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Elizabeth WELLS

Born 1862, Died 1950

Also known as: née Saunders

Pio­neer of Hobart, Zee­han, and St Mary in Tas­ma­nia. Her hus­band was Sta­tion Mas­ter with the Tas­man­ian Railways.

Mary ADLER

Born 17 February 1862, Died 8 June 1897

Also known as: née Millar

Mary Adler came from Mur­toa in the Wim­mera. In 1893, she and her hus­band select­ed land at Lal­bert, near Swan Hill, which they set­tled with their five sons. She died at 36 years of…

Laura Margaret FOWLER

Born 3 May 1870, Died 14 September 1952

Also known as: née Fowler, Laura Hope

The first women doc­tors to com­plete their train­ing in Aus­tralia grad­u­at­ed in 1891. Lau­ra Fowler was the first woman to grad­u­ate from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Adelaide’s Med­ical School and was…

Ruby LINDSAY

Born 20/3/1885, Died 12/3/1919

Also known as: Ruby Lind, Mrs Will Dyson

Sis­ter of Creswick artist broth­ers Bill and Nor­man Lindsay.Worked under name ​“Ruby Lind” to sep­a­rate her work from rest of family.Won spe­cial prize of a Diplo­ma to be Awarded…

Elizabeth ALLSOP

First woman to be elect­ed to, and lat­er Pres­i­dent of, the Kani­va Shire Coun­cil, Victoria

Pio­neered the mechan­i­cal and dri­ving of both 2 and 4 wheeled vehi­cles for women of the…

Margaret Mary STAIB

Born 20 December 1962

2009 — Air Vice-Marshal.
2010 — Com­man­der, Joint Logis­tics Command.
Both were at the time the high­est rank­ing woman in the Aus­tralian military.
2012 — First woman CEO of Air Services…

Linda Jean BURNEY

Born 25 April 1957

2003 — First Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralian to be vot­ed into the 147 year old New South Wales Par­lia­ment, as mem­ber for Can­ter­bury. The ​“fourth Abo­rig­i­nal woman elect­ed any­where in…

Margaret Edgeworth McINTYRE

Born 28/11/1886, Died 2/09/1948

Also known as: née David

First woman to enter Tas­man­ian State Government.

1 Jan­u­ary 1948 — Appoint­ed an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (Civ­il) for ser­vices to education.

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Jillian Fiona MAXWELL

Also known as: Jill

1997 — First woman to head Pul­teney Gram­mar Schools gov­ern­ing body”, as chair, break­ing a 150-year ​“men only” tra­di­tion and first non-cler­gy appoint­ment in 125 years.…

Susan Grace BENNY

Born 4 October 1872, Died 5 November 1944

Also known as: Susan Grace Anderson

Susan Grace Ben­ny was Aus­trali­a’s first female mem­ber of a local gov­ern­ment, appoint­ed to the Sea­cliff ward of South Aus­trali­a’s Brighton Coun­cil on 22 Decem­ber 1919. She…

Kareena BALLARD

From 1996 – 1998, Kareena Bal­lard was the first female pres­i­dent of both the Real Estate Insti­tute of WA and the Real Estate Insti­tute of Aus­tralia. She was award­ed the REI­WA Kevin…

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Barbara JAMES

Born 8 November 1943, Died 2003

Also known as: née Johnson

His­to­ri­an of the North­ern Territory.
1999- Chief Min­is­ter’s Wom­en’s Achieve­ment Award for her con­tri­bu­tion to the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry as a jour­nal­ist, his­to­ri­an, author,…

Margaret SOMERVILLE

Born 24 September 1912

1991 — Mar­garet was the first Aus­tralian woman to be pre­sent­ed with the Bat­tle of Aus­tralia medallion.

1941 – 1965 — Pio­neer Methodist lay mis­sion­ary on Cro­ker Island, Northern…

June D'ROZARIO

Born 16 June 1949

1977 – 1983 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s Labor Par­lia­men­tar­i­an. One of the few women to put up for elec­tion to the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Parliament.

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Mary GLOWREY

Born 23 June 1887, Died 5 May 1957

Also known as: Mary Glowrey, M.D.; Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart Society of Jesus, Mary, Joseph

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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.

