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…

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Eliza HARRIS

Also known as: née Deed

Wife of an Alice Springs Tele­graph Sta­tion tele­graph operator.

Helena RUBINSTEIN

Born 25 December 1872, Died 1 April 1965

Also known as: née Chaja Rubinstein, Madame Helena Rubinstein, Princess Gourielli

Head of glob­al cos­met­ics empire. Rags to rich­es sto­ry — born in Poland and migrat­ed to Aus­tralia. Became wait­ress in Mel­bourne before exper­i­ment­ing with sheep wool oil as base for…

Bertha Louisa EASOM

Born 6 August 1877, Died 1954

Also known as: Bertha Forster

One of the first two women of Euro­pean descent to live at Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, as gov­erness to the Brad­shaw fam­i­ly at the Tele­graph Station.

Robyn SHARP

Also known as: Dr Robyn Sharp

First female Vet­eri­nar­i­an in River­land, South Australia.

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…

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Bridget PROBIN

Born 30 October 1918, Died 18 June 2007

Also known as: née Fitzsimons, Betty

Recip­i­ent of French Star, Ger­man Star, Bur­ma Star, 1939 to 1945 Star, Civ­il Defence Work Medal, Nor­mandy Land­ing Medal, Diplo­ma of Hon­our from France, 2000, and the French…

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…

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Audrey June ATTWOOD

Born 23 June 1927, Died 25 December 2008

1978 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the British Empire for con­tri­bu­tion to education.

1997 — First Pres­i­dent at Fly­nn Lodge Old Timers Vil­lage, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.…

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Mary Elizabeth VINCENT

Born 1813, Died 1898

Pio­neer of Wan­garat­ta, Victoria.

Francesca Louise CAIRNS

Also known as: Fran

First Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, woman to be employed as a grad­er driver.

Author of Draw­ing From the Well, inspired by her work ​“as a grad­er dri­ver, a pho­tog­ra­ph­er and…

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Jean MILLS

1897 — 1938 — First Hon­orary Matron of Girl’s Club for under-priv­i­leged girls and women. 

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Essie STUART

Born 1904

Also known as: née Simpson

With camel dri­ver hus­band, brought goods from Maree and Ood­na­dat­ta to Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Anne Barbara DEVESON

Born 19/6/1930, Died 12/2016

Writer, broad­cast­er, doc­u­men­tary mak­er, film mak­er and advo­cate of social jus­tice. Wrote the sto­ry of her son’s life and death with schiz­o­phre­nia, Tell Me I’m Here, which won…

Georgina Dagmar BERNE

Born 16 November 1866, Died 22 August 1900

Also known as: Dagmar

Australia’s first female med­ical stu­dent, was admit­ted to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney in 1885, how­ev­er, hos­til­i­ty towards her caused her to com­plete her degree in Lon­don, return­ing to set…

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Fanny Elizabeth DE MOLE

Born 1 March 1835, Died 26 December 1866

1861 — First woman in South Aus­tralia to write and illus­trate a book on the flo­ra of South Aus­tralia, Wild Flow­ers of SA.

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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.

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.

Bronwyn Kathleen BISHOP

Born 19/10/1942

Also known as: nee Setright

Bron­wyn Bish­op was the first woman to be pres­i­dent of any polit­i­cal Par­ty in New South Wales when elect­ed Pres­i­dent of the Lib­er­al Par­ty in NSW (1985); first woman from NSW to be…

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.

Karen Louise ROLTON

Born 21/11/1974

2000 — First woman to play Men’s Grade crick­et in South Australia.

Vice Cap­tain Aus­tralian wom­en’s One Day Crick­et team which won the World Cup in India in…

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Ethel Rosina WHITE

Died 1926

Also known as: née Toms

1913 — Accom­pa­nied her hus­band on a camel expe­di­tion from Ood­na­dat­ta to Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Into The Dead Heart by Capt. S. A. White details this sci­en­tif­ic expedition.

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Mavis HOARE

Born 1927

Also known as: née Winn

1951 — First women in the South African province of Natal to gain a com­mer­cial pilot’s licence.

Flew for the Onas­sis and Niar­chos fam­i­lies for four (4) years. Moved to…

Mary MARINAN

Born 1853, Died 1938

Also known as: née Ryan, Married name of MARRINAN later spelled MARINAN.

Pio­neer in Cootamundra/​Wallendbeen Dis­tricts, New South Wales.

