National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame presents the

HerStory Archive

This is a collection of stories which tell of the achievements of over 1,500 pioneering women in various fields. We are proud that our HerStory Archive brings Australian women and their achievements to light, and we hope that you enjoy discovering these inspiring women.

This archive contains more information about some women than others. As a small, not-for-profit museum, our limited resources often prevent us from collecting as much information as we would like. The information we do have, however, brings Australian women and their achievements to light. If you have additional information on any woman who features in our Herstory Archive, please contribute it here.

HerStory Home

For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Helene Katharine Frieda BURNS

Also known as: née Albrecht

Daughter of Hermannsburg Mission pioneers Pastor Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht and Minna Marie Margaretha née Gevers.
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Eileen McRAE

Born 13/07/1932

Also known as: née Bird

Granddaughter of Fred and Isobelle PRICE. (Fred PRICE was Telegraph Master at Old Telegraph Station, Alice Springs, 1916-24.)Daughter of Pearl POWELL.Author of By Packhorse and…
Margaret VAN PRAAGH

Born 1/09/1910, Died 15/01/1990

Also known as: Peggy

1962 - First Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet Company.
1966 - Appointed Order of the British Empire.
1970 - Appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
2012…
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Dorothy Jane Adele HELMRICH

Born 25 July 1889, Died 1 September 1984

Also known as: Dorothy Jane Adele Hellmrich, Jane

Late 1930s - Founder of the Arts Council of Australia. Musician and singer.Studied at the Conservatorium of Music, Sydney, under its first Director, Henri Verbruggen. Studied music…
Kerry CHIKAROVSKI

First woman to lead a major political party in New South Wales when elected Leader of the NSW Parliamentary Liberal Party (1998)
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Patsy SHADFORTH

Northern Territory Pioneer of Seven Emu Station.
Harriet Adelaide STIRLING

Born 1878, Died 19/05/1943

“Miss Stirling was the first woman president of the old State Children's Council, and member of the Children's Welfare and Public Relief Board until she resigned through ill…
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Emma Emilie DECKERT

… women who make up the complete European female population of the town of Stuart and the Alice Springs Telegraph Station in June 1901. Stuart then consisted of one hotel, two…
Marjorie ANDREW

Marjorie Andrew worked for the Allied Works Council in Alice Springs and Darwin during World War Two (Alice Springs 1944-1945). One of the most pressing demands on Australia during…
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Dorothy O'BRIEN

Born 29/11/1923, Died 2004

Twin sister of Moyia O'BRIEN who, together, were pioneer Occupational Therapists in Queensland. Their legacy to Queensland “The Sunshine Welfare and Remedial…
Karen SCOTT

Also known as: Karen SCOTT HAPPER

First woman to run a Grand Slam event (tennis). Tournament manager of the Australian Tennis Open in 1979.
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

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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Elizabeth Jean WOODS

Born 18/10/1955

Also known as: Beth

Australia's first female Rhodes Scholar, Queensland Rhodes Scholar 1977. As of 2018, she is the Director-General of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in Queensland.
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Ali RODDA

2001 - First woman midnight to dawn radio presenter (5AA) in Adelaide. Masters in Business Administration Degree in Public Relations. Nurse.
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Cynthia Mary TEAGUE

Born 22/05/1907, Died 08/03/2007

1965 - First woman to reach Second Division level in Federal Public Service (Assistant Director-General of Federal Department of Works). 1930 - Won Grice Bronze Medal for Architecture…
Margaret TART

Born 28/08/1865, Died 27/07/1916

Also known as: née Scarlett

1888 - First European woman to travel up the Sun-Ning River from Canton, China (visiting husband's mother). Margaret was an Australian school teacher married to a Chinese tea…
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June APPLEBY

1985 - First woman in South Australian Parliament to become Government Whip in House of Assembly A member of the Australian Labor Party, June Appleby was elected as the Member for…
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…
Caroline DEXTER

Born 6/1/1819, Died 19/8/1884

Also known as: née Harper, Caroline Lynch

First woman to publish a magazine in Australia. 1858 - Wrote and published “Ladies Almanack: The Southern Cross or Australian Album and New Years Gift.” It was “The First…
Nancy-Bird WALTON, OBE, AO

Born 16/10/1915, Died 13/1/2009

Also known as: Nancy Bird, Nancy Bird Walton, Nancy Bird-Walton

Nancy-Bird was a pioneering Aviatrix who in 1932, at the age of 17, was the youngest female Australian to gain a pilot's license. Two years later she became the first female…
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Valerie WOODRUFFE

Also known as: née Whitehall

About 1978 she trained and completed as a dogman [An assistant to a crane operator, responsible for securing the crane's load and directing the operator.] working at Goldsworthy…
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Veronica Geoghegan SWEENEY

Born 1949

Great great granddaughter of Irish convicts.Author of historical sagas set in Ireland and Australia, such as The Emancipist and South Lies The Valley. In 1989 her second novel made…
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Amelia Maud GILLEN