Irene CRESPIN

Born 12 November 1896, Died 2 January 1980

Irene Crespin reached the high­est lev­el of her pro­fes­sion as Com­mon­wealth Palaeon­tol­o­gist with the Depart­ment of the Inte­ri­or in 1936, how­ev­er, her salary was fixed at about half that…

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Rebe Elizabeth GRIFFITHS

Born 20 May 1912, Died 9 May 1991

Also known as: née Griffiths, Tringy, Rebe Scholz, Emma Hill

Rebe Grif­fiths, was the first Vic­to­ri­an woman and, at 19, then the youngest in Australia.

1931 — First female to fly solo around Australia.

1931 — Reput­ed to be youngest female in…

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Patricia A. WILSON

Also known as: née Bathe, Pat

One of the first two police women to be attached to Alice Springs Police.

She joined Mon­day, 14 July 1969 and ceased Wednes­day, 2 Decem­ber 1970, serv­ing for one year, four…

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Sarah BROMLEY

1930s — Domes­tic, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.
Pos­si­bly orig­i­nal­ly from Ood­na­dat­ta, South Australia.

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Rebecca WOOD

Also known as: Becky

First female in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to train as a Tel­stra com­mu­ni­ca­tions technician.

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Judith Olga STACK

Born 1/02/1952

Also known as: Judi

2000 — First woman chair of the Fed­er­a­tion of Com­mer­cial Tele­vi­sion Stations.

Lorna Verdun SISELY

Born 14/03/1916, Died 27/01/2004

Also known as: Dr Lorna Sisely

1947 — First woman in Vic­to­ria to be admit­ted to Fel­low­ship of The Roy­al Aus­tralasian Col­lege of Sur­geons (FRACS), and the sec­ond per­son in Aus­tralia to gain that recognition).…

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Caroline Martha DAVID

Born 26/4/1856, Died 25/12/1951

Also known as: née Mallett, Cara, Lady, Caroline Edgeworth David, Caroline Mallett

Wife of Sir Edge­worth David, Pro­fes­sor of Geology.President of Wom­en’s Nation­al Move­ment for Social Reform.Spearheaded cam­paign for Hotels 6 o’clock clos­ing in New South…

Judy CAMPBELL

1994 — First offi­cial­ly appoint­ed female Town Crier in Australia.
1997 — First female Town Crier to win Run­ner Up World Cham­pi­on (Sid­ney, British Colum­bia, Canada).
2010 — First female…

Lillian Georgina FRANK

Born 16 January 1930

Also known as: née Jacob

First woman hair­dress­er to be trained at Eliz­a­beth Arden.
11 June 1977 — Appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for involve­ment with char­i­ties, includ­ing 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…

Nancy GREER

Also known as: Nan

“A triple-cer­tifi­cat­ed nurs­ing sis­ter, Miss Greer trav­elled the iso­lat­ed areas of Vic­to­ria between 1944 and 1951, brav­ing bush­fires, floods, dust storms and all man­ner of emergencies…

Enid HARLAND

Also known as: née Batchelor

Enid Har­land has been a tire­less work­er for over twen­ty years, work­ing with fam­i­lies of pris­on­ers in Alice Springs and help­ing pris­on­ers stay con­nect­ed to their fam­i­lies. She…

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Henrietta Stuart MEYERS

Annie Williams arrived in Alice Springs in the late 1890s. Here she mar­ried Char­lie Mey­ers (aka Aaron Schun­ke), the local sad­dler. They had four chil­dren: Dorothy Annie, Her­man John…

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Mavis HOARE

Born 1927

Also known as: née Winn

1951 — First women in the South African province of Natal to gain a com­mer­cial pilot’s licence.

Flew for the Onas­sis and Niar­chos fam­i­lies for four (4) years. Moved to…

Winifred Alison WELLS

1950 – 51: First woman to ride a motor bike (Roy­al Enfield Bul­let 350) across Aus­tralia (Perth to Syd­ney and back).

