Women's Museum of Australia 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
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Jessie Mary VASEY
Born 19/10/1897, Died 22/9/1966
Also known as: née Halbert
1945 — Founder of The War Widows’ Guild of Australia, to provide support in social and welfare aspects and by providing government representation on forums and campaigning for…
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Gladys CARRUTH
Born 20 May 1910, Died 23 May 1979
Written on the back of the drawing: Long-standing member devoted worker.
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Lillian Myrtle BLOOMFIELD
Born 1916, Died 2005
Also known as: née Kunoth, Lil, Lillian
Daughter of Central Australia pioneers Harry and Caroline Kunoth of Oodnadatta.
Pioneer of Central Australia.
Pastoralist Loves Creek Station.
Written on the back of the… -
Clara DENNIS
Born 7 March 1916, Died 4 June 1971
Also known as: née Dennis, Clare, Clara Golding
Clare Dennis was the first Australian woman to compete in the Empire Games (1934, London) winning gold in the 200 yards breaststroke.
1931 — Won her first New South Wales and… -
Samantha Linette Pearl RILEY
Born 13/11/1972
Also known as: Sam
World Record holder and Gold Medallist — Swimming — 29 Sept 20011996 — No. 1 Breastroke Champion in world.Won Prime Minister’s ‘Women In Sport Award’
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Lilian Violet COOPER
Born 11 August 1861, Died 18 August 1947
Also known as: Dr Lilian Cooper
English born and London-trained, she emigrated in 1891 and set up practice in Brisbane, becoming Queensland’s first woman doctor. She used a horse and sulky by day and a bicycle…
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Marguerite Frances GRUEBER
Born 27 February 1904, Died 3 September 1993
Also known as: née Grueber, Marguerite Pixley
One of Australia’s first two airhostesses; she and Blanche Due were interviewed by Captain Ivan Holyman of Tasmanian Aerial Services — later bought by Australian National…
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Wendy GREEN
Born 1951
1999 — First female horse trainer in Northern Territory to win The Melbourne Cup with the horse Rogan Josh.
Darwin schoolteacher. -
Adelaide IRONSIDE
Born 17/11/1831, Died 15/4/1867
1856 — First Australian born woman to have an International professional career as a painter.
Republican and close associate of Daniel Henry Deniehy (for more information on Deniehy,… -
Cheryl KERNOT
Born 5/12/1948
Also known as: nee Paton, formerly Young
1993 – 1997 — First female Leader of the Australian Democrats in Federal Parliament
Former high school teacher.1993 – 1997 — Leader of the Australian Democrats.1998 – 2001 — Member… -
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. -
Janice Eileen HEASLIP
Born 03/04/1939
Also known as: née Parnell
Founding Member Alice Springs Branch and Inaugural State President of Isolated Children’s Parents Association.
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Janet Patteson DARLING
Born 31 August 1913, Died December 2007
Also known as: née Gunther, Pat
Nurse. Prisoner of War in Sumatra during World War II.
1941 – “Enlisted in the 2⁄10 Australian General Hospital and sent to what was then Malaya [now Malaysia] and later joined the… -
Ann FREAK
Born 22 January 1915, Died 10 March 2002
Also known as: née O'Leary
1930 — One of two first enrolled Girl Guides on Southern York Peninsular, South Australia.
1998 — Awarded Order of Australia Medal (OAM).
1937 – 1956 — Leader of Magill (South… -
May GIBBS
Born 17 January 1877, Died 27 November 1969
Also known as: Cecilia May, Stan Cottman and "Blob" (pseudonyms)
May Gibbs was a leading painter, illustrator, cartoonist and author. She was the author of the classic Australian children’s books Gumnut Babies and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. In…
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Mary BLIGH
Born 1 April 1783, Died 1864
Also known as: née Bligh, Mary Putland, Lady O'Connell
Daughter of Governor William Bligh. Wife of John Putland. Became Lady O’Connell after husband’s knighthood.
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Annie ROSS
Also known as: Annie Southall
With Kate Boadicia Cocks, they were the first women police officers in South Australia when sworn in to that state’s police force on 1 December 1915 — the first policewomen in…
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Mary Jane DOUGLAS
Born 9 October 1958
Also known as: née Gillett
First woman employed nationally by Federated Storeman and Packers Union.
1996 – 2002 — A member of the Australian Labor Party, representing Werribee. The seat was abolished.… -
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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Sharan BURROW
Born 1954
Sharan Burrow AC is the first woman to become General Secretary of the ITUC since its foundation in 2006, and was the second woman to become President of the ACTU.
2000: Sharan… -
Dorothy GILL
Born 18 November 1925
Also known as: née Adamson, Doff
First female bank clerk in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Also worked in Commonwealth Bank in 1942.