Born 26/05/1869, Died 16/11/1928

Also known as: née Besley, Minnie, Amelia Maude

Amelia “Minnie” Gillen was an accomplished singer and pianist. As a twenty-two-year-old bride, she travelled from Mount Gambier to her new home at Alice Springs in 1891.The wife of…
Annie Florence LACEY

Born 28/10/1893, Died 1960

Also known as: née Rampton, Nance

Opened first hospital for people with Leprosy in Melbourne in early 1950s. Pioneering Bush Nurse in Northern Territory and Far North Queensland.1919 - Trained as nurse, Hobart General…
Jessie Mary Grey STREET

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

Also known as: née Lillingston, Lady Street

1945 - First Australian Woman Delegate to the United Nations. Passionate about rights of women, aborigines, workers and the poor.1943-1946 - Organised The Women's Charter…
Emma Linda Palmer LITTLEJOHN

Born 11/12/1883, Died 21/3/1949

Also known as: née Teece, Linda Littlejohn, Emma Teece, Emma Tilden

Broadcaster and Public Speaker 1929 - Founding member of 'Open Door International' to promote women worker's rights.President of Equal Opportunity Rights International…
Margaret Helen MITTELHEUSER

Born 25/07/1931, Died 27/12/2013

1964 - First woman stockbroker in Australia and almost certainly the world. 1952 - Received Bachelor of Commerce degree, University of Queensland.1952 - She joined the firm Corser…
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Eliza HARRIS

Also known as: née Deed

Wife of an Alice Springs Telegraph Station telegraph operator.
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Dolly

Minnie GILLEN ran the household with the help of two Arrente Aboriginal women, Dolly (Aritcheuka) …, who also looked after her two boys.
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Virginia BELL

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

Born 23/08/1925, Died 30/07/2012

1956 - First weather girl on Channel 7.
1960 - Australia's first pregnant television presenter. 1955 - One of first members of The Elizabethan Theatre Company (Australia's…
Margaret WHYTE

1891 - One of the first two women to graduate in Medicine from Melbourne University - the other was Clara STONE.
“When the final results appeared Margaret Whyte had done brilliantly,…
Mary HAYES

Born 25 November 1838, Died December 1933

Also known as: née Stratford

Mary Hayes, William and their children came to Central Australia in 1884, to work as fencing and dam sinking contractors on Mount Burrell and Owen Springs stations. Horse and bullock…
For various reasons, it has not been possible to include a photo with this Archive entry. If you’d like to come forward with photos, please see the Contribute page at the bottom left

Margaret Elizabeth HALL

Born 11/06/1910, Died 01/09/1993

Also known as: née Nicker

Helped set up first School of the Air in Central Australia. President of Country Women's Association (CWA). President of Royal Flying Doctor Service Women's Auxiliary…
Kathleen JAMES

Worked on the land on stations in Central Australia, while raising five children.
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.
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Patricia WALKER

1986 - First woman to be President of Albany (Western Australia) Aero Club. July 1988 - Member of 'Flying Grannies' flight around Australia.
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…
Hanna NEUMANN

Born 12/02/1914, Died 14/11/1971

Also known as: née Johanna von Caemmerer

1964 - First female Professor of Pure Mathematics at Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. 1946-63 - Hanna was a Lecturer
and Senior Lecturer in…
Reverend Hilda May ABBA

Born 30 May 1918

Also known as: Reverend Hilda May Abba, Hilda May Blackham

First woman in Australia ordained as Theological Lecturer (Pitt Street Congregational Church, Sydney: 1951) 1936: Hilda May entered Homerton College, Cambridge, where she qualified as…
Evonne Fay CAWLEY

Born 31/07/1951

Also known as: née Goolagong

First Aboriginal Australian to win the prestigious Wimbledon tennis singles title (1971) Tennis - Australian Open - won 4 times. French Open - won 1. Wimbledon - won 1971 & 1980Won…
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…
Maroochy BARAMBAH

Born c. 1950

Also known as: Yvette Isaacs (former name)

Maroochy Barambah is a distinguished Indigenous musician whose career since the 1970s has spanned the genres of jazz, rock, musical theatre and classical opera. She was the first…
Lilian Daphne MAYO

Born 1/10/1895, Died 31/7/1982

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…
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. Cora Barclay…
Patsy ADAM-SMITH

Born 31 May 1924, Died 21 September 2001

Also known as: Patricia Jean Smith

First woman Articled on an Australian Merchant Ship (Radio Operator) (1954-60). Popular author of 33 books on history, folklore, and preserving national traditions, plus an…
Rose LYNCH

Born 1885
Robyn ARCHER

Born 18/6/1948

Also known as: Robyn Smith

In 1998 and 2000, Robyn Archer became the first woman in Australia to direct a major State Festival of the Arts. Robyn is the former Artistic Director of the National Festival of…
Elizabethy E. ARNEY

Born 1932

Also known as: Betty

Betty Arney was the first woman to become a priest in the Anglican Church of Australia, ordained with nine other women at St George's Cathedral, Perth 7 March 1992.
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Anne KOLBE

2003 - First female President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Anne is a paediatric surgeon from Auckland, New Zealand. 2011-2016 - Served by Ministerial appointment as…