Dora Elizabeth BURCHILL

Born 4 January 1904, Died 3 December 2003

Also known as: Elizabeth

“Eliz­a­beth Burchill became a triple cer­tifi­cate nurse in the 1930s. She [was] a reg­is­tered nurse in sev­en coun­tries.” After retire­ment, she com­plet­ed three degrees: Bach­e­lor and Master…

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Jodi BREEN

Also known as: Lt. Col. Jodi Breen

First woman on Roy­al Guard duty out­side St James Palace, Lon­don (part of Aus­tralian Fed­er­a­tion Guard).

Millicent Maude BRYANT

Born 8 January 1878, Died 3 November 1927

Also known as: née Harvey

On March 28, 1927, Mil­li­cent Bryant became the first Aus­tralian woman in to obtain a pilot’s licence. She drowned eight months lat­er in a Syd­ney fer­ry accident.

Atalanta Hope BRADSHAW

Died 1928

Also known as: née Allchurch, Atalanta, Attie

Ata­lan­ta Bradshaw’s sto­ry is well doc­u­ment­ed in her eldest daugh­ter Doris Blackwell’s book ​‘Alice on the Line’ describ­ing the family’s dai­ly life at the Alice Springs Tele­graph Station…

Margaret McDONALD

Born 1858, Died 27 August 1943

Also known as: née Lamb

Pio­neer of White Cliffs, New South Wales; Bro­ken Hill, New South Wales; and Nor­man­ton, Queensland.

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Amy LEVAI

Born 1930, Died 29/3/2013

Also known as: née O'Donoghue

First Indige­nous teacher in South Australia.
1989 — Award­ed NAIDOC Abo­rig­i­nal of the Year; 1998 NAIDOC Abo­rig­i­nal Elder of the Year.
2010 – Received award for Out­stand­ing Ser­vice from…

Margaret PRIOR

Chief pilot of West­ern Australia.

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Cornelia SKINNER

Born 1867, Died 1949

Tryphena Rains mar­ried William (Bill) Ben­stead in 1881. … Bill became man­ag­er of Bar­row Creek Pas­toral Com­pa­ny, set­ting up home at Stir­ling Creek near the Bar­row Creek Telegraph…

Grace Clara STONE

Born 12 January 1860, Died 10 May 1957

Also known as: Clara, Grace

One of the first two women to grad­u­ate in Med­i­cine from Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty — Mar­garet WHYTE was the other.
She was named the first pres­i­dent of the Vic­to­ri­an Med­ical Women’s…

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Valerie FANN

1970s — First female bank teller, Com­mon­wealth Bank, Alice Springs.

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Edith WEISBERG

Also known as: Dr Edith Weisberg

Devel­oped Fam­i­ly Plan­ning Asso­ci­a­tions first Sex and Rela­tion­ships Coun­selling Pro­gram in Syd­ney Cen­tre for Repro­duc­tive Health.

Patricia Ann TURNER

Born 23/09/1952

Also known as: Pat

First Abo­rig­i­nal woman to head a gov­ern­ment depart­ment in Canberra.

Top Com­mon­wealth Indige­nous pub­lic servant.Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of Nation­al News Ser­vice (Nation­al…

Maybanke ANDERSON

Born 1845, Died 15/4/1927

Also known as: Maybanke Wolstoneholme (the name from her first marriage). Maybanke wrote regularly as 'Lois' in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Worked with Rose Scott, Louisa Law­son, the Windey­er fam­i­ly and oth­ers on the strug­gle for wom­en’s suf­frage and oth­er legal, polit­i­cal and edu­ca­tion­al reforms. Helped found the…

Mary Catherine ROGERS

Born 2 August 1872, Died 25 September 1932

Also known as: née Skeahan

1920 — Mary Rogers was the first female coun­cil­lor in Vic­to­ria, Rich­mond City, and the sec­ond in Australia.
2001 — Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

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Anna LICHTENBERG

Lec­tur­er in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy (IT) (now PhD and con­sul­tant at Curtin Uni­ver­si­ty. First woman involved in the IT depart­ment at the Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege in Alice Springs, Northern…

Elna Joy Cardona CARDONA

Born 18/3/1956

Also known as: Joy Cardona

Joy Car­dona is the first woman in Aus­tralian Rules to offi­ci­ate a rep­re­sen­ta­tive match. This was the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry ver­sus Hawthorn in 1991, and she still has the score card! She…

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Phyllis Burgh LETT

Born 1884, Died 1/6/1962

Also known as: née Lett, Phyllis Burgh Ker, Charlie, Pat, Mick, Pete

Lived on Wyal­dra Sta­tion (Julia Creek) and Tweedsmuir (at Rich­mond, North Queensland).World famous Contralto.

