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Annie Jean MACNAMARA

Born 1/4/1899, Died 13/10/1968

Also known as: Jean, Jean Connor

First woman Res­i­dent Med­ical Offi­cer at Roy­al Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal, Melbourne.

In May 1923 Jean, with high rec­om­men­da­tions, was appoint­ed res­i­dent at the (Roy­al) Children’s…

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Lucy Meredith BRYCE

Born 12 June 1897, Died 30 July 1968

Estab­lished Aus­trali­a’s first blood trans­fu­sion service.

1922 – 28 — Held research posts at the Wal­ter and Eliza Hall Insti­tute of Med­ical Research, Melbourne,…

Rosa Caroline PRAED

Born 27/03/1851, Died 10 April 1935

Also known as: née Murray-Prior, Mrs Campbell Praed

First Aus­tralian-born nov­el­ist to achieve a sig­nif­i­cant inter­na­tion­al reputation.

Rosa PRAED’s step­moth­er was Nora Mur­ray-Pri­or (née BAR­TON), Ban­jo PATER­SON­’S aunt…

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Phyllis Mary KABERRY

Born 17 September 1910, Died 31 October 1977

1941 — First woman anthro­pol­o­gist award­ed Yale Study Fellowship.

1930s-1960s — Pub­lished papers on her anthro­po­log­i­cal work in the Kim­ber­ley, Papua New Guinea and Cameroon.…

Diann RODGERS-HEALEY

2000 — Found­ed the Aus­tralian Cen­tre for Lead­er­ship for Women.

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Dianne DIANO

Also known as: née Gleeson

First police women attached to Alice Springs Police Station.

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Jennifer MILLS

Born 1977

Aus­tralian nov­el­ist, short sto­ry writer and poet.

Won 1^st and 2^nd prizes in the Alice Springs News Short Sto­ry Com­pe­ti­tion, 2007.

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Beverley SPIERS

Edu­ca­tor in jails, giv­ing Abo­rig­i­nal art and cul­ture class­es and AIDS edu­ca­tion to Abo­rig­i­nal inmates locat­ed in Cess­nock, Mait­land, Bathurst, and Sydney’s Long Bay

Bertha Martha ANDREW

Born 16/3/1882, Died 8/11/1963

Also known as: nee Cook

Worked the land with hus­band. Bertha and her hus­band, with their four chil­dren, depart­ed Port Lin­coln, South Aus­tralia, in 1933 and trav­elled over­land to Alice Springs. The journey…

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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…

Charlotte Bridget Godhauter SOMERFIELD

Born 28 November 1870, Died 30 July 1946

Also known as: née Jung

1921 – 26 — Had mail con­tract deliv­er­ing by camel, between Ood­na­dat­ta, South Aus­tralia and Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Based at Old Crown Point Sta­tion, she and hus­band also ran…

Helen Mary MAYO

Born 1 October 1878, Died 13 November 1967

1914 — First woman elect­ed to a uni­ver­si­ty coun­cil in Aus­tralia (Coun­cil of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ade­laide). Held this posi­tion con­tin­u­ous­ly for 46 years.
3 June 1935 — Appoint­ed an…

Gabrielle Beryl HOLLOWS

Born 21/05/1953

Also known as: Gabi, née O'Sullivan

With her first hus­band (deceased) Dr Fred Hol­lows, they treat­ed Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralians with a range of eye con­di­tions. Over a peri­od of three years, they vis­it­ed over 465 remote…

Jean Fleming ARNOT

Born 23 April 1903, Died 27 September 1995

1965 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (Civ­il), for com­mu­ni­ty ser­vices in Sydney.

1921 – 44 — Librar­i­an at Pub­lic Library of New South Wales.1944 – Public…

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Janine BUTLER

First woman to fly an RAAF Ori­on air­craft (a mar­itime recon­nais­sance plane).

