Grace Emily MUNRO

Born 25/03/1879, Died 23/07/1964

Also known as: née Gordon

1922 — Founder of the Coun­try Wom­en’s Asso­ci­a­tion of Aus­tralia (CWA), with her as the pres­i­dent. She trav­elled New South Wales and Queens­land , and by 1923 formed 68 branch­es and…

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Leila Estelle CROPLEY

1963 — First Head of new Alice Springs Office of North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Tourist Board.

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Faye BARTLETT

One of the first women police in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. All com­menced their recruit train­ing (with a num­ber of men) in Feb­ru­ary 1961, and the course ​“passed out” on 10…

Dianne SULLIVAN

2003 — First North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry school teacher to rep­re­sent Aus­tralia at N.A.S.A. (USA) at their space camp.

Grew up in Alice Springs where she taught at Our Lady of the…

Alice Maude NORTHCOTE

Died 06/1934

Also known as: née Alice Brooke, Alice Stephen

She arranged the first ever exhi­bi­tion of Aus­tralian wom­en’s art held at the Exhi­bi­tion build­ing, Mel­bourne in 1907, dur­ing her hus­band’s term as Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al of…

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Mary BRYANT

Born 1765, Died after 1794

Also known as: née Broad/Braund

Mary Bryant, arrived on the First Fleet. In just a few months, the food the First Fleet had brought with it had run out or was rot­ten. Des­per­ate and hun­gry, Mary, her hus­band William…

Fiona SIMPSON

Born 18 April 1965

2012: First female Speak­er in the Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly of Queensland.

In 1992, youngest woman to be elect­ed to the Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly; Deputy Leader of the Queensland…

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…

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Judith Arundell WRIGHT

Born 31 May 1915, Died 25 June 2000

Also known as: née Wright, McKinney

Judith Wright has pub­lished more than fifty books and was the first Aus­tralian poet to receive the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poet­ry (1992). She has also received many oth­er prizes…

Mary Anna ROBERTSON

Born 7/3/1872, Died 15/8/1958

Also known as: née Loader, Mary Ann Loader

She and her sis­ter ran the laun­dry for min­ers in Snake Val­ley, Victoria.Married John ROBERT­SON, a miner.

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Ailsa Merle TRUNDLE

Born 9/08/1916, Died 26/04/2002

1940s — One of first female part­ners appoint­ed in archi­tec­ture in West­ern Australia.

Joan SUTHERLAND

Born 1926, Died 2010

Also known as: Dame Joan Sutherland, La Stupenda

Joan Suther­land was a world famous sopra­no, one of the great­est voic­es of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry. Joan stud­ied at the Roy­al Col­lege of Music in Lon­don, mak­ing a suc­cess­ful debut at…

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Cynthia Mary TEAGUE

Born 22 May 1907, Died 08 March 2007

1965 — First woman to reach Sec­ond Divi­sion lev­el in Fed­er­al Pub­lic Service 
(Assis­tant Direc­tor-Gen­er­al of Fed­er­al Depart­ment of Works).

1930 — Won Grice Bronze Medal for…

Ellen Dorothy LITTLEJOHN

Also known as: née Small

1926 — One of two nurs­ing sis­ters of the Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion appoint­ed to Ade­laide House Hos­pi­tal, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Joan MacCORMAC

Also known as: née Waterton

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Short-term member.

Ruth Sabina HEATHCOCK

Born 11 January 1901, Died 7 May 1995

Also known as: née Rayney, Sister Ruth

First white woman to be tak­en by the Abo­rig­ines into ​‘Ruined City’ in Arn­hem Land, North­ern Territory.

1951 — Award­ed Order of the British Empire (OBE), for row­ing 145…

Sigrid THORNTON

Born 12/02/1959

2002 — Cen­te­nary Medal for act­ing and ser­vice to the media.

2002 — Board mem­ber for Film Victoria.

