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…

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…

Barbara Catherine SHAW

Born 1952

A town camp activist. Briefed her agen­da to the Unit­ed Nations Edu­ca­tion­al, Sci­en­tif­ic and Cul­tur­al Organization.

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).

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…

Jane CAMPION

Born 30 April 1954

“She is the sec­ond of five women ever nom­i­nat­ed for the 66^th 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.

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…

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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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Mary WILLIAMS

2006 — Nurse of the Year, Ten­nant Creek Hos­pi­tal Gen­er­al Manager.

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…

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…

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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Rachel WESTAWAY

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Claudine SHARP

First Aus­tralian woman award­ed Cer­tifi­cate of Marine Engi­neer­ing Class I.

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…

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Heather May MUNRO

Born 10 May 1943

First female Pres­i­dent of the Roy­al Aus­tralian Col­lege of Obste­tri­cians and Gynaecologists.

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…

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…

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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.

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.…

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.

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.

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;…

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…

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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…

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).

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.