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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Layne BEACHLEY
Born 24/5/1972
Also known as: Tania Maris Gardner
Layne Beachley is regarded as the best female professional surfer in history. She was the first woman to win seven World Surfing Titles (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006), six of…
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Susan BOYD
Born 1946
Sue Boyd was the first woman president of a students association in Australia (Guild of Undergraduates, University of Western Australia 1969). She spent 34 years in the Australian…
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Barbara Catherine SHAW
Born 1952
A town camp activist. Briefed her agenda to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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Marie Ottilie JOHANNSEN
Born 15/7/1881 or 1882, Died 26/12/1959
Also known as: née Hoffman, used the name Ottilie, Tillie/Tilly
Pioneer of Central Australia.
1909-11 & 1922 – 26 — Hermannsburg Mission.
1911 — The Johannsens acquired the rights to draw water from Deep Well, a government water facility.
Planted… -
Mary PENFOLD
Born 1820, Died 21/12/1895
Also known as: née Holt
Pioneer winemaker of Penfolds Winery (now Southcorp).
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Marion F. WRIGHT
Also known as: née Lunn, Brownie, Browny
In 1934 Brownie was the first Australian woman pilot to go night flying. There were no marked runways with lights, just kerosene flares made out of tin cans full of burning rags. In…
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Jane CAMPION
Born 30 April 1954
“She is the second of five women ever nominated for the 66th Academy Award for Best Director”.
In 1993, Writer and Director Jane Campion became the first and only woman filmmaker to… -
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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Mary Paulena BLOOMFIELD
Born 20/07/1917, Died 9/05/1994
Also known as: née Hayes
Daughter of Ann Jane “Jane” Hayes.
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Elsie Regina LAMB
Born 1/2/1887, Died 1993
District midwife in Wingham, New South Wales.During World War I provided voluntary aid at Bullinmimbah Station.During World War II worked in the Department of the Air after declaring…
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Jane BELL
Born 16 March 1873, Died 6 August 1959
1920s — Appointed first tutor Sister and founded first Preliminary Training Course in Victoria. Matron of Royal Melbourne Hospital.
1934 — Established first post graduate nursing… -
Rose Bertha CROOK
Also known as: née Raggatt (Raggett), Bertha
Rose (Bertha) Crook and her husband William operated the water whip at Wycliffe Well, a depot for watering travelling stock. As young girls their daughter Doreen and Kathleen did much…
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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.
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Senja Raymond ROBEY
Born 25/01/1927, Died 14/4/2020
Also known as: née Havard
A foundation member of the Australian Women Pilots Association Senja learned to fly in a Tiger Moth in 1949. She has taught hundreds of students to fly and ferried many aircraft to…
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Marie Louise Hamilton MACK
Born 10/10/1870, Died 23/11/1935
Also known as: née Mack, registered as Mary Louisa, Louise Creed, Gouli Gouli, Louise Leyland, Mary Mack
1914 — First woman war correspondent, Belgium, reporting for the Evening News and the Daily Mail.
Late 1880s — Contributor to The Bulletin, an Australian magazine, Sydney.1896… -
Mary CLARK
Died 1960
Written on the back of the drawing: Longstanding member, died 1960. Carrier and wood merchant.
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Tracey MOFFATT
Born 12/11/1960
1990s — First successful Indigenous Australian woman photographer and film maker. Moffatt is a contemporary artist using a variety of techniques, such as collage, set design, and…
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Sarah Ann MacKERETH
Born 1819, Died 1882
Also known as: née O'Brien
Pioneer of South Australia and Mount Lofty Range District.
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Faith THOMAS
Born 22 January 1933
Also known as: née Coulthard, Faith Thomas
Played hockey as well as cricket.
1958 — First Aboriginal female Test cricketer to represent Australia in England.
Awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, services to… -
Heather May MUNRO
Born 10 May 1943
First female President of the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
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Georgia LEE
Born 1921, Died 23/4/2010
Also known as: Aunty Dulcie Rama Pitt, Dulcie Rama Pitt
Georgia Lee was the first Indigenous Australian artist to record Blues songs, a Blues album, and the first Indigenous woman to record an album. She also is credited as having the…
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Jane Sophia WEBB
Died 1933
Also known as: née White
Newly married Jane Webb travelled by train to Oodnadatta and then by horse and dray with her husband Benjamin and brother-in-law Joe, to a new life at remote Arltunga.
Her wedding ring… -
Thelma May PYE
Also known as: née Burrows
1962 — Manager with husband David, of Todd River Station, Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
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Annie LITTLEJOHN
1916 — One of the first women (along with Juliet Stawell) to enroll in Architecture at Melbourne University — did not complete course.
