helsinki: 1952)

South Australia’s first woman Chartered Accountant, she was also the first female member of the General Synod of the Church of England in Australia (1962); first woman appointed to the worldwide Anglican Consultative Council (1971)

First Australian woman to break 15 mins for 5 km after finishing runner-up in the Flora Light 5 km road race (London: September 2002)

First woman reporter for the ABC’s “This Day Tonight” program in the 1960s

One of first Principal Dancers with the Australian Ballet when established in 1962, she later became its Artistic Director (1979-82) and founded the Dancers Company of the Australian Ballet in 1980

First woman bookmaker in the Northern Territory, she received her licence in December 1977, working at Alice Springs Pioneer Park racecourse where she was known as “Bernie the Bookie”

First woman Mayor of Moreland City Council, VIC and first ever Greek-born Australian female Mayor when appointed in 2000

First Australian designer to have her fashion presented in the Italian “Vogue” (1977) 

First woman to score a century at Lord’s, the London headquarters of international cricket (1998)

First Australian woman to fly solo around the world in a single-engined aircraft (1989)

Australia’s first woman cinematographer (camera ‘man’); first woman to work on a feature film as part of the camera crew (as clapper loader on Summer of Secrets, 1975); first woman to shoot a feature film (Fran); first woman to receive accreditation by the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS)

First woman to chair a listed public company in Australia (investment & property giant, Lend Lease: 2000)

First Australian female weightlifter to lift 100kg in snatch discipline (Women’s Weightlifting was first introduced at the 2000 Olympics, Sydney)

First woman to become a Queens Counsel in Queensland, she took “silk” in 1987

First woman President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (1985)

Australia’s first woman Rabbi when ordained in 1991

First woman to head the Victorian government when appointed State Premier (1992)

First woman elected to the Essendon Football Club Board, VIC in its 123-year history (1993)

With Bill Peach, the founder of Aircruising Australia Ltd (1984) becoming the first woman to float a company on the main board of the Sydney Stock Exchange (1986) and for many years the only female Chair of a Public Company in Australia; first woman in Australia to import and operate a commercial sized passenger aircraft, holding an RPT licence from 1990 onwards

First woman professor at Australia’s oldest academic institution, the University of Sydney when appointed Professor of Australian Literature in 1968

First Asian Councilor for Auburn, NSW (19991), this Vietnamese refugee became the city’s first female Mayor and first Asian Mayor when elected in 2000

First woman to head a State government in Australia when elected Premier of WA (1990)

First woman pilot to fly for a major airline (Ansett), following a landmark decision of the Equal Opportunity Board, making her maiden commercial flight co-piloting a Fokker Friendship from Alice Springs to Darwin on 22 January 1980

First female Commissioned Officer with the South Australian Police when appointed in 1979

First woman full-time lecturer and later Professor in Theology in Australia

First woman and only Australian to receive the prestigious IAA Samir Fares Award for outstanding service to the International Advertising Association and the advertising industry

First woman President of the Legislative Council in the South Australian parliament; first woman to preside in any House in all the Parliaments in Australia (1986)

Leanne LIDDLE First indigenous Australian woman police officer with the South Australian Police (1988)

First woman to be awarded Life Membership to the AFL (2002)

Victoria’s first and Australia’s second woman Methodist minister, ordained at the Wesley Church, Melbourne in 1969

First woman elected to the International Paralympic Committee (1993), she was instrumental in the forming of SASRAPID (South Australian Sport & Recreation Association for people with integration difficulties: 1982), the first of the nationwide RAPIDS, which led to the foundation of its national counterpart AUSRAPID (1986)

First woman member (1997) and Chair (2001) of the all-male Committee of the Warrnambool Racing Club, VIC

Queensland’s and possibly Australia’s first woman to be allowed to compete against the men in the then male-dominated field of bull riding (1980s)

First woman elected as President of the ACT trades & Labour Council (1993)

First woman Chief General Manager of a bank in Australia (1993) 