2007 — Mem­ber of Malt­house The­ater board.
2000 — Sil­ver Logie, most…

Roberta Henrietta JULL

Born 1872, Died 1961

Also known as: née Stewart, Roberta Ferguson-Stewart

Scot­tish born and Glas­gow-trained, she joined her broth­er’s prac­tice in West­ern Aus­tralia and then set up her own in Perth in 1897, becom­ing West­ern Aus­trali­a’s first woman…

Lucinda Mary TURNBULL

Born 30 March 1958

Also known as: née Hughes, Lucy

2003 — Became first woman Lord May­or of Sydney.

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Phyllis Mary KABERRY

Born 17 September 1910, Died 31 October 1977

1941 — First woman anthro­pol­o­gist award­ed Yale Study Fellowship.

1930s-1960s — Pub­lished papers on her anthro­po­log­i­cal work in the Kim­ber­ley, Papua New Guinea and Cameroon.…

Marjorie Florence LAWRENCE

Born 17 February 1907, Died 13 January 1979

1946 — Received the cross of the Légion d’hon­neur, France.
1976 — Appoint­ed Com­man­der of the Most Excel­lent Order of the British Empire.

For­mer singer who, after…

Daphne Jessie AKHURST

Born 22/4/1903, Died 9/1/1933

Also known as: Daphne Cozens

Daphne Akhurst was the first Aus­tralian woman to reach the Wim­ble­don semi-finals (1928), and the first Aus­tralian woman to fig­ure promi­nent­ly in ten­nis in over­seas tours. She reached…

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Shirley ANDERSON

1 of 2 first women Air Traf­fic Con­trollers in Aus­tralia (Syd­ney Air­port 1960).

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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…

Gracia BAYLOR

Born 8 October 1929

Also known as: Gracia Parry-Okeden, Gracia Freeman

Gra­cia Bay­lor was the first woman Pres­i­dent of Shire of Healesville, Vic­to­ria (1977) dur­ing 12 year stint as munic­i­pal Coun­cil­lor; in 1973 – 74 she was the pres­i­dent of the Victorian…

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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.

Isola Florence THOMPSON

Born 18/11/1861, Died 7/12/1915

Also known as: Florence Isola

1885 — One of two female Arts grad­u­ates, with Mary Eliz­a­beth Brown, Syd­ney University.
1887 — She became the first woman to com­plete a Mas­ter of Arts, Syd­ney University.

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Gertrude Mary TURNER

Born 1 August 1898, Died 28 January 2000

Also known as: née Elliott, Gertie

She was the gov­erness to her cousin Jane Hayes’ chil­dren, Mary, Jane, and Lizzie. Cor­re­spon­dence lessons and books were sent by camel from South Australia.She lat­er mar­ried Jim…

Ella Annie Noble MacKNIGHT

Born 1904, Died 1/4/1997

First woman to serve on the Asian Fed­er­a­tion of Obstet­rics & Gynae­col­o­gy in 1965, she was also first female pres­i­dent of the Aus­tralian Coun­cil of the Roy­al Col­lege of Obstetrics…

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).

Margaret Helena DOOHAN

Born 1850, Died 17 September 1922

Also known as: née McInerney

1867 – 1873 — First Post Mis­tress of Tan­kerooka, New South Wales. After hus­band’s death took over licence of Tele­graph Hotel, Wee­long, New South Wales. Owned hotel till 1906.…

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.

Lalla TRUGERNANNER

Born 1812, Died 8 May 1876

Also known as: Truganini, Trucanini, Trucaninny, Lalla Rooke

One of the fore­most Tas­man­ian Abo­rig­i­nal lead­ers of the 1800s, nego­tia­tor and spokesper­son for her people.

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Dorothy DOWLING

First all-women tour group to Cen­tral Australia.

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Luna SOUTH

Also known as: née Everall

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Jan Lynn STEPHENSON

Born 22/12/1951

The first woman golf pro­fes­sion­al to design golf courses.