Hazel Audrey CAHILL

Born 1904, Died 1970

Also known as: née Bassett

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Australia.
Hazel and Lar­ry Cahill were new­ly­weds when in 1928 he was offered a job on the con­struc­tion of the new rail­way from Mar­ree to Alice Springs. She loved the…

Leone Beth CREAMER

Born 1929

1966 — The first female horse train­er in New South Wales.

1972 – 1973 — First woman horse train­er to reach the top ten train­ers in the South­ern Table­lands and South Coast (New South…

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Dorothy DOWLING

First all-women tour group to Cen­tral Australia.

Stephanie ZANK

Born 1969

Aus­trali­a’s first woman to become a Mer­chant Marine Engi­neer (1994).


To become a Mer­chant Marine Engi­neer requires a recog­nised qual­i­fi­ca­tion, qual­i­fy­ing sea-time and…

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Joyce Wilfred STEELE

Born 29 May 1909, Died 24 May 1991

Also known as: née Wishart

1966 — First South Aus­tralian woman to become Oppo­si­tion Whip in South Aus­tralian Parliament.
1968 — First South Aus­tralian woman to achieve Cab­i­net rank in South Aus­tralian Parliament…

June NOBLE

June was named the 2008 Cen­tralian of the Year. 

June has also has served as an Alice Springs Town Coun­cil Alder­per­son and Deputy Mayor.
She is a vol­un­teer at the…

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…

Marie Beuzeville BYLES

Born 8 April 1900, Died 21 November 1979

New South Wales’ first woman solic­i­tor qual­i­fied in 1924 after grad­u­at­ing LL.B. from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney’s law school. Estab­lished her prac­tice in the Syd­ney sub­urb of…

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Kim ISAACS

First Yawu­ru and Kalapir­ri per­son to become a doctor.

Kim Isaacs is a Yawu­ru, Kalapir­ri and Noon­gar woman.
Bach­e­lor of Med­i­cine and Bach­e­lor of Surgery, Uni­ver­si­ty of Western…

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Dorothy Edna Annie EDWARDS

Born 20 June 1907, Died 9 March 2006

Also known as: née Fleming

1948 — First woman elect­ed to a local coun­cil in Launce­s­ton, Tasmania.
1958 – Award­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

1979 — Award­ed a Com­man­der of the Order of…

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Gwen WALL

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Ruby Emma ROSS

Born 11 September 1887, Died 1972

Fan­ny’s daugh­ter, Ruby, was born in 1887 and Doris Black­well (née Brad­shaw), writ­ing in her mem­oir ​‘Alice on the Line’ recalls stay­ing sev­er­al days with ​‘Mr and Mrs…

Winifred Alison WELLS

1950 – 51: First woman to ride a motor bike (Roy­al Enfield Bul­let 350) across Aus­tralia (Perth to Syd­ney and back).

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Di GOODWIN

1980 — First Aus­tralian woman air­craft acci­dent investigator.

Lillian Georgina FRANK

Born 16 January 1930

Also known as: née Jacob

First woman hair­dress­er to be trained at Eliz­a­beth Arden.
11 June 1977 — Appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for involve­ment with char­i­ties, includ­ing the…

Inez HYNES

Also known as: née Hynes

South Aus­trali­a’s first airhost­ess was appoint­ed in 1938.

Helena Mabel Checkley FORREST

Born 6/03/1872, Died 18/03/1935

Also known as: née Mills, Mabel, Helena Mabel Mills, Mabel Burkinshaw, Reca

Civic poet of Queens­land and state’s unof­fi­cial Poet Laureate.

1925 — Her first book The Wild Moth was adapt­ed by film mak­er Charles Chau­v­el in his first film The Moth of…

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).

Elizabeth Nesta MARKS

Born 28 April 1918, Died 25 October 2002

Also known as: Pat, Patricia

An Aus­tralian ento­mol­o­gist who described 38 new mos­qui­to species, as well as new species of fruit flies, bugs, cock­roach­es, and ticks.

