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Natalie Rona MILLER

Natal­ie Miller became Aus­trali­a’s first female inde­pen­dent film dis­trib­u­tor and the Vic­to­ri­an Film Cor­po­ra­tion’s first woman board member.
2001 — Award­ed Medal of the Order…

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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…

Tanya Mary MONRO

Born 1973

Win­ner of The Week­end Aus­tralian Mag­a­zine’s Next 100 Emerg­ing Lead­ers in Science.
An award-win­ning Aus­tralian physi­cist known for her work in photonics.

Physicist.1995 -…

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Bertha Almerta LANDER

Born 21/9/1916, Died 16/5/2005

Also known as: Mertie, née Harrison

Cen­tral Aus­tralian pio​neer​.ca 1953 — While camped at Nev­er Nev­er, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, the British dropped an atom bomb at Mar­alin­ga, South Aus­tralia, and the cloud engulfed the area.

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Ethel STEWART

Born 05/1907

Also known as: née Sinclair, Isa

Win­ner of the 1985 Aus­tralian Jack-Be-Nim­ble Cham­pi­onships (Knuck­le Bone (Jacks) Champion).

Louisa MacDONALD

Born 10/12/1858, Died 28/11/1949

The first female prin­ci­pal of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney’s Wom­en’s Col­lege from 1892 – 1919 (cho­sen from 65 appli­cants.), she was also the first woman to stand for this…

Sesca Ross ZELLING

Born 18/4/1918, Died 21/11/2001

Also known as: née Anderson

Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire for ser­vice to women and com­mu­ni­ty in South Australia.

1947 – 50 — Sec­re­tary Law Soci­ety of South Australia.1949 – 51 — Pres­i­dent, Women…

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Mandy HARGREAVES

2008 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s Vol­un­teer of the Year, for her con­tri­bu­tion to cycling.
2014 — Received NT Sports Vol­un­teer of the Year.

2009 — Com­plet­ed Lev­el One Course,…

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June TUZEWSKI

Also known as: née Bozzini

2000 — Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia for ser­vices to the wel­fare of women and fam­i­lies, The Brown­ies, and the Wom­en’s Advi­so­ry Council.

Monica Augustine HAINES

Born 1897, Died 1996

Also known as: née Minahan, Mona, Mona Minahan

1932 — First bar­maid in Cen­tral Australia.
1959 – 60 — First woman to own a Hotel in Alice Springs, ​‘The River­side’ (now Todd Tavern).
Opened first dress shop in Alice Springs,…

Mary READY

Born 1834, Died 06 April 1902

Also known as: née Hayes

First white woman in Mack­ay area of Queensland.

Pio­neer of the Mack­ay area, Queens­land. Wife of bul­locky James READY.

Ivy Lavinia WEBER

Born 7/6/1892, Died 6/3/1976

Also known as: née Filshie

1937 — Pres­i­dent, League of Women Electors.
1937 — Can­di­date for the Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly seat of Nunawad­ing, State elec­tion and became the sec­ond woman to be elect­ed to the Victorian…

Eily Rosaline O'CONNOR

Born 19/2/1892, Died 10/1/1921

Also known as: Eileen

1913 — Found­ed, with Father McGrath, Our Lady’s Nurs­es for the Poor. Oppo­si­tion from church author­i­ties threat­ened Father McGrath with expul­sion from his order and Eileen with…

Anne Isabella DARCY FOWLER

Born 24 July 1911, Died 13 June 2003

Also known as: née Darcy, Ann, Annie

Annie was one of the first female drovers, and it is believed that she and her broth­ers pho­tos adorn the walls at Daly Waters Pub as charar­c­ters of the Territory.

Annie was part of a…

Diana Roselyn TRASK

Born 23/06/1940

Also known as: née Trask

1985 — First woman to sing at the Vic­to­ri­an Foot­ball League Grand Final.