Daughter of the first postmaster in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. -
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… -
Mary Ann MOORE-BENTLEY
Born 6 January 1865, Died 1 September 1953
Also known as: née Bentley, Mary Ling
1903 — First woman — along with Vida Goldstein, Selina Anderson and Nellie Martel — in Australia and the British Empire to stand for National Parliament (unsuccessful).…
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Mary Teston Luis BELL
Born 3 December 1903, Died 6 February 1979
Also known as: née Fernandes, Paddy
20 March 1928 — First woman in Victoria to receive an ‘A’ Pilot’s Licence and the sixth in Australia.
1929 — First Australian woman to qualify as a ground engineer.
1940… -
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… -
Ali RODDA
2001 — First woman midnight to dawn radio presenter (5AA) in Adelaide.
Masters in Business Administration Degree in Public Relations. Nurse. -
Emily DUTTON
Born 13 November 1884, Died 11 May 1962
Also known as: née Martin
1921 — First woman to drive across Australia.
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Ellen Harriet LINES
Born 1915, Died 8/9/2008
Also known as: Nell, née Colson
Central Australian Pioneer. Matriarch of COLSON and LINES families.
“A more comprehensive narration of Nell’s life and that of her brothers, and particularly of her… -
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… -
Enid Majorie RUSSELL
Born 10 March 1904, Died 1958
1931 — First woman called to bar in Western Australia.
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Elizabeth K. TURNER
Born 19/08/1914, Died 26/12/1999
Also known as: EKT
First doctor in Australia to administer Penicillin.
1951 — First doctor to perform an exchange transfusion on a newborn in Victoria.
Only female Medical Superintendent at the Royal… -
Mona Margaret McBURNEY
Born 29/7/1862, Died 4/12/1932
Australia’s first music graduate, was the first woman to have her opera, The Dalmatian, composed 1905, performed in public at the Playhouse, Melboure, 25 – 26 June 1926.
1896 -… -
Beverley Louise BOLIN
Born 23 January 1923
Also known as: Beverley Carter
The first known woman architect to qualify in South Australia was Beverley Bolin, who graduated in 1948. She registered in 1950 in South Australia but moved permanently to the United…
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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…
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Dido COOPER
Born 1897
When Adelaide House was opened in 1926, it was run by nurses … with the help of Aboriginal women like Dido Cooper.
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Lorna Beryl MOSS
Born 21 February 1922
Also known as: née Robinson
1946 – 47 — Helped organise Northern Territory’s first public preschool, the Alice Springs Kindergarten.
Her son is Ian Moss, “an Australian rock musician … [and] … the… -
Sue LUCAS
2000 — First woman crew and first Victorian to win the Institute of Ambulance Officers (Australia) National Clinical Excellence competition.
2000 — Won Victorian Clinical Excellence… -
Kerri POTTHARST
Born 25 June 1965
2005 — First (with Natalie COOK) Olympic Gold Medal winner in Women’s Beach Volleyball.
Kerri Pottharst OAM’s Biography Olympic Gold Medalist, Kerri Pottharst is an… -
Henrietta Augusta DUGDALE
Born 14 May 1827, Died 17 June 1918
Also known as: née Worrell, Henrietta Davies, Henrietta Dugdale, Henrietta Johnson
”In a letter to the Argus in 1869 Henrietta Dugdale was the first woman to ‘publicly advocate the moral right of woman to her share in political power’.”
1884 — Elected first… -
Margaret STILLER
Born 1931, Died 10 February 2000
Also known as: née Hanckel
Awarded MBE for service to education and community
Author of ‘Barossa Woman’, ‘Alice Springs Assignment’, ‘Centralian Assignment’, ‘Nothing… -
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Maria Concetta GAGLIARDI
Born 20/10/1911, Died 13/09/1998
Also known as: née Ciccone, Concetta, Connie
Concetta and Giuseppe GAGLIARDI opened the first Alice Springs “night spot,” a dance hall, which was part of their complex opposite Melanka, in which they also sold meals and…
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Millicent Fanny PRESTON-STANLEY
Born 1883, Died 1955
Also known as: née Stanley
1925 — First woman to enter New South Wales government.
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Ethel Mary TURNER
Born 24 January 1870, Died 08 April 1958
Also known as: née Burwell, née Ethel Sibyl Turner, Ethel Mary Curlewis, Ethel Sibyl Cope
Author of Seven Little Australians which was Australia’s first children’s classic (1894). Has written over 40 books.
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Rene KULITJA
Born 12/12/1958
Also known as: Wanuny Kulitja
Rene Kulitja is the first Aboriginal artist to have her art work painted on a domestic Qantas aircraft. She designed the Yananyi Dreaming for the Qantas Boeing 737. The Yananyi…
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Eileen STEENSON
1956 — Awarded Evelyn Follett Worthy Flying Trophy’1971 — Life Governor of British and Foreign Bible Society.
Flew in New South Wales, Northern Territory, and Papua New… -
Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd BENNETT
Born 24 June 1872, Died 27 November 1960
First woman to gain a science degree at Sydney University (1899).
1915 — Became the first female commissioned officer in the British Army.
1923 — Became the first president of the… -
Patricia GALLAGHER
Also known as: Pat
Pioneer in Women’s Netball Association in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Netball courts have been named in her honour.