Raelene BOYLE

Born 24/6/1951

Rae­lene Boyle was an Olympic cham­pi­on sprint­er. She won the Sil­ver Medal at the Mex­i­co Olympics (1968) at 16 yrs of age — which, at the time, was the youngest Aus­tralian medal winner.…

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Patricia May EDGAR

Born 11 March 1937

Also known as: née Etherington

1981 — Found­ing Direc­tor of The Inno­v­a­tive Aus­tralian Chil­dren’s TV Foundation.2001 — Induct­ed in the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.2002 — Award­ed the Aus­tralian Film Institute…

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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.

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

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…

Blanche McNAMARA

Born 1859, Died 1900

1897 – 1900 — Blanche McNa­ma­ra was the pio­neer­ing first woman school inspec­tor in South Aus­tralia and also the first in Aus­tralia. She was appoint­ed specif­i­cal­ly to pay atten­tion to the…

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Mary Cecilia RIDSDALE

Born 1924, Died 2007

Also known as: née Clancy

First Solic­i­tor at Kather­ine, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, Region­al Legal Aid Service.

1942 — Win­ner of Har­ry Emmer­ton Exhi­bi­tion for Arti­cled Clerks.

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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Wendy SNOOK

1991 — First female chap­lain in the Defence Forces.

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…

Kelly COLE

2000 — Kel­ly walked with camels (and with Mark Swindells for part of the jour­ney) from West­ern Aus­trali­a’s most west­er­ly point to New South Wales most east­er­ly point.

Agnes Mildred AVERY

Born 14 November 1880, Died 27 August 1944

Also known as: née Dunstan

Only Ade­laide woman Chair­man of Direc­tors of Dun­stan Ltd, Stonyfell Quarries.Only woman mem­ber in Aus­tralia of the British Insti­tute of Psychoanalysis.

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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…

Carolyn Ann PICKLES

Born 2/05/1941

1989 — First Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty woman to hold office of Gov­ern­ment Whip in Leg­isla­tive Coun­cil in South Australia.

Kathleen JAMES

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

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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…

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Dorothy Annie MEYERS

Also known as: Anne

Annie Williams arrived in Alice Springs in the late 1890s. Here she mar­ried Char­lie Mey­ers (aka Aaron Schun­ke), the local sad­dler. They had four chil­dren: Dorothy Annie, Her­man John…

Moira Therese KELLY

Born 31/1/1964

Award­ed ​‘Sir ​‘Weary’ Dun­lop Memo­r­i­al Award
1988 — Named Aus­tralian Bicen­ten­ni­al Young Woman of the Year

Aid Work­er — dubbed ​‘Aus­trali­a’s Mother…

Dorothy MORRELL

Also known as: Dot

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

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Alisa Peta CAMPLIN

Born 10 November 1974

“Alisa Cam­plin is Aus­trali­a’s first female Win­ter Olympic gold medal­ist, dual Olympic medal­ist, World Cham­pi­on, World Record Hold­er and two times WC Grand Prix…

Nicole Mary KIDMAN

Born 20 June 1967

Acclaimed Aus­tralian actress, win­ner of an Acad­e­my Award for Best Actress for her por­tray­al of Vir­ginia Woolf in the film The Hours (2002). In 2003, Kid­man received a Star on the…

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Georgia LE PLASTRIER

Mem­ber (Robyn Fox, Geor­gia Le Plas­tri­er, Jen­ny McKen­zie, Jo Van Son) of the first Aus­tralian all-female canoe team to make the full descent of the Yukon Riv­er (Unit­ed States).

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Evelyn Mary PERKINS

Born 1889, Died 06/1968

Also known as: née Bray

The inau­gur­al meet­ing of the Alice Springs Branch of the CWA was held at the Res­i­den­cy in 1933. This branch was formed by Mrs J A Perkins, imme­di­ate past pres­i­dent of the Metropolitan…

Mabel ADAMSON

Born 3/10/1905, Died 18/12/1995

Also known as: May, nee Wilkinson

Mabel was an ear­ly pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia, arriv­ing in Alice Springs on 5^th May 1920 with her fam­i­ly. Mabel’s father’s broth­er, George Wilkin­son, had a store in Alice…

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Elizabeth O'NEIL

Also known as: Betty

A hand­ful of Euro­pean women accom­pa­nied their hus­bands to the mines. Mary Mur­phy, Bet­ty O’Neil and F Suther­land signed a peti­tion to get a polling booth there. Mrs O’Neil…

Josephine McGOVERN

Born 14/1/1924, Died 2/4/2001

Also known as: Josie

1958 — She was appoint­ed female assis­tant in the Library of the Par­lia­ment of Vic­to­ria. Josephine was the first female pro­fes­sion­al appoint­ed to the staff of the Library of the…