Florence Ann GAYLARD

Born 1888

Moth­er of Kath­leen Sned­don’s moth­er. She was artis­tic and made all man­ner of things includ­ing emus out of sea shells. She even­tu­al­ly returned to Dunedin, New Zealand to live.

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Sarah Anne McNAMARA

Born 9/02/1872, Died 21/03/1951

Also known as: née Carthew, Bess, Bessie

Dairy farmer and dress­mak­er at Black­wood, South Australia.

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Helen DANN

At 17, first woman in Vic­to­ria to get semi-trail­er licence.
2015 — Induct­ed into Shell Rim­u­la Hall of Fame at Nation­al Road Trans­port Hall of Fame.

Bought her own TK Bedford…

Johanna Maria Luise LIEBLER

Also known as: née Kuffner, Luise

Johan­na Maria Luise Liebler came to Her­manns­burg more than thir­ty years after Dorothee and Wil­helmine. She arrived on 1 May 1910 with her hus­band who was a new­ly grad­u­at­ed missionary.…

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VICTORIAN LADIES YACHT CLUB

First all female Yacht Club in Aus­tralia (maybe the world).

Lat­er known as the Hamp­ton Sail­ing Club.

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Patricia May EDGAR

Born 11 March 1937

Also known as: née Etherington

1981 — Found­ing Direc­tor of The Inno­v­a­tive Aus­tralian Chil­dren’s TV Foundation.2001 — Induct­ed in the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.2002 — Award­ed the Aus­tralian Film Institute…

Phyllis Rogers ARNOTT

1929 — First woman in Aus­tralia to be grant­ed a Com­mer­cial Pilot’s Licence (but chose to only fly for pleasure).

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Lynn ALLEN

Lynn worked for twelve years as the State Librar­i­an and CEO of the West­ern Aus­tralian state library (from 1989 – 2001). Over a peri­od of 107 years, Pro­fes­sor Allen was only the fourth…

Joyce POLSON

Rev­erend Joyce was admit­ted to the Order of Dea­coness­es in 1955, the only min­istry open to women at that time. She was made dea­con in 1986 and ordained priest in 1992, with the first…

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Jean BAIRD

Wife of Rev. John Fly­nn the founder of Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion and the Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Service

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Cheryl BART

Cheryl is the first Aus­tralian female and the 31^st per­son world­wide to com­plete the Explor­er’s Grand Slam.

The Sev­en Sum­mits which includes Mt Ever­est was com­plet­ed in May…

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.

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Mary Fabian ELLIOTT

Born 19 January 1911, Died 30 June 1998

Also known as: Sister Fabian

1972 — Founder of St Vin­cen­t’s Pri­vate Hos­pi­tal in Mel­bourne, Vic­to­ria. ​“A nun for 58 years with the Aus­tralian Sis­ters of Charity.”

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Deborah CLARKE

Artist. Teach­es Fine Arts at the uni­ver­si­ty lev­el (Tafe, New South Wales and Charles Dar­win Uni­ver­si­ty, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry). She cre­ates using a vari­ety of media (cre­ative writing,…

Michelle HILL

2000 – First female Pres­i­dent of a club in the Riv­er Mur­ray Foot­ball League (South Australia).
2019 — Michelle is first and only female to receive Riv­er Mur­ray Foot­ball League (RMFL)…

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Suzane BRYANT

1968 – 1971 — First Abo­rig­i­nal air host­ess (Ansett Air­lines of New South Wales).

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Annie Syrett GREEN

Born 2 December 1858, Died 14 April 1936

Also known as: Anne Syrett Green

1923 – 1936 — First woman to hold posi­tion of Gen­er­al Super­in­ten­dent, Ade­laide City Mission.

Mis­sion­ary with Ade­laide City Mission.

