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…

Gladys CARRUTH

Born 20 May 1910, Died 23 May 1979

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Long-stand­ing mem­ber devot­ed worker.

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…

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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’

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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Gwen WALL

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…

Wendy GREEN

Born 1951

1999 — First female horse train­er in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to win The Mel­bourne Cup with the horse Rogan Josh.

Dar­win schoolteacher.

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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,…

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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.

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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.

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…

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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…

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.

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…

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.

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…

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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).…

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…

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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…

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Enid Majorie RUSSELL

Born 10 March 1904, Died 1958

1931 — First woman called to bar in West­ern Australia.

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…

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…

Edith Frances ROBINSON

Born 24 September 1906, Died 7 October 2000

Also known as: Edie, Edie Payne

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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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Frances CAMPBELL

First woman to prac­tice med­i­cine in Australia.

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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.

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.

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…

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…

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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.