First woman specialist plastic surgeon in Australia when granted an Honorary appointment at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in 1959, she had also been the first female General Surgeon in South Australia when she returned from receiving her Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in London in 1955 

First woman to serve on the Australian Health Insurance Association National Executive since formed in 1971 (2001)

First woman to be appointed to the Australian Dairy Farmers’ Board (2000)

First woman to be permitted to join the Mosman/Neutral Bay Rifle Club (1970s); first woman Captain in Club’s 87 year history (2002)

First woman curator appointed to the Australian War Memorial (1977-79), she was custodian of one of the nation’s largest and most historically significant art collections

First woman President of any major Australian political party when elected President of the National Party (1976); also first woman Federal President 

First woman Deputy Leader in history of Australian Federal Labor Party (2001)

First woman to drive by car around Australia, the then 23 year old took 6 months driving from Sydney to Darwin via Adelaide and Alice Springs, and thence to Perth, across the Nullabor and back to Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne in 1937

First woman judge of the District Court of Queensland  (1992)

First woman to hold position of Deputy Speaker in the Victorian parliament (1996-)

Founding director of Australia’s first Research Centre for Women’s Studies (SA: 1983)

First woman pharmacist invited to join the Pharmacy Board of Queensland (1988) 

New South Wales’ first woman town clerk (1944-56) and shire clerk (1957-74) when appointed to Balranald Municipal, later Shire Council.

First woman Chair of the Academic Board of the University of Melbourne, she was also the first woman appointed to an established Chair at that university when appointed Professor of Fine Arts (1979-1995) and has made a significant contribution to the study of Medieval and Renaissance Art History within Australia

First woman in executive search in Australia with US based Korn/Ferry International (1981)

First woman Chancellor of the University of Melbourne in its 150-year history (2000); first woman President of the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne (1992); first Victorian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity (1977); first Social Worker to be appointed to the academic staff of the University of Queensland (1951) 

First indigenous woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament (Seat of Kimberley, WA 2001)

First woman Chief Minister in the Northern Territory (2001) 

Part of a team of 3 women Northern Territory Park Rangers in charge of Arltunga Historical Reserve, in the East MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia – believed to be the first Australian park to be solely staffed by female officers (1994)

Australia’s first Police Assistant Commissioner when appointed to this rank within Victoria Police in November 1989

First woman Director-General of a Queensland State Government Department when appointed to the QLD Department of Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs (1989-1995)

First female member of the RAAF Roulettes Aerobatic Flying team since its establishment in 1970, she made her public debut over Brisbane in August 1999; believed to be the world’s first woman to fly in a military precision flying team.

Australia’s first woman auctioneer when granted her licence in 1973

First Aboriginal woman to be appointed Deputy Administrator of the Northern Territory (2002)

First woman member of the traditionally “male-only” club, the Australian National Sportfishing Association when she was finally allowed to attend the committee meetings with her husband (to take the minutes)

First woman and first Australian to head the 38 year old International Association of University Presidents (2002); first woman Vice Chancellor of the University of New England, Armidale, NSW (1997)

First Australian to climb the highest mountain on each continent (the Seven Summits); first Australian woman to climb the world’s tallest peak, Mount Everest (1997)

Established Australia’s first ever film casting consultancy (1969)

First woman to win an Australian Nuffield Scholarship and first Australian to win a Nuffield, Australian Rural Leadership & Churchill Scholarships

First woman Mayor of Wingecarribee Shire Council, NSW (1997-2000)

First woman in Australia to win a Rotary Foundation Fellowship (1949: Dept of Mineralogy and Petrology, Cambridge, UK); first woman to be awarded a PhD in geology from an Australian university (University of Tasmania: 1952); one of first women Professors in an Australian university (Foundation Professor of Geology, University of Newcastle: 1965); first woman Dean of Science in an Australian university (University of Newcastle: 1969)

First woman artistic director of the Melbourne International Festival (1998)

First woman archdeacon in Sydney diocese when appointed in 1993, she was the first woman accorded significant status in the hierarchy of clergy 