Cora BARCLAY

Born 22/02/1923, Died 07/11/2009

Also known as: Cora Michalk

1969 Award­ed the Order of the British Empire

1986 Life mem­ber of Aus­tralian Asso­ci­a­tion of Teach­ers of the Deaf for ser­vices to the edu­ca­tion of hear­ing impaired children.…

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Ellen PERRY

Born 1908, Died 2005

Also known as: Nell

The Per­ry fam­i­ly arrived in Ten­nant Creek in 1934 to search for gold. Nell lived in Ade­laide with their three chil­dren for around 10 years, hav­ing a dis­tance rela­tion­ship, before…

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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Margaret Amelia CORLIS

Born 1840, Died 6 January 1925

Also known as: née Walker, Mrs Dr. Corlis

First woman doc­tor to prac­tice in Aus­tralia. Prac­ticed main­ly in New South Wales in the 1890s with her hus­band, Dr Josi­ah Corlis. 1890s — Went to West­ern Aus­tralia because of a major…

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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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Shirley Aldythea ANDREWS

Born 6/11/1915, Died 15/9/2001

Shirley grad­u­at­ed in Sci­ence when women were bare­ly tol­er­at­ed as stu­dents. She went on to work for six years at the Vet­eri­nary School of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne. In 1947, she…

Lottie Edith LYELL

Born 23/2/1890, Died 21/12/1925

Also known as: née Cox

First female star, scriptwriter, and pro­duc­er of silent films.
1907 — First female lead in the Edwin Geach Company’s ​“An Englishman’s Home.”

Worked on at least 28 silent…

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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…

Beryl Elsie PEARCE

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Wife of Methodist minister.

Isabella CLIFF

Aus­trali­a’s first tele­phon­ist was among nine girls employed at the coun­try’s first com­mer­cial tele­phone exchange in Collins Street, Mel­bourne in 1880.

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Dorothy Jean HAILES

Born 22 June 1926, Died 27 November 1988

Also known as: Dr Jean Hailes

“Dr Jean Hailes was a pio­neer in women’s health in Aus­tralia. In 1971 she estab­lished the first clin­ic in Aus­tralia ded­i­cat­ed to the man­age­ment of menopause.” [Aleeza Zohar]
9 June…

Jessie Mary VASEY

Born 19/10/1897, Died 22/9/1966

Also known as: née Halbert

1945 — Founder of The War Wid­ows’ Guild of Aus­tralia, to pro­vide sup­port in social and wel­fare aspects and by pro­vid­ing gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tion on forums and cam­paign­ing for…

Maree LYNDON

1987 — First female jock­ey in Aus­tralia to ride in the Mel­bourne Cup.

Deborah CHEETHAM

Born 24 November 1964

Aus­trali­a’s first female Indige­nous opera singer; in 2007, wrote ​“Pecan Sum­mer,” Aus­trali­a’s first Indige­nous opera, then trained the nec­es­sary Indige­nous singers;…

Ruth Sabina HEATHCOCK

Born 11 January 1901, Died 7 May 1995

Also known as: née Rayney, Sister Ruth

First white woman to be tak­en by the Abo­rig­ines into ​‘Ruined City’ in Arn­hem Land, North­ern Territory.

1951 — Award­ed Order of the British Empire (OBE), for row­ing 145…

Dianne LUCAS LUPPI

Born 30 December 1954

Also known as: née Lucas, Dianne Lucas Luppi

First woman to own, train, and ride her horse in the Mount Gar­net Cup (Queens­land) race meet­ing (ama­teur).
First woman employed by Far North Queens­land Ama­teur Race Asso­ci­a­tion to do…

Anne Maree JENSEN

Also known as: Sister Anne Maree Jensen, the flying nun

Sis­ter Anne Maree Jensen is a Catholic Sis­ter who has been based at Lon­greach in Queens­land for the last ten years. She learnt to fly in order to reach peo­ple through­out her vast…

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Jacqueline NINIO

Also known as: Jackie

Jacque­line Ninio, in Syd­ney, was the third female Pro­gres­sive Rab­bi, ordained in 1998.