Jean St George KERR

Born 31/12/1922, Died 13/3/2013

1946 — Aus­trali­a’s sec­ond full-time uni­ver­si­ty account­ing aca­d­e­m­ic and the first such female appointee, Uni­ver­si­ty of Melbourne.
1956 — Her ​”Three Con­cepts of Business…

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Jane Sarah DOUDY

Born 28/09/1846, Died 17/08/1932

Also known as: née Stanes, Jeanne

1879 — First Head­mistress, Advanced School for Girls, the first gov­ern­ment sec­ondary school for girls in Adelaide.

Elizabeth DURACK

Born 6 July 1915, Died 25 May 2000

Also known as: Eddie Burrup

1966 — Appoint­ed as an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
1982 — Appoint­ed to the Order of St Michael & St George — Com­man­ders (CMG).

Author and artist of…

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Nellie TRUMAN

Born 28 June 1900

Also known as: née Moyle

Stayed in Alice Springs for 20 months while trav­el­ling with hus­band and four sons in 1952. Embroi­dered a table­cloth when she left with 24 sig­na­tures of local C.W.A. members.

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Nellie LESTER

1938 — Nel­lie Lester was the first Abo­rig­ine to attend High School at Quorn, South Australia.
First Abo­rig­i­nal, triple cer­ti­fied, nurs­ing sister. 
First Matron of Abo­rig­i­nal descent,…

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Evangelia PARKER

Born 16 January 1908, Died 3 October 2005

Also known as: née Dioctitis, Ellen

A migrant from Greek Island of Kastel­lori­zo who arrived in Dar­win in ear­ly 1900s. Father worked on build­ing rail­way line from Pine Creek to Kather­ine River.

Linda Marion BERLOWITZ

Born 1903, Died July 1998

Also known as: née Cave, Lyn

1960 – 63 — First woman to suc­cess­ful­ly stand for elec­tion to the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Leg­isla­tive Coun­cil — won seat of Fan­ny Bay.

Busi­ness­woman in Darwin.

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Carole FROST

One of two of the first female mem­bers of Rotary Clubs in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and South Australia.

1983 — Car­ol Frost award­ed the Cen­tralian Award of Young Citizen.

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.

Gloria Ouida LEE

Born 14/07/1908, Died 13/04/1995

Also known as: née Hong, Siew Yoke Kwan

Glo­ria or Siew Yoke Kwan was born in the creek under a tree in Stu­art in 1908, the daugh­ter of a West­ern Arrernte woman Ran­ji­ka and Chi­nese mar­ket gar­den­er, Ah Hong. But for her…

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Sharon Lea Anne ANYOS

Born 13/10/1970

Also known as: Wildthing

Aus­trali­a’s first female World Box­ing Cham­pi­on. First Aus­tralian woman to take out the inau­gur­al Wom­en’s Box­ing Title in first ever ANBF & OBA sanc­tioned women’s…

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Julia PITCHER

Also known as: Dr Julia Pitcher

Neu­ro­phys­i­ol­o­gist. She and her team’s research was named among the top 10 health and med­ical research projects in Australia.

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Pam BOWERS

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

Louisa Ann BAILES

Born 10/09/1859, Died 23/01/1922

Also known as: née Wellington, Louise

“Pri­or to com­ing to town, Hazel [GOLD­ER] had worked for Mrs Bailes at Bloods Creek, serv­ing meals to trav­ellers up the track.”

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).

Elizabeth Huntley GLANVILLE

Born 27 April1922, Died 11 December 1996

Also known as: Betty, Huntley

1943 – 45 — Nurse and mem­ber of Wom­en’s Land Army in World War II.1948 — Man­aged Shell-Ford agency in Dar­win after work­ing for agency for some years deliv­er­ing cars to remote areas,…

Marlene KONG

1997 – 1998 — Mar­lene and her twin sis­ter Mar­i­lyn were the first Indige­nous women to grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor of Med­i­cine from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.

1993 — Inau­gur­al win­ner of the…

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Robin SMITH

Pos­si­bly youngest female solo glid­er pilot (aged 16) in Aus­tralia (Alice Springs Glid­ing Club, North­ern Territory).