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Deborah HICKS
Also known as: née Hicks, Debbie, Deborah Jeppesen
At age 16 Deborah Hicks was the youngest female pilot in Australia to fly solo.
Flight Lieutenant Williams and Flying Cadet Hicks were the first female pilots to graduate from the… -
Kristen Alanna APPEL
Born 23/7/1964
First female national park ranger to be in charge of a national park/reserve in Australia (Arltunga) — August 1992.
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Rae COLSON
Cook, pensioner.
1957 — Began working as a cook at the Aileron pub, Northern Territory. -
Maud Margaret MOLESWORTH
Born 18 October 1894, Died 9 July 1985
Also known as: née Mutch, Mall, Malla
Molesworth was the first Australian woman tennis player to be listed in the world’s top ten rankings. A. Wallis Myer of the Daily Telegraph rated her No. 10 in 1922 and 1923.…
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Ruth Frances BISHOP
Born 12 May 1933
First person to discover the virus that causes gastroenteritis.
1996 — Received Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in Queen’s Birthday Honours in recognition of… -
Sadie Miriam CANNING
Born 11 April 1930, Died 3 September 2008
Also known as: née Corner
One of the first trained Aboriginal nurses and matrons in Western Australia, did not start qualifying until the 1950s.
1964 — Queens’ Birthday Honours- Awarded a Member of the British… -
Julie Isabel BISHOP
Born 17 July 1956
Also known as: Julie Gillon
Australia’s first female Foreign Minister (2013); first female Deputy leader of the Liberal Party; inducted into Western Australia Women’s Hall of Fame (Western Australia Department of…
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Di DEANS
2007 — Founder of the Alice Springs Hospital Drovers.2009 — Named Centralian of the Year.
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Nellie Elizabeth ROBINSON
Born 1915, Died 19 September 1992
1967 — Nellie was Queensland’s first female mayor, in Toowoomba, serving for 14 years.
1979 — Awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for distinguished service to… -
Patricia Elizabeth LASCELLES
Born 24/11/1926, Died 4/05/2018
Also known as: née Tuckwell, Bambi Shmith, Bambi Smith, Lady Harewood, Countess of Harewood, Dowager Countess of Harewood
Possibly first Australian to marry into British royalty.
Australian musician (violin) and model (known as Bambi Smith). -
Caroline Louisa Waring ATKINSON
Born 25 February 1834, Died 28 April 1872
Also known as: Louisa Atkinson, Caroline Calvert
She contributed many natural history articles to Sydney papers and journals becoming the first Australian born woman novelist when she published Gertrude the Emigrant: A Tale of…
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Laura THOMAS
Born 1967
Also known as: née Perucich
2001 — First woman in Australia to be ‘Chief Whip Cracker’ on a major car launch — Holden Monaro’s $60m project.
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Mary Jean GILMORE
Born 16/08/1865, Died 3/12/1962
Also known as: née Cameron, Dame Mary Jean Cameron, Em Jaycey, Sister Jaycey, Rudione Calvert
The first woman executive/member of the Australian Workers’ Union.
1928 — Founder of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.
1937 — Made Dame of the British Empire for her contribution… -
Deborah CHEETHAM
Born 24 November 1964
Australia’s first female Indigenous opera singer; in 2007, wrote “Pecan Summer,” Australia’s first Indigenous opera, then trained the necessary Indigenous singers;…
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Adelaide Laetitia MIETHKE
Born 8/06/1881, Died 4/02/1962
Also known as: Addie
1916 — She was the first woman vice-president of the South Australian Public School Teacher’s Union.
1924 — Became the first female inspector of high schools.
1937 — Miethke was… -
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… -
Patricia Rhoda McLOUGHLIN
Born 26/11/1942
Also known as: née Sanderson; formerly Pat Camilleri
1991 – 94 — First female chair of the Caboolture Shire Council [The Shire of Caboolture, Queensland].
First female chair of the Caboolture Fire Brigade Board.
First female president of… -
Kathleen Mary MAHONY
Born 8/1/1908, Died 30/04/2003
Also known as: née O'Shea, Kath
Pioneer as policeman’s wife at Roper River, Lake Nash, Arltunga, and Anthony’s Lagoon. Managers of Larrimah Hotel, Northern Territory (owned by O’Shea family -…
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Bev NITSCHKE
1975 — First female president of a South Australian Football Club (Waikerie Magpies).
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Marcia Lynne LANGTON
Born 31 October 1951
1993 — Awarded Member of the Order of Australia, for service as an anthropologist and advocate of Aboriginal issues.
2000 — Inaugural Professor of Australian Indigenous Studies,… -
Daisy SHEARER
Also known as: née Swan
Written on the back of the drawing: Excellent cook. Husband in government service. Mrs Shearer was a former sister at the hospital.Came to Alice Springs after war to wok as nursing…
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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…
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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.