Dorothy Helena HERBERT

Born 24 September 1922, Died 27 August 2014

Dorothy Her­bert start­ed with the Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Ser­vice in 1961, locat­ed at Charleville, Queens­land. She worked 20 years for them, flew all over the out­back, and attend­ed outback…

Jacqueline Gail HUGGINS

Born 19 August 1956

Also known as: Jackie

2000 — Received the Queens­land Pre­mier’s Mil­len­ni­um Award for Excel­lence in Indige­nous Affairs.
2001 — Appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, ser­vice to the indigenous…

Mary Ann BIN-SALLIK

Born 2 November 1940

Hold­ing both a Mas­ters (1986) degree in Edu­ca­tion­al Admin­is­tra­tion and a Doc­tor­ate (1989) in Edu­ca­tion from Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, USA, she was also the first Indige­nous grad­u­ate in…

Isobelle Violet PRICE

Born 25/04/1876, Died 29/10/1957

Also known as: née Hesketh, Isobel, Ivy

First lone woman (with her four chil­dren) to run a sta­tion in Cen­tral Aus­tralia — Harp­er Springs near Ti Tree (1924 – 1930s). Wid­ow of Tele­graph Mas­ter of Old Tele­graph Sta­tion, Alice…

Doreen MIDDLETON

Born 11/03/1912, Died 15/07/1985

Also known as: née Middleton

1931 — First per­son to ride a bicy­cle from Mel­bourne to Ade­laide and return (both directions).
Aged 19 years, Doreen rode her bicy­cle from Mel­bourne to Ade­laide (607 miles) in 4 days,…

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Dorothy Ada VINES

Matron Vines and mem­bers of the Aus­tralian Army Nurs­ing Ser­vice off to work in a truck nick-named ​‘Leap­ing Lena’.

Julia RITCHIE

2000 — First woman elect­ed onto the Aus­tralian Jock­ey Club Committee

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Georgia LE PLASTRIER

Mem­ber (Robyn Fox, Geor­gia Le Plas­tri­er, Jen­ny McKen­zie, Jo Van Son) of the first Aus­tralian all-female canoe team to make the full descent of the Yukon Riv­er (Unit­ed States).

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Valerie FANN

1970s — First female bank teller, Com­mon­wealth Bank, Alice Springs.

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Katrina LEE

1978 — Kat­ri­na Lee was the first on com­mer­cial television.

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Marilyn May WEBB

Born 1 June 1951, Died 2000

Daugh­ter of Pio­neer WEBB fam­i­ly of Mt Rid­dock Sta­tion. Nurse at Gran­ite gold mine for 9 years.Foundation Life Mem­ber of NPWHF. Mem­ber of North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Wom­en’s Advisory…

Kathleen GARDINER

Also known as: née Howell

1920s — With close friend Jean Beat­son née ROBERT­SON, motored from Vic­to­ria to Dar­win and Back — an endurance run — first females to do so.

1927 — Came sec­ond in RACV…

Jean Ethel BURNS

Born December 1919, Died 25/05/2019

In 1937, as Aus­trali­a’s youngest female pilot, Jean became the first female para­chutist to jump from an aero­plane in Australia.

Jean joined the Roy­al Vic­to­ri­an Aero Club at the…

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Antoinette GAGLIARDI

Antoinette, the first child of Maria Con­cetta ​“Con­nie” née Cic­cone and Giuseppe Gagliar­di arrived in Aus­tralia, via Argenti­na, with her moth­er in 1938.

Natasha Jessica STOTT DESPOJA

Born 9/09/1969

Also known as: née Stott Despoja, Nat

2001 — Sen­a­tor Aus­tralian Demo­c­rat Par­ty. Youngest woman par­lia­men­tar­i­an and youngest par­ty leader in Aus­tralian history.

Margaret BLACKWOOD

Born 26 April 1909, Died 1 June 1986

Also known as: Dame Margaret Blackwood

First woman Deputy Can­cel­lor at Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty. First woman appoint­ed Hon­orary Life Mem­ber by the Asso­ci­a­tion of Women on Cam­pus Mel­bourne Uni­ver­si­ty. OBE 1981. First constructor…

Beatrice DAY

Born 1865, Died 5 September 1933

1900 — Beat­rice Day is said to be the first woman in an Aus­tralian film, appear­ing in Aus­trali­a’s, and pos­si­bly the world’s, first film (albeit silent) the Salvation…

Emily MacARTHUR

Born 26/2/1806, Died 27/11/1880

Also known as: née Stone, E. M. Fecit, Amelia MacArthur, Amelia Stone, Emily Stone

Wife of James MacArthur (son of Eliz­a­beth and John Macarthur). Con­tin­ued work on ​“Cam­den Park” with husband.
Taught farm chil­dren (free and con­vict) at school estab­lished by…