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Isabella Mercia McDONAGH

Born 3/1/1899, Died 5/3/1982

Also known as: Isabel, Marie Lorraine (pen/professional name), Isobel Stewart (married name)

1933 — One of the McDon­agh Sis­ters — first all female run film com­pa­ny in Australia.
2001 — Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

Using their home, the McDon­agh sis­ters wrote,…

Elizabeth Ellen HUDSON

Died 29 August 1986

Also known as: née Nicol

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Long-stand­ing mem­ber, devot­ed worker.
​“Eliz­a­beth was known as ​‘The Queen of the Bark­ly’ … They sold the Rankin store and moved to Alice Springs…

Fanny Kate Boadicea COCKS

Born 5 May 1875, Died 20 August 1954

Also known as: Kate

South Aus­trali­a’s first female pro­ba­tion offi­cer for juve­nile offend­ers in 1906. She was appoint­ed to the South Aus­tralia Police Force with Annie Ross in 1915, the first police…

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Dawn Carolyn CROSBY

Born 29 April 1957

Also known as: née Hands, Lady Dawn Crosby

Only female direc­tor of Lib­er­al Par­ty in Aus­tralia cur­rent­ly and sec­ond female direc­tor of Lib­er­al Par­ty ever in Aus­tralia. Youngest ever Chair (30 years) of Wom­an’s Coun­cil of…

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Stella GREEN

Aus­tralian Head­quar­ters for Girl Guides.
Also involved in World Ship Soci­ety, Navy League of Aus­tralia, and Freighter Trav­el Club of America.

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Fidelia Savage Thornton HILL

Born 14 August 1794, Died 1854

Also known as: née Munkhouse, Fidelia S. T. Hill

First woman to have a book of poet­ry pub­lished in Aus­tralia (1840 ​‘Poems and Rec­ol­lec­tions of the Past’).

Kate LYNCH

Born 1882

First all girl tim­ber cut­ting team in Queensland.

In 1900 the Lynch fam­i­ly faced ruin when their cat­tle were wiped out by fever. Cor­nelius then taught his daugh­ters the art…

Metha GREGORY

Born 27 August 1886, Died 11 August 1958

Also known as: née Zimmerman, Meta, Matha

Pio­neer of Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and Ood­na­dat­ta, South Aus­tralia. Moth­er of Her­Sto­ry entry Ill­ma Gregory.

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Alma Jean POOLE

Born 1920

Also known as: née Kuhn, Jean

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Jane BELL

Born 16 March 1873, Died 6 August 1959

1920s — Appoint­ed first tutor Sis­ter and found­ed first Pre­lim­i­nary Train­ing Course in Vic­to­ria. Matron of Roy­al Mel­bourne Hospital.
1934 — Estab­lished first post grad­u­ate nursing…

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Karen BROWN

2001 — Became first female to head the Finance Sec­tor Union, and the youngest state secretary.

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Johanna Leigh GRIGGS

Born 17 October 1973

First woman to break the 30 sec­ond mark for 50 m in backstroke.

First woman to sole host an Olympic Games — Chan­nel 7’s cov­er­age of the XIX Win­ter Olympics in Salt Lake City,…

Terry UNDERWOOD

Born 1/1/1948

Also known as: née Augustus

1997 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Tel­stra Busi­ness Woman of the Year award for busi­ness own­er category.
Author of In the Mid­dle of Nowhere and Riv­eren — My Home, My Country.

Began her…

Clara Victoria Elizabeth ANDERSON

Born 21 February 1872, Died 6 April 1975

Also known as: née Campbell, Vic Campbell

Pio­neer of Theodore, Queens­land. As a child, Clara lived with her fam­i­ly at sev­er­al dif­fer­ent sta­tions before set­tling at their prop­er­ty, ​“Clar­avale”, in Queens­land. In her…

Mary Harriet GRIFFITH

Born 4 November 1849, Died 27 July 1930

Ear­ly pio­neer in Unit­ing Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church in Queensland.Harriett Grif­fith Memo­r­i­al Door — YWCA Head­quar­ters, Bris­bane, Queens­land and cred­it­ed for ​“revi­tal­is­ing and over­see­ing its…

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Mary Paulena BLOOMFIELD

Born 20/07/1917, Died 9/05/1994

Also known as: née Hayes

Daugh­ter of Ann Jane ​“Jane” Hayes.

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Anna DOIG

Born 4/05/1830, Died 11/09/1894

Also known as: née Moir

Pio­neer of Beltana Dis­trict, South Aus­tralia. Born in Scotland.
Found­ed non-denom­i­na­tion­al Sun­day School (under Wes­leyan Church).
Unof­fi­cial Doc­tor — laid out the dead.
Midwife,…

Anastasia WITHERS

Born 1825, Died 19 May 1889

Also known as: née Splain

First woman on the Bendi­go goldfield.