1938 — Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Zoology,…

Marion F. WRIGHT

Also known as: née Lunn, Brownie, Browny

In 1934 Brown­ie was the first Aus­tralian woman pilot to go night fly­ing. There were no marked run­ways with lights, just kerosene flares made out of tin cans full of burn­ing rags. In…

Helen WILLIAMS

Born 1945

First woman to head a Com­mon­wealth gov­ern­ment depart­ment when she was appoint­ed Sec­re­tary of the Dep­tart­ment of Edu­ca­tion in 1985.

1979: Ear­ly in her pub­lic ser­vice career,…

Caroline CHISHOLM

Born 30 May 1808, Died 25 March 1877

Also known as: née Jones

She is com­mem­o­rat­ed on 16 May in the cal­en­dar of saints of the Church of England.
2001 — Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

She was giv­en the title ​“The…

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.…

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.

Susan Barbara ZOG

Born 28/1/1941, Died 17/7/2004

Also known as: née Cullen-Ward, Roo, Queen Susan, Crown Princess Susan of Albania

First Aus­tralian woman to be queen of a coun­try (Alba­nia) — H.M. The Queen (in exile)

Through her moth­er, she is 22^nd in line of descent from King Edward I of Eng­land and is…

Sara Jane HENDERSON

Born 15 September 1936, Died 29 April 2005

Also known as: née Barton

1991 – Aus­tralian Busi­ness Woman of the Year award.

North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry pastoralist.Author.
Daugh­ter is Bon­nie HENDERSON.

Evelyn Helena PARKER

Born 12 October 1907, Died 28 September 1993

1975 — First woman May­or in West­ern Aus­tralia (Subi­a­co Coun­cil). In 1976 she was Cit­i­zen of the Year.

She was a Jus­tice of the Peace. In 1977 she received an Offi­cer of the…

Annabelle Jane Mary RANKIN

Born 28/07/1908, Died 30/08/1986

Also known as: née Rankin

The first woman to head an Aus­tralian diplo­mat­ic mis­sion, she was the Aus­tralian High Com­mis­sion­er to New Zealand from 1971 – 1974. Pri­or to her diplo­mat­ic career she had been in…

Rosemary ARNOLD

Born 18/4/1934

In 1967, Rose­mary became Aus­trali­a’s first female com­mer­cial heli­copter pilot. She achieved com­mer­cial rat­ings in both fixed and rotary wing air­craft. Rose­mary was the first and…

Patricia Elizabeth LASCELLES

Born 24/11/1926, Died 4/05/2018

Also known as: née Tuckwell, Bambi Shmith, Bambi Smith, Lady Harewood, Countess of Harewood, Dowager Countess of Harewood

Pos­si­bly first Aus­tralian to mar­ry into British royalty.

Aus­tralian musi­cian (vio­lin) and mod­el (known as Bam­bi Smith).

Elizabeth NICKER

Born 16 February 1871, Died 1 October 1951

Also known as: née Elliott, Lizzie

In 1904 Eliz­a­beth (Lizzie) Nick­er arrived at Arl­tun­ga with her sec­ond hus­band Sam, 10 year old daugh­ter Jane Doolan and baby Claude, born en route at Quorn, SA. They had travelled…

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Kathleen Audrey HALL

Born 1915, Died 2007

Pio­neer of ball­room danc­ing in Ade­laide, South Australia.

Cherie ROMARO

Born 1950

Aus­trali­a’s first female music direc­tor for Radio 2SM, Syd­ney and Pro­gram Direc­tor for Triple M, Syd­ney, before becom­ing Aus­trali­a’s first female Radio Net­work General…

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Nancy KALENIK

Part of pio­neer­ing Abo­rig­i­nal fam­i­ly of Man­an­goo­ra Sta­tion, near Borroloola.

Mar­ried to a Yugosla­vian fish­er­man who fish­es the Gulf.
Nan­cy Kalenik fea­tures in Melissa…

Deborah HICKS

Also known as: née Hicks, Debbie, Deborah Jeppesen

At age 16 Deb­o­rah Hicks was the youngest female pilot in Aus­tralia to fly solo.
Flight Lieu­tenant Williams and Fly­ing Cadet Hicks were the first female pilots to grad­u­ate from the…