First woman Counsellor for Equal Opportunity in NSW Public Employment (1979-82); first woman President of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board (1982-88); first woman to address the Broken Hill Barrier Industrial Council; created the first Women’s Register in Australia for appointment of women to Boards and Authorities; developed funding model for first women’s refuge network in NSW established first government liaison group with gay and lesbian community (1982); conceived Australia’s first landmark sexual harassment case; drafted and advocated Australia’s first racial vilification bill which became law in 1989

First woman Commissioner of Police in Australia when appointed to Victoria Police in 2001

Pioneered a volunteer program within a government department in the early 1970s, which led to the co-founding of VolunteeringSA in 1982 and later the establishment of the national body on volunteering, Volunteering Australia

First female Examiner of Airmen, the highest aviation appointment given to a woman (1987); first woman in Australia to work as pilot overseas; flew the first Grumman Cougar aircraft into Australia; first woman to captain a Leah jet

First Aboriginal woman to receive the Order of Australia (1976); founding Chairperson of ATSIC (1990); one of first trained Aboriginal nurses in South Australia (1956)

First woman to win the Australian Mathematical Society Medal in its more than 20 year history (2000)

Alice Springs’ first woman Mayor when elected in 1983

Australia’s first Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Commissioner (1984-88); whilst an ALP member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly (1977-1983), she became the first woman to hold a leadership position in an Australian parliamentary party when elected deputy Opposition Leader (1981); founded the Darwin Women’s Centre, the Northern Territory’s first women’s refuge 

First woman jockey in Australia (1979) following 20 years of writing to the Queensland Turf Club to get the rule changed that women could ride against men.  On the first day of race riding, she rode three winners – a world record for any jockey on their first day.

First woman to be appointed to a senior executive position at Curtin University of Technology, Perth in Western Australia, when made Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor in 1997

First female Officer in Charge of a Northern Territory police station (Harts Range on the Plenty Highway, Central Australia, with a beat of 115,000 square kilometres to the Queensland border: 1999)

First woman to Chair an Agricultural Field Day organising committee in Australia (Agfest, Tasmania’s only Rural Trade Fair: 1993 and 1994) 

First white Centralian woman to play for the National Australian Senior Women’s Hockey Team – The Hockeyroos (2001)

First woman to manage an Australian Antarctic Research Station (Casey: 1989)

First indigenous judicial appointment in Queensland when appointed Stipendiary magistrate (1999)

First female Federal President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) (2000)

First woman urological surgeon in South Australia, she opened her practice “Continence Matters” at the Calvary Hospital, Adelaide in November 2002

First woman Torres Strait Islander judicial appointment in Queensland when appointed Stipendiary magistrate (2000)

One of the first 3 women granted permission by the then Archbishop of Perth to administer the chalice at the Eucharist, to baptize and preach; among the first 3 women to be made Deacon (1986); one of 10 women to be ordained as Australia’s first female Anglican priests (1992)

First woman (with team partner Natalie Cook) to win an Olympic gold medal for Australia in Beach volleyball (Sydney: 2000)

First woman National Party MP in the Victorian Parliament when elected to the Legislative Council for North Eastern Province, March 1996; and the first woman for the National Party elected to the Legislative Assembly (Shepperton District: November 2002)

First woman President of the Australian Mathematical Society (1992-94)

First woman in Australia to qualify as an actuary and first woman President of the Institute of Actuaries in Australia (1991)

First woman to head the Northern Territory Treasury Corporation when appointed Assistant Under Treasurer/Chairman in ?