Dorothy Margaret TANGNEY

Born 12/03/1907, Died 03/06/1985

Also known as: Dame Dorothy Tangney

The first woman in the Fed­er­al Sen­ate when elect­ed in August 1943, she was a Sen­a­tor for West­ern Aus­tralia for 25 years, the only female mem­ber of the Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty throughout…

Lilian Daphne MAYO

Born 1 October 1895, Died 31 July 1982

Also known as: Daphne

1919 — First woman to be award­ed the Rome Schol­ar­ship by the Roy­al Acad­e­my in London.
1927 – 30 — Carved the Bris­bane City Hall tympanum.
1929 – 32 — Carved the Queens­land Wom­en’s War…

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Susana FERNANDEZ

Also known as: née Fernandez

A pilot in the Aus­tralian Defence Force, she was the first female in an Aus­tralian Defence Force Recon­nais­sance Squadron; first female Aus­tralian Defence Force Troop Com­man­der in…

Janet Lindsay GREIG

Born 8 August 1874, Died 18 October 1950

Also known as: Jenny

One of first two women appoint­ed Res­i­dent Doc­tors at Mel­bourne Hospital.
First woman Anaes­thetist in Victoria.

Con­duct­ed pri­vate prac­tice in Fitzroy for many years.Consultant…

Doreen MIDDLETON

Born 11/03/1912, Died 15/07/1985

Also known as: née Middleton

1931 — First per­son to ride a bicy­cle from Mel­bourne to Ade­laide and return (both directions).
Aged 19 years, Doreen rode her bicy­cle from Mel­bourne to Ade­laide (607 miles) in 4 days,…

Freidericke Johanna Henriette STREHLOW

Born 31/08/1875, Died 30/04/1957

Also known as: née Keysser, Frieda

Pio­neer wife of Mis­sion­ary Carl STREHLOW and moth­er of Prof. T.G.H. (Ted) STREHLOW.

Annie May MOORE

Born 4/01/1881, Died 10/06/1931

Also known as: née Moore, May Moore

May Moore, and her sis­ter Mina Moore, were pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers. They began in Welling­ton, New Zealand, mov­ing to Syd­ney and Mel­bourne. May’s spe­cial­i­ty includ­ed famous…

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Aila Pauline COLE

Born 27 August 1910

Also known as: née Wood

Nom­i­nat­ed for the ​“Women 88” award.

Pio­neer of North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and West­ern Australia.
Daugh­ter-in-law of Mabel COLE.
1936 — Moved to Ten­nant Creek, Northern…

Esther BOHNING

Born 14 July 1879, Died 2 January 1952

Also known as: née Jenkins

First lady on Ten­nant Creek goldfields.
She, with her daugh­ter Elsie, became known as ​“The Pet­ti­coat Drovers” and took the first mob of cat­tle between Alice Springs and…

Elaine CANTY

Elaine Canty is the first woman sports broad­cast­er on ABC Radio and Tele­vi­sion in Vic­to­ria. She was the only woman in the ABC team cov­er­ing the 1988 Olympics and, in 1992, was the…

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Chris BENZ

Cen­tral Aus­tralian. Lived at Her­mans­burg and stud­ied via School of the Air.

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Cecilia DOWNING

Born 13 January 1858, Died 30 August 1952

Also known as: née Hopkins, Celia Hopkins

1907 — She was one of the gov­ern­men­t’s first child-pro­ba­tion officers.Women’s Chris­t­ian Tem­per­ance Union of Vic­to­ria: 1909 — record­ing sec­re­tary; 1911 — founding…

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Patricia Anne BRENNAN

Born 15 April 1944, Died 6 March 2011

Also known as: née Wilkinson

The Mel­bourne Syn­od of Aus­trali­a’s Angli­can Church first called for women priests in 1974. The foun­da­tion of the Move­ment for the Ordi­na­tion of Women by Dr Patri­cia Bren­nan and…

Constance Elizabeth D'ARCY

Born 1 June 1879, Died 25 April 1950

1914 — Appoint­ed to Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney’s Senate.
1925 – 1939 — Hon­orary sur­geon at the Roy­al Hos­pi­tal for Women, Sydney.
3 June 1935 — Appoint­ed as Dame of the Order of the…

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Agnes Melda PRINCE

Also known as: Melda

“West­ern Aus­tralia author and poet. … mar­ry­ing Eric Prince. Togeth­er they took up five thou­sand acres of vir­gin land near Esper­ance in 1927.”

Pio­neer of…