One of three women who made the Eure­ka flag which had first been flown as the stan­dard of ​‘The Bal­larat Reform League’ on 29^th…

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Jacqueline PAYNE

Also known as: Jacquie

Mag­is­trate Jacque­line Payne was the first Indige­nous woman to be admit­ted as a solic­i­tor in Queens­land. She worked in crim­i­nal defence for four­teen years: for the ATSI Corporation…

Gina SMITH

First deputy chair­woman of the Cen­tral Land Council.

She and Rayleen BROWN found­ed Kun­gas Can Cook, Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, an indige­nous cater­ing com​pa​ny​.Ms SMITH…

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Sarah BROMLEY

1930s — Domes­tic, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.
Pos­si­bly orig­i­nal­ly from Ood­na­dat­ta, South Australia.

Louise ALLARD

2006 — First Aus­tralian woman to ski to the North Pole

Maureen PLAVSIC

First female Man­ag­ing Direc­tor of Sev­en Tele­vi­sion Network.

Mary Anna McMANUS

Born 7/2/1844, Died 22/7/1933

Also known as: née Spencer

First white child to live where Saint George is now sit­u­at­ed. With her moth­er, they were the first white women to reside in Mara­noa Dis­trict, Roma Queensland.

Wrote Rem­i­nis­cences of…

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Christian Brynhild Ochiltree Jollie SMITH

Born 15/03/1885, Died 14/01/1963

Also known as: Christian Jollie Smith

1918 — First woman taxi-dri­ver in Mel­bourne (under trade name ​“Pamela Brown”).

1912 — Admit­ted Solic­i­tor by the Supreme Court of Victoria.1914 — Sec­ond woman to be…

Eliza FORLONGE

Born 21 October 1784, Died 5 August 1859

Also known as: née Jack, Betty Jack, Eliza Forlong

Pio­neered Sax­on Meri­no Wool into Aus­tralia — first­ly into Tas­ma­nia and final­ly into Victoria.

Gwenifer Catherine May WILSON

Born October 1916, Died 31 October 1998

Also known as: Gwen

1946 — First woman to gain post grad­u­ate Aus­tralian Diplo­ma of Anaes­the­sia, Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.

His­to­ri­an to the Aus­tralian and New Zealand Col­lege of Anaesthetists.

Rosemary RYALL

Also known as: Rose

First female med­ical sci­en­tist of Flinders Med­ical Cen­tre to be pro­mot­ed to professor.

She is the grand­daugh­ter of Dame Enid LYONS.

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Margaret CUNNEEN

Born 15 January 1959

Also known as: née Cunneen

1987 — First Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon-Do

1975 — Queen’s Guide Award, guide, Bev­er­ly Hills, New South Wales.

1981 – 1986 — Indus­tri­al Advo­cate with Pub­lic Ser­vice Board…

Eva BURROWS

Born 15/9/1929, Died 21/3/2015

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…

Mary REIBEY

Born 12 May 1777, Died 30 May 1855

Also known as: née Haydock, Molly, James Burrow, Mary Raby, Mary Raiby

1811 — First known suc­cess­ful Aus­tralian busi­ness woman.

Mary REIBEY’s image is dis­played on the Aus­tralian $20 note. She was a for­mer convict.

Mavis Laurel FULLER

Born 16 October 1911, Died 1 August 1971

Also known as: née Baker

Pas­toral pioneer.

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Phyllis Glory McDONAGH

Born 7/1/1900, Died 17/10/1978

Also known as: Phyllis Glory O'Brien (married name)

1933 — One of the McDon­agh Sis­ters — first all female run film com­pa­ny in Australia.
2001 — Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

Using their home, the McDon­agh sis­ters wrote,…

Mary Helen MAC KILLOP

Born 15/1/1842, Died 8/8/1909

17 Oct 2010 — Aus­trali­a’s first Catholic saint — Saint Mary MacKil­lop of the Cross — Can­on­ized in Vat­i­can City by Pope Bene­dict XVI.
2001 Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.…

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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…