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Vicki WILSON

Born 11 February 1965

1993 — Queens­land Sports­woman of the Year.
1998 — Cap­tained Aus­tralian Net­ball team which won inau­gur­al Com­mon­wealth Games Net­ball Gold Medal.
1992 — Order of Aus­tralia Medal, for…

Grace Elizabeth BREBNER

Born 1914, Died 1984

1950 — First woman detec­tive in the Vic­to­ri­an Police Force.
1951 — The first female detec­tive in Australia.
1956 — The first police woman to pass her police dri­ving test.
1967 — First…

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Nikki SATTLER

Alice Spring’s first female fire­fight­er, at the airport.

Allana ARNOT

Born 1967

Also known as: Allana Corbin

In 1997 Allana Arnot became the first woman to cir­cum­nav­i­gate Aus­tralia solo in a heli­copter. She accom­plished this after teach­ing her­self how to walk and fly again fol­low­ing a plane…

Eva BURROWS

Born 15 September 1929, Died 21 March 2015

Eva Bur­rows was the first Aus­tralian (and only sec­ond) woman world leader of the Sal­va­tion Army. Eva was also the youngest per­son ever elect­ed to the office of Gen­er­al. She served…

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Mary Paulena BLOOMFIELD

Born 20 July 1917, Died 9 May 1994

Also known as: née Hayes

Daugh­ter of Ann Jane ​“Jane” Hayes.

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Louisa Caroline GREGORY

Born 30 April 1865, Died 17 February 1903

Also known as: née Gregory, Lily, Louie, Louisa Caroline Varley

8 March 1886 — Bendi­go, Vic­to­ria — The first offi­cial organ­ised women’s crick­et match was cap­tained by sis­ters Lily and Nel­lie GRE­GO­RY at a match in Syd­ney, which includ­ed player…

Ita Clare BUTTROSE

Born 17/1/1942

Acknowl­edged for her bril­liant and ground­break­ing media career, Ita But­trose has also ded­i­cat­ed her con­sid­er­able ener­gy and skills to cham­pi­oning med­ical edu­ca­tion and health care. Ita…

Clare LINDOP

First Aus­tralian female to ride in the Mel­bourne Cup (2003).
First woman to win South Aus­trali­a’s Jock­ey’s Pre­mier­ship (2004−2005) with 87 winners.

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…

Judith McKAY

Born 12 June 1949

The first female cura­tor at the Aus­tralian War Memo­r­i­al, Canberra.

1988 — Began work­ing at Queens­land Museum.1994 — Co-author, with Don­ald Wat­son, of the major reference…

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…

Jessie Aitken LOVE

Born 1842, Died 1933

Also known as: née Tennant

1863 — Pas­toral Pio­neer with hus­band in Port Lin­coln Dis­trict. Own­ers of ​“Mitcham Lawn” home and prop­er­ty over­look­ing Ade­laide (now a Her­itage building).

Lucinda Mary TURNBULL

Born 30 March 1958

Also known as: née Hughes, Lucy

2003 — Became first woman Lord May­or of Sydney.

Joycelyn WRIGLEY

Born 8/11/1918

Also known as: née Devoy, Joyce

First woman in New South Wales to apply and be grant­ed a Lady Train­er’s Licence (horse racing).

Has com­pet­ed in and won just about every type of horse rid­ing competition.

Jessie Mary Grey STREET

Born 18/04/1889, Died 02/07/1970

Also known as: née Lillingston, Lady Street

First and only woman mem­ber of the Aus­tralian del­e­ga­tion at the 1945 found­ing con­fer­ence of the Unit­ed Nations in San Fran­cis­co, she had also found­ed the Unit­ed Asso­ci­a­tions of Women…

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Nathalie Gladwyn GOREY

Died 11/11/1951

Also known as: née Lacey, Nat

1947 — Found­ed first free kinder­garten in Alice Springs.

First Pres­i­dent of Alice Springs Kinder­garten Inc.

Author of The Alice, The Sto­ry of Alice Springs and a book of…

Joyce Ethel PRICE

Born 8/11/1915, Died 19/08/2009

Also known as: née Brooke

1956 — Life­time devo­tion to Girl Guides as Dis­trict and Divi­sion Com­mis­sion­ers in South Aus­tralia. She served as:

1963 – 1968 — State Com­mis­sion­er of Victoria.


