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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Linda Marion BERLOWITZ
Born 1903, Died July 1998
Also known as: née Cave, Lyn
1960 – 63 — First woman to successfully stand for election to the Northern Territory Legislative Council — won seat of Fanny Bay.
Businesswoman in Darwin. -
Marilyn Jodie CLARKE
Also known as: née Kong
First Australian Aboriginal specialist, Obstetrician/Gynecologist.
1997 – 1998 — Marilyn and her twin sister Marlene were the first Indigenous women to graduate with a Bachelor of… -
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Florence Evelyn SWANSON
Died 1969
Also known as: née Clarke, Dolly, Camp Oven Doll
Born in Victoria. Had singing lessons and trained with Dame Nellie Melba with whom she became a life long friend.Writer of bush news, letters and recipes to ‘The Chronicle’,…
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Eva Mabel GARLAND
Born 30 June 1912
Also known as: née Lawrence, Mable
1990 — Received Advance Australia award.
1992 — Received Australian Day Citizenship award.
1995 — Recipient of Adult Learners’ Award.
1999 — Received Premier’s Seniors Achievement… -
Margaret Helen MITTELHEUSER
Born 25/07/1931, Died 27/12/2013
1964 — First woman stockbroker in Australia and almost certainly the world.
1952 — Received Bachelor of Commerce degree, University of Queensland.1952 — She joined the firm… -
Edna Margaret WALLING
Born 4 December 1896, Died 8 August 1973
1918 — First female landscape gardener.
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Vicki TAYLOR
2009 — Telstra Northern Territory Business Woman of the Year.
General Manager — Alice Springs Hospital (2004- ). -
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Pat FLEMING
Born 2/03/1915, Died 9/07/1995
Also known as: née Wallace, Nungala, Daisy Alma was her birth name
Life Member of National Trust of Australia.
Pat came to the Northern Territory with her husband Baptist minister and missionary, Tom Fleming in 1950. Their son Adrian was two… -
Agnes Melda PRINCE
Also known as: Melda
“Western Australia author and poet. … marrying Eric Prince. Together they took up five thousand acres of virgin land near Esperance in 1927.”
Pioneer of… -
Joyce POLSON
Reverend Joyce was admitted to the Order of Deaconesses in 1955, the only ministry open to women at that time. She was made deacon in 1986 and ordained priest in 1992, with the first…
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Catherine Amelia WELLS
Born 17/9/1868
Also known as: née Long, Kate
Kate was the first white woman to live at Alice Springs.
Drove the mail and passenger coach from Alice Springs to Oodnadatta when her husband was too drunk to drive. -
Lorraine MORGAN
1991 — First woman to join Lions Club in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory.
First woman to join Lions Club of MacDonnell at Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
1999 — First woman to be… -
Mere RUMBAL
Owner and Director of Alice Springs Central Dance Theatre.2002 — Awarded world’s first honour by British Ballet organisation for 50 years service to the dance industry.
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Honor Cameron WILSON
Born 14 August 1913, Died 16 January 1998
Pioneer physiotherapist. Played a pivotal role in the development of the physiotherapy profession in South Australia during two Polio epidemics before and after the war. Published…
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Jude MUNRO
First woman Chief Executive Officer of two cities: Adelaide and Brisbane.
Chief Executive of councils: Adelaide, Brisbane, Moreland, and St Kilda.2010 – Ms. Munro received… -
Mrs DANE
First white woman at Stawell, Victoria.
The Dane Memorial Seat, Stawell, Victoria, was erected in memory of her husband. -
Anne Isabella DARCY FOWLER
Born 24 July 1911, Died 13 June 2003
Also known as: née Darcy, Ann, Annie
Annie was one of the first female drovers, and it is believed that she and her brothers photos adorn the walls at Daly Waters Pub as chararcters of the Territory.
Annie was part of a… -
Lynn ALLEN
Lynn worked for twelve years as the State Librarian and CEO of the Western Australian state library (from 1989 – 2001). Over a period of 107 years, Professor Allen was only the fourth…
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Penelope Anne WENSLEY
Born 18/10/1946
Also known as: Penny
1997 — Australia’s first female Ambassador to United Nations — the most senior external appointment ever given to a woman in Australian Foreign Service.
2001 — Made an Officer… -
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Sheila Margaret BLACKMORE
1971 — Received the Order of the British Empire — Member (Civil) (MBE©), Community.