Establishing the first all female-staffed funeral company (Mareena Purslowe & Associates) in Western Australia in 1989, she became the first woman in Australia to be awarded the title of Master Funeral Director by the Australian Funeral Directors Association (2002)

Australia’s first woman captain of an international airline when appointed by Qantas in 1992

First woman Dean of Engineering at the University of Sydney when appointed in 1997

First woman appointed as a liaison officer to a global Internet network

First Federal Government adviser to the Australian Prime Minister on women’s affairs (1973), a position which ultimately developed into the Office of the Status of Women

Liberal Senator for the Australian Capital Territory, she was the first woman President of the Senate from August 1996-August 2002

First woman Fellow of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (now Birds Australia) (1981); first woman President of the Bird Banders Association of Australia (1969-70); first woman to summer on Macquarie Island (Antarctic) in a scientific capacity (banding penguins) and is internationally known for her work on penguins

First female shire clerk in the West when worked at Kalkeringi, she pioneered a Homemaker program working with Aboriginal women

1 of the 3 Australian women (with Elizabeth Chipman and Jutta Hosel) first on the Antarctic continent with ANARE - Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (Casey: summer 1975-6) 

The Gold Coast’s first woman Cabinet Minister; she was also the first female Minister for the Emergency Services portfolio in both Queensland and Australia

First woman Professor of Politics in Australia when appointed at La Trobe University in 1975

First internationally successful Australian female wheelchair athlete in a traditionally male dominated sport, she won 3 gold medals at the Barcelona Paralympics (1992) and is also the only Australian to have won both Paralympic and Olympic gold (Atlanta: 1996)

First woman Chair of the Advisory Board of Agriculture, the governing body of the Agricultural Bureau of South Australia in its 113-year history (2001)

First woman in the history of the sport of clay target shooting to make the Open Australian (1986) and Open State (1987) Skeet Shooting team; first lady shooter to achieve AA grade status in Australia (1986)

Founding director of the Australian Ballet School (1964) 

First indigenous woman voted into the Northern Territory Parliament when elected to serve as Member for Arafura in 2001

First Australian woman to become an international judge of dressage; first Australian to judge dressage at Olympic level (Sydney: 2000)

Victoria’s first woman stockbroker becoming a member of the Australian Associated Stock Exchange

First woman in the Western Australian Parliament (and the only Parliamentary Chair from a Greens Party anywhere in Australia) to Chair a Standing Committee (1997); first woman member of the Environmental Protection Authority of WA when appointed by the Labor Government in 1989.

First woman official war artist since World War II when appointed by Australian War Memorial to cover conflict in East Timor, and attached to the Army History Unit in Dili  (1999)

First woman to head a political party in Queensland when appointed Leader of the Liberal Party (1991-98); first woman Deputy Premier and Treasurer of the Queensland Government (1996-98)

First woman Chief Executive Officer of a bank in Australia (Bank of Melbourne); first woman CEO of a bank in New Zealand, largest in that country (Westpac: October 2002) 

First woman to be appointed to the governing Board of the South Australian Museum, Adelaide (1952)

First woman to hitch hike around Australia, at the age of 21 she took 2 years to complete her journey, attracting much media attention including coverage by Movietone News (1947)

First woman Deputy Administrator for the Northern Territory when appointed in February 1997

First woman Managing Director of a major Australian retail chain (STA Travel: 1998); first Australian of Asian origin to be presented with the Telstra Business Women’s Award (Private and Corporate Sector) (Victoria: 2002)

Author and consultant on elearning, she is the co-originator of the Routledge International Encyclopedia on Women (and online database) as well as TRACE, the UK online writing community.  She also taught the teachers for the first virtual school in Queensland, and was the examiner of the first Australian web-based PhD.

First white woman to have successfully crossed the Simpson Desert by car (1962)

Australia’s first sports nutritionist, she was also the first dietician to go into private practice in Australia

First Australian woman to win a World Cup alpine event (1997: slalom, Park City, Utah, USA); first Australian to win an individual medal at a Winter Olympic Games (1998: slalom, Nagano); first alpine World Champion in Southern Hemisphere (1999: women’s slalom, World Skiing Championships) 

Labor’s first woman State President (NSW: 2002)

First woman Dean of a Faculty of Business/Commerce in Australia when appointed at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean (1985)

First woman veterinarian to occupy a Chair in a Veterinary School in Australia when appointed Chair of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at the University of Melbourne in 1991