Post­ed 16 vic­to­ries on the Wom­en’s Ladies Pro­fes­sion­al Golf Asso­ci­a­tion tour.March 2018 — Award­ed the Order of…

Caroline CHISHOLM

Born 30 May 1808, Died 25 March 1877

Also known as: née Jones

She is com­mem­o­rat­ed on 16 May in the cal­en­dar of saints of the Church of England.
2001 — Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

She was giv­en the title ​“The…

Jean BEADLE

Born 1/1/1868, Died 22/5/1942

Also known as: Jean (Jane) Miller

1898 — Found­ing mem­ber of the first Labour Wom­en’s Asso­ci­a­tion in Australia

1905 — Found­ing mem­ber of the first West­ern Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Polit­i­cal and Social Crusade…

Heather SWAN

Also known as: née Wilson, Heather SINGLEMAN

2001 — First woman to climb ​‘Tran­go Tow­er’ in the Pak­istan Himalayas.

Myra MacKENZIE

Born 1881, Died 1969

Also known as: née Rendle

1899 — First qual­i­fied female den­tist in Queens­land (prac­tic­ing Bris­bane 1899, reg­is­tered 1903).

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Gail KELLY

Born 25/4/1956

Also known as: nee Currer

2001 — First woman to be Chief Exec­u­tive of a major bank (St George Bank).
The only CEO of an Aus­tralian bank to have giv­en birth to triplets.

Only female Chief Exec­u­tive of…

Michelle PAYNE

Born 29/9/1985

In 2015, Michelle Payne was the first female jock­ey to win the Mel­bourne Cup in its 155-year his­to­ry, rid­ing Prince of Penzance. 

In her win­ning ride, Michelle was,…

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Nellie Grace IBBOTT

Born 20 June 1889, Died 25 June 1970

Also known as: née Pugh

1943 — She was Vic­to­ri­a’s first may­or, app­point­ed to Hei­del­berg City Council.
2001 — Induct­ed into the Vic­to­ri­an Hon­our Roll of Women.

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Margaret BARNES

Also known as: Madge

1906 — One of first women to grad­u­ate in den­tistry from Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.
1910 – 1913 — Per­haps ran Aus­trali­a’s first joint female den­tal prac­tice (with Annie Praed) in…

Natalee Joy JOHNSTON

Born 19/08/1976

Also known as: née McDougall

1998 — First woman pilot in the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy (RAN) and first woman to grad­u­ate as a pilot for the RAN in its 50 years of naval aviation.
1998 — First female Navy helicopter…

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Dorothy M. R. STEWART

Born 1892, Died 19/06/1954

Also known as: Dolly

Lyri­cist (arrange­ment and lyrics) of Now Is The Hour.

Annabelle Jane Mary RANKIN

Born 28/07/1908, Died 30/08/1986

Also known as: née Rankin

The first woman to head an Aus­tralian diplo­mat­ic mis­sion, she was the Aus­tralian High Com­mis­sion­er to New Zealand from 1971 – 1974. Pri­or to her diplo­mat­ic career she had been in…

Susan Elizabeth MEEUWISSEN

Born 15/4/1962, Died 18/07/2000

Also known as: Sue

First per­son in the world to obtain a rul­ing of Unlaw­ful Dis­crim­i­na­tion by rea­son of Dis­abil­i­ty (Asth­ma) for expo­sure to envi­ron­men­tal tobac­co smoke.

Annie Florence LACEY

Born 28/10/1893, Died 1960

Also known as: née Rampton, Nance

Opened first hos­pi­tal for peo­ple with Lep­rosy in Mel­bourne in ear­ly 1950s.

Pio­neer­ing Bush Nurse in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and Far North Queensland.1919 — Trained as nurse, Hobart…

Diamantina BOWEN

Born 1833, Died 17 November 1893

Also known as: née Roma, Contessa Diamantina Roma, Lady Bowen

1859 — As the Gov­er­nor’s wife, she became First Lady of Queens­land on the sep­a­ra­tion of Queens­land from New South Wales.1864 — The Lady Bowen ​‘Lying In Hos­pi­tal’ was…