Samantha Joy MOSTYN

Also known as: Sam

2005 — First woman to be appoint­ed as mem­ber of Aus­tralian Foot­ball League Commission.

She began her career in law work­ing for for­mer high court judge Michael Kir­by. After…

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Anita TURNER

Died 29/01/2006

Award­ed gold Badge and Cer­tifi­cate of Mer­it for ded­i­cat­ed ser­vice to Returned & Ser­vices League (RSL) (high­est award to a non-RSL member).

Life Mem­ber of Alice Springs…

Lillian Rose SAVAGE

Died 17/10/2012

1965 — Arrived with hus­band Bob and six chil­dren at Suple­jack Downs (in Tana­mi Desert) in vir­gin coun­try and made a work­ing sta­tion (15,000 sq. miles).

Flora Sydney Patricia ELDERSHAW

Born 16 March 1897, Died 20 September 1956

Also known as: M. Barnard Eldershaw

1935 & 1943 — Pres­i­dent of Syd­ney Branch of Fel­low­ship of Aus­tralian Writers.

Wrote with lit­er­ary part­ner Mar­jorie Barnard under the pen name ​‘M Barnard…

Hannah COLLIS

Born 4 February 1828, Died 7 November 1899

Also known as: née Wells

Pio­neer teacher (in a tent) on the Furneaux Island Group in Bass Strait, Australia.

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Irene M. HALL

Also known as: Irene Shackcloth

Pio­neer of radio writ­ing for chil­dren. Her first work was broad­cast on ABC in 1936. Her radio ser­i­al play ​“The Faka­m­a­gangees” was on the air with 3DB Jean Lawson’s children’s session…

Emilie DAVIS

Also known as: Babs

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Short-term member.

Amy Katherine TAYLOR

Born 28 December 1923, Died 28 January 2018

Also known as: née Millgate

1946 — First woman in New South Wales Police to per­form traf­fic duty.
1984 — The first and only woman to be elect­ed to the Com­bined Ser­vices Sub-Branch Com­mit­tee of the Returned and…

Jessie Goldie YOUNG

Born 25/5/1911, Died 23/9/1988

Also known as: née Matheson

First arrived at Ern­abel­la 4 August 1938. Sec­ond vis­it 1942 – 1944. Her hus­band Len accred­it­ed with find­ing water at Ernabella.

Eileen Mary Florence GOOD

Born 1893, Died 1986

Aus­trali­a’s first female aca­d­e­m­ic in Archi­tec­ture, she was the third woman to enter the new Diplo­ma of Archi­tec­ture course at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne in 1917 and the first…

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Annie LITTLEJOHN

1916 — One of the first women (along with Juli­et Stawell) to enroll in Archi­tec­ture at Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty — did not com­plete course.

Marcia Lynne LANGTON

Born 31 October 1951

1993 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, for ser­vice as an anthro­pol­o­gist and advo­cate of Abo­rig­i­nal issues.

2000 — Inau­gur­al Pro­fes­sor of Aus­tralian Indige­nous Studies,…

Mary Ann MOORE-BENTLEY

Born 6 January 1865, Died 1 September 1953

Also known as: née Bentley, Mary Ling

1903 — First woman — along with Vida Gold­stein, Seli­na Ander­son and Nel­lie Mar­tel — in Aus­tralia and the British Empire to stand for Nation­al Par­lia­ment (unsuc­cess­ful).…

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Tracy SMART

First woman appoint­ed Chief Instruc­tor at the RAAF Insti­tute of Avi­a­tion Medicine.

Sheila HEWITT

Born 28 October 1921, Died 14 April 2011

Also known as: née South

1980, Queens Birth­day Hon­ours — Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia medal, com­mu­ni­ty service.

Arrived in Alice Springs, 1950.Written on the back of the draw­ing: For­mer devot­ed member.