Established Australia’s first women’s refuge (Elsie: 1974); first woman to publish a modern feminist history of Australia (Damned Whores and God’s Police: 1975)

First woman delegate of the Centenary AWU (Australian Workers Union) Convention held in Ballarat, VIC in 1986

One of the ten women ordained as Australia’s first female Anglican priests (Perth: Sunday 7 March 1992)

First woman President of the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (1998)

First woman President of the Sydney Division of the Institution of Engineers, Australia (1996)

First woman Magistrate (1978), Chief Magistrate (1986) and Judge of the Supreme Court (1992) in the Northern Territory 

First Vietnamese Australian to receive a first class degree in psychology (1969); first female professor at the RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology: 1991); first woman Chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission (1993)

Elected to Queensland’s Toowoomba City Council in 1997 and later Mayor in 2000, she was made Treasurer of the Toowoomba Sports Ground Trust and was the first woman to be elected to the Board in 110 years 

First woman to read a full-length evening ABC news bulletin on radio since WWII (1975); first woman to read the 7 pm ABC-TV news (1978)

First woman to own and operate a cruise ship in Australia (weekly cruises, Cairns to Cape York), she also founded Women at Work Australia in Brisbane

Billed as “Sydney’s Best Voice”, this popular DJ from Radio Mix 106.5 FM, was the first woman in Australia to have a day shift on FM commercial radio in 1991 

First woman (with team partner Rebecca Gilmore) to win Australia’s first Olympic medal for synchronized diving (Sydney: 2000)

First woman to hold an Agriculture portfolio in the Federal Government when as Liberal Senator for Victoria she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the then Minister for Primary Industries and Energy (now Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) (1997)

First woman to train as a neurosurgeon in Australia (1990)

Co-founded with her late husband Dr Bertam Wainer, the first publicly acknowledged abortion clinic in Australia (1972)

First woman elected to the Queensland State Council of the Australian Optometrical Association (1977)

First Australian woman to become a certified paddlesteamer skipper, earning her Master Mariner’s Certificate in 1947

First woman to gain a trainers’ licence from the Australian Jockey Club (1992)

First woman (and non police officer) to head the Intelligence Division in NSW Police; first woman to manage the ASIO investigations at national level

First woman Lord Mayor of Parramatta when elected in 2000, making her the first woman Lord Mayor in all of Sydney

First woman judge in Queensland’s Supreme Court when appointed Justice (1992)

Amongst her many overseas adventures, she cycled through Asia (1983-85) covering a total of 17,000 km and became the first woman to climb Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji with a bicycle. 

One of the instigators of endurance horse riding in Australia and the first Tom Quilty 100 mile ride in 1966, she was the first woman to win the Australian National Championship Quilty Gold Cup in 1975

First woman to head a Commonwealth government department in Australia when appointed Secretary of the Department of Education (1985)

With Flying Cadet Hicks, they were the first women to graduate from the RAAF’s pilot training course on 30 June 1988; Robyn has gone on to become the first woman lead test pilot for the Australian Defence Force

First female pilot to own and operate her own hot-air balloon (1976)

First Australian concert pianist to make a New York debut at Carnegie Hall when she performed there in October 1998

A descendent of the Goonoo people of western New South Wales, she was the first indigenous woman to compete in a long-distance air race (Centenary of Federation London to Sydney Air Race: 2001, with co-pilot Steven Hirvonen)

Australia’s first woman Vice-Chancellor when appointed to Macquarie University in 1987

Outback legend and pioneering Northern Territory businesswoman, she ran the Pine Creek Hotel from the 1930s, penning her colourful life story in her book “No Place for a Woman”.

First woman and first lay person to head the Uniting Church of Australia’s Frontier Services when appointed National Director in 1999

First woman to conduct in the major European opera houses of Paris, Berlin and Vienna (1992/3)

First woman to Chair the Board of SBS TV, this pioneering fashion designer is believed to be the first woman to design a car for the women’s market (Laser for Ford Australia: 1985)