1968 – 1973 — Chief…

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Iris Emily HARVEY

Born 1917, Died 10 November 2011

Also known as: née Lehman

1949 – 2010 — Owner/​Operator of Arun­ta Book and Art Sup­plies, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.
​“One fact every­one agrees on” is that ​“the char­ac­ter dubbed Enid Lacey, ​‘an old…

Elizabeth BLACKBURN

Born 1948

In 2009, Eliz­a­beth Black­burn became Australia’s first female Nobel Lau­re­ate. With Amer­i­can co-researchers Car­ol Grei­der and Jack Szostak, Eliz­a­beth Black­burn won the Nobel Prize in…

Ella Annie Noble MacKNIGHT

Born 1904, Died 1/4/1997

First woman to serve on the Asian Fed­er­a­tion of Obstet­rics & Gynae­col­o­gy in 1965, she was also first female pres­i­dent of the Aus­tralian Coun­cil of the Roy­al Col­lege of Obstetrics…

Elizabeth MacARTHUR

Born 14 August 1766, Died 9 February 1850

Also known as: née Veale

Co-Founder of the Aus­tralian Wool Indus­try. With hus­band John, estab­lished ​“Eliz­a­beth Farm” at Par­ra­mat­ta, Syd­ney, New South Wales.Imported meri­no sheep from Cape o Good…

Gillian Clare CAMPBELL

Born 1967

First woman Tele­com Tech­ni­cian in South Aus­tralia and North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Qual­i­fied in 1988, aged 21.


Daugh­ter of Alice Springs artist and teacher Iain CAMPBELL.

Lillian INKAMALA

Born 1966

Artist

For­mer health work­er at Iman­pa Health Clinic
Worked for two years as an Anan­gu edu­ca­tion work­er at the Iman­pa Pri­ma­ry School

Edna SAUNDERS

Also known as: née Bradley

Octo­ber 1957 — One of 26 women to take the inau­gur­al ​“women only” ten day tour to ​“Alice Springs and Beyond,” which was Uluru.

In her NPWHF file is a copy…

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Donna-Lee PATRICK

2001 — First Alice Springs female to join the Aus­tralian HockeyRoos.

Don­na Lee Patrick — Play­er with the Hock­ey­roos 2001 – 2007
Career Tour­na­ments Played
Invitational…

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Sheila STUBBS

1940s — Pio­neer of Hay and west­ern New South Wales.1950s — Sawmiller, hotel work­er, sta­tion hand, drover, horse­woman, kan­ga­roo shooter/​skinner, and shear­er’s cook.1960s — Charcoal…

Dorothy MORRELL

Also known as: Dot

1888 — Won the world’s first wom­en’s bicy­cle race, Auburn, New South Wales.

Wendy Jennifer CHAPMAN

Born 3 June 1942

She became the first woman Lord May­or of an Aus­tralian state cap­i­tal city when appoint­ed in Ade­laide in 1983 (until 1985).
1986 — Award­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, at the…

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Lauren MITCHELL

Born 23 July 1991

First Aus­tralian female gym­nast to win a World Cup Final. This was in Madrid, Spain, on the bal­ance beam.

2009 World Cham­pi­onships sil­ver medal­ist on bal­ance beam and floor and 2010…

Lexia BRYANT

Born 24/11/1940, Died 20/5/2015

Lex­ia Bryant was the first woman Pres­i­dent of the Aus­tralian Col­lege of Rur­al and Remote Med­i­cine (1999). She was also the Chair of the Women in Rur­al Prac­tice group which developed…

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Alma Jean POOLE

Born 1920

Also known as: née Kuhn, Jean

Marjory Florence DEMPSTER

Born 1915, Died 09 November 1985

Also known as: née Walker, Marj, Marjorie

Wife of a Kid­man stock­man, Mick Demp­ster. Vic­to­ria Riv­er Downs. They were Top End pioneers.

Marjorie McGREGOR

In 1987, Mar­jorie McGre­gor was appoint­ed Aus­trali­a’s first female Archdea­con, one rank below a Bish­op, the most senior lev­el of ministry.