Founder Director of the National Association for Training the Disabled in Office Work… -
Daphne CALDER
Born 5 January 1924, Died 15 October 2013
Also known as: née Campbell, Daphne Calder
Pictured here at Emily Gap outside Alice Springs, she starred opposite Australian acting legend chips Rafferty in The Overlanders, a classic movie being the first to show…
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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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Alexandrina SEAGER
Born 27 November 1872, Died 12 March 1950
Also known as: née Laidlaw, Alexandra
First woman to hold Vice Presidency of Returned Services Association (later known as the RSL).
1909 — Started her own business, “Scholastic Agency,” to supply… -
Loraine Margaret BRAHAM
Born 21/8/1938
Lorrain Braham was the first woman elected from Central Australia to the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory (1994) and the first woman Speaker in the Northern Territory.…
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Anna STEWART
Born 11/03/1947, Died 12/04/1983
1979 — First woman to achieve maternity leave for women in the private sector.
A former journalist and active Victorian Union official from 1974 to 1983. -
Annie Doreen MUNE
Born 6 February 1901, Died 1989
Also known as: née Hensley
In 1924 she was appointed Melbourne City Council’s coordinator to combat dyptheria. During this campaign she tested and immunised 11,230 children.
Pioneer doctor in Fiji… -
Martha WEBSTER
Born 1839, Died 11 August 1915
Also known as: née Turner
1872 — First woman to become a Minister of a Protestant Church in Australia.
The ‘Women’s Voter’ wrote for her Obituary: In relation to women’s movement… -
Valerie WOODRUFFE
Also known as: née Whitehall
About 1978 she trained and completed as a dogman [An assistant to a crane operator, responsible for securing the crane’s load and directing the operator.] working at Goldsworthy…
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Ida Elizabeth JENKINS
Born 29/8/1916, Died 30/10/2014
Also known as: née Osbourne, Liz. Professionally she was known as Elizabeth Osbourne and Ida Elizabeth Jenkins.
A pioneer of children’s radio, women’s issues and the Save the Children Fund, and a founding member of the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
1954 — Was the only… -
Jeanette WORMALD
Composer and singer. Debut tape “Male Bride,” 1994.
Three Top Ten Hits from the album Opal Blue.Golden Guitar nominee 2007 for Opal Blue.South Australian Great… -
Elizabeth CALLAGHAN
Born 1802, Died 31 Mar 1852
Also known as: Eliza, Eliza Thompson, Elizabeth Batman, Sarah Willoughby
Convict, who married John BATMAN (founder of Melbourne — died 1839⁄40). Mother of seven daughters and one son by John BATMAN. Later married John WILLOUGHBY. Known as Sarah WILLOUGHBY…
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Jane Stocks GREIG
Born 12 June 1872, Died 16 September 1939
Also known as: Jean
1896 – 1910 — One of founders of Victorian Medical Women’s Society.
16 April 1910 — Received the Diploma of Public Health at the University of Melbourne, the first woman to do so.… -
Edith Antonia McDONALD
Also known as: née Bohning, Edie
The two Bohning girls, Elsie and Edie, were famous for their station work.Esther Bohning and her daughters, Elsie and Edith, from Helen Springs Station north of Tennant Creek, were…
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Natalie Rona MILLER
Natalie Miller became Australia’s first female independent film distributor and the Victorian Film Corporation’s first woman board member.
2001 — Awarded Medal of the Order… -
Lesley PARKER
Emeritus Professor Lesley Parker AM
The first woman appointed to a significant senior executive role at Curtin University, Lesley Parker was named Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor in… -
Dorothy Jean HAILES
Born 22 June 1926, Died 27 November 1988
Also known as: Dr Jean Hailes
“Dr Jean Hailes was a pioneer in women’s health in Australia. In 1971 she established the first clinic in Australia dedicated to the management of menopause.” [Aleeza Zohar]
9 June… -
Susannah Matilda WARD
Died 4/06/1862
Also known as: née Baldwin
1820 — Pioneer of early New South Wales.
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Robin Elizabeth MILLER
Born 8 December 1940, Died 7 December 1975
Also known as: née Miller, The Sugarbird Lady
Robin was a nurse and a pilot. From 1967 – 69 she flew to many remote Aboriginal communities administering the Sabin polio vaccine on sugar cubes. The children called her “the…
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Alison ANDERSON
Born 1958
Also known as: Alison Nampitjimpa Anderson
Activist and politician for Indigenous people within the Northern Territory, especially Central Australia. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly between 2005…
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Mary PENFOLD
Born 1820, Died 21/12/1895
Also known as: née Holt
Pioneer winemaker of Penfolds Winery (now Southcorp).
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Sharon Lea Anne ANYOS
Born 13/10/1970
Also known as: Wildthing
Australia’s first female World Boxing Champion. First Australian woman to take out the inaugural Women’s Boxing Title in first ever ANBF & OBA sanctioned women’s…