Rona Ellen GLYNN

Born 24 September 1936, Died 4 January 1965

Also known as: Rona Schaber

1955 — First Abo­rig­i­nal teacher in Alice Springs (grade 2 — Hart­ley Street School).
1962 — First Abo­rig­i­nal charge sis­ter (mater­ni­ty ward) in Alice Springs Hospital.
1965 — First…

Una Lillian PAISLEY

Born 18 November 1922, Died 1977

1948 – 1849 — First Aus­tralian female crick­eter to score a test century.

Matilda Ann ASTON

Born 11 December 1873, Died 1 November 1947

Also known as: Tilly

The first blind Aus­tralian to go to Uni­ver­si­ty, she even­tu­al­ly had to drop out because of lack of Braille text­books. She went on to estab­lish Australia’s first Braille library when…

Jacqui SEGGER

“In Sep­tem­ber 1988, three trail­blaz­ing women — Michelle Field, Jacqui Seg­ger and Vir­ginia Forbes (née Bell) — grad­u­at­ed along­side twen­ty men from the Vic­to­ria Street Training…

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Pam BOWERS

1973 — Pam Bow­ers and Robin Haskell were the Church­es of Christ first women ministers.

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Judith BLAKE

Born 6 September 1929, Died 11 August 2004

1984 — Award­ed Whyal­la’s Aus­tralia Day Cit­i­zen Award.
1988 — Received the Order of Aus­tralia, for ser­vice to youth.
1989 — Award­ed Life Mem­ber­ship of YWCA.
1994 — Award­ed Flinders…

Judith Mary ROBERTS

Born 17 December 1936

1978 — First Rep­re­sen­ta­tive from South Aus­tralia to Nation­al Wom­en’s Advi­so­ry Council.

1980s — Appoint­ed to the Nation­al Health and Med­ical Research Coun­cil and later…

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Gertrude Mary TURNER

Born 1 August 1898, Died 28 January 2000

Also known as: née Elliott, Gertie

She was the gov­erness to her cousin Jane Hayes’ chil­dren, Mary, Jane, and Lizzie. Cor­re­spon­dence lessons and books were sent by camel from South Australia.She lat­er mar­ried Jim…

Kay Cathrine Millin BROWNBILL

Born 21 July 1914, Died 3 February 2002

Also known as: Kitty Brownbill, Cathrine Brownbill

1966 – 1969 — First South Aus­tralian woman — and third woman — to be elect­ed to Fed­er­al House of Representatives.
1980 – Award­ed and Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE),…

Louise Berta Mosson DYER

Born 19 July 1884, Died 9 November 1962

Also known as: née Smith, Louise Hanson-Dyer

1933 — Mel­bourne-born Louise B. M. Dyer was the first Aus­tralian woman to found a record­ing com­pa­ny, estab­lish­ing her ear­ly music label Edi­tions de l’Oiseau Lyre in Paris.

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…

Catherine Winifred DWYER

Born 13 June 1861, Died 3 February 1949

Also known as: née Golding, Kate

In 1921, Kate Dwyer became one of the first women Jus­tices of the Peace in New South Wales. 1905 — 1921 she was a mem­ber of the State Labor exec­u­tive, and in 1908 and 1912, a delegate…

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Val DYER

1994 — ABC Rur­al Woman of the Year

Pio­neer of North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Cat­tle Sta­tion, ​‘Hay­field’

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May Victoria BROWN

Born 24 May 1875, Died 23 July 1939

Also known as: née Weedon (aka Wheedon), "The Wolfram Queen"

Pio­neer of North­ern Territory.1921 – 1926 — The first pub­li­can to win the lease on The Vic­to­ria Hotel in Darwin.1928 – 1930 — Bought and man­aged the Pine Creek Hotel, Pine Creek, Northern…

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Nannette Johanna Michaela HELDER

Died 2021

2008 — Win­ner of ​“Spa­tial Pro­fes­sion­al of the Year” in the Asia Pacif­ic Spa­tial Excel­lence Awards.
Nan­nette was the first female to join the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Board of Surveyors.…

Woo Len AH TOY

Born 24 October 1917, Died 15 November 2001

Also known as: nee Wong, Lily

Lily was born and grew up in Dar­win and was known to many in the Top End for her sto­icism, gen­eros­i­ty and warm good humour. From 1936 to 1942 and con­tin­uin­ing after the war, Lily and…