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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Elizabeth COSSON
Born 1958
Elizabeth Cosson was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of Major General, making her the first Australian woman to reach “two-star” rank in the Australian Army. Prior to that…
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Jacqueline NINIO
Also known as: Jackie
Jacqueline Ninio, in Sydney, was the third female Progressive Rabbi, ordained in 1998.
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Anna Christina BOOTH
Born 25 November 1955
1987 – 1992 — First Australian woman Federal Secretary of a union (National Secretary of the Textile Union).
1977, 1983, 1984 – 1985 — Research Officer for the Clothing and Allied… -
Jean Fleming ARNOT
Born 23 April 1903, Died 27 September 1995
1965 — Awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil), for community services in Sydney.
1921 – 44 — Librarian at Public Library of New South Wales.1944 – Public… -
Jessie Aitken LOVE
Born 1842, Died 1933
Also known as: née Tennant
1863 — Pastoral Pioneer with husband in Port Lincoln District. Owners of “Mitcham Lawn” home and property overlooking Adelaide (now a Heritage building).
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Millicent Fanny PRESTON-STANLEY
Born 1883, Died 1955
Also known as: née Stanley
1925 — First woman to enter New South Wales government.
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Helen CALDICOTT
Born 7/8/1938
Also known as: Dr Helen Caldicott
Helen Caldicott is the founder of the Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (1982). In 1985, Helen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was won by the organisation she…
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Brit ANDRESEN
In 2002, Brit was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Gold Medal, honouring her contribution to the architecture field and…
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Amboora
Amboora worked for the Bradshaw family at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station as a housemaid.
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Maureen Patricia KIRK
Born 13/9/1955, Died 23/4/2001
Also known as: née Brown
In 1987, Maureen became the first Indigenous volunteer cancer support worker in Australia. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and, at the time, there were no cancer…
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Dorothy MORRELL
Also known as: Dot
1888 — Won the world’s first women’s bicycle race, Auburn, New South Wales.
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Amelia WILKINSON
First woman appointed General Manager of Alice Springs Masters Games (March-September 2001).
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Edith Miriel WITT
Born 11/10/1905, Died 19/11/2005
Also known as: Miriel
1943 — First woman pharmacist to become a “Pharmacy Academic” in Victoria.
1926 — Graduated Victorian College of Pharmacy.1927 — Registered as a qualified… -
Ellen Sarah KETTLE
Born 21/4/1922, Died 2/8/1999
Also known as: Sister Kettle, "hook and eye sister"
Nurse of remote Australia, Papua New Guinea, Queensland and Timor.
Foundation member of northern Territory Chapter of the College of Nursing of Australia.1967 — Author of Gone… -
Marian Ellis ROWAN
Born 30/07/1848, Died 4/10/1922
Also known as: RYAN, Ellis
Botanical artist. Painter of wild flowers. Explorer and nature lover.
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Marie Louise UHR
Born 4 July 1935, Died 28 July 2001
Marie Louise Uhr and Zoe Hancock founded the lobby group Ordination of Catholic Women to fight for women to enter the traditionally male-led stronghold.
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Daisy Florence RUDDICK
Born 15/08/1915, Died 23/04/2002
Also known as: née Kumachi Cusack
Pioneer of Darwin, Northern Territory. One of Stolen Generation. Nanny to Austin ASCHE. Nurse who worked with Flying Doctor, Clive Fenton, at Katherine, Northern Territory.
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Gabrielle Beryl HOLLOWS
Born 21/05/1953
Also known as: Gabi, née O'Sullivan
With her first husband (deceased) Dr Fred Hollows, they treated Aboriginal Australians with a range of eye conditions. Over a period of three years, they visited over 465 remote…
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Marjorie Faith BARNARD
Born 16 August 1897, Died 8/05/1987
Also known as: Marjory
1928 the Bulletin Prize
1981 Officer of the Order of Australia AO
1983 Patrick White Award
1984 NSW Premier’s Special Award
1986 Honorary Doctor of Letters from the… -
Frances MACK
Born 1922
Also known as: née Rowe
Pioneer of Victoria and New South Wales during The Depression and war years.
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Robyn WILLIAMS
Also known as: née Williams, Robyn Clay-Williams
Flight Lieutenant Williams and Flying Cadet Hicks were the first female pilots to graduate from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 30 June 1988. Only 18 graduated out of 34…
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Beth PRESS
From Yuanduma — Chair of Council Indigenous Advisory Council — to suggest ways to win Indigenous disadvantage.
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Beatrice Mary BRUMBY
Born 8 January 1915, Died 31 March 2012
Also known as: née Lennon
Pioneer of Central Australia and north South Australia.
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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… -
Katie Louisa ARDILL
Born 3 August 1886, Died 3 January 1955
Katie Ardill Brice was an Australian doctor. She was the first woman to be appointed as a divisional surgeon in New South Wales, and a year later was among the first female doctors…
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Ann Jane HAYES
Born 25 June 1893
Also known as: née Doolan, Jane
Written on the back of the drawing: Lived on Undoolya station for many years of her married life. Upon retirement of her husband, the property of Undoolya went to Mr and Mrs Ted…
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Lydia LONGMORE
Born 15/7/1874, Died 30/10/1967
1917 — First female Inspector of Schools (Lower Grades).
1957 — Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil), “Mother’s Clubs in South Australia.”
1918 — Founded… -
Norma Jean FINDLEY
Born 19 September 1921, Died 2 January 2001
1950s — First woman in the Technical’s Schools Division to win a Fulbright Scholarship.
1978 — Honoured with a Life Governorship of Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.Home… -
Heather McDonald SUTHERLAND
Born 25 May 1903, Died 1953
Also known as: née Moir
1940s — Probably Australian Capital Territory’s first female architect.
Half-sister of the opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland. -
Lily Isabel Maude ADDISON
Born 1887, Died 1968
1906 — First woman to do technical work in architectural office in Queensland. Lily assisted in her father’s office from about 1906. In 1914 she passed Building Construction and…
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Flora Sydney Patricia ELDERSHAW
Born 16 March 1897, Died 20 September 1956
Also known as: M. Barnard Eldershaw
1935 & 1943 — President of Sydney Branch of Fellowship of Australian Writers.
Wrote with literary partner Marjorie Barnard under the pen name ‘M Barnard… -
Mabel ADAMSON
Born 3 October 1905, Died 18 December 1998
Also known as: May, née Wilkinson
Mabel was an early pioneer of Central Australia, arriving in Alice Springs on 5th May 1920 with her family. Mabel’s father’s brother, George Wilkinson, had a store in Alice…
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Doreen Rose BRAITLING
Born 1904, Died 05/02/1979
Also known as: née Crook
1977: First President of the National Trust (Northern Territory)
1978: First honorary life member of National Trust
1979: Awarded British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to the… -
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…
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Leila Estelle CROPLEY
1963 — First Head of new Alice Springs Office of Northern Territory Tourist Board.
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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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Wendy GREEN
Born 1951
1999 — First female horse trainer in Northern Territory to win The Melbourne Cup with the horse Rogan Josh.
Darwin schoolteacher. -
Leone Beth CREAMER
Born 1929
1966 — The first female horse trainer in New South Wales.
1972 – 1973 — First woman horse trainer to reach the top ten trainers in the Southern Tablelands and South Coast (New South… -
Julia Teresa FLYNN
Born 24 January 1878, Died 14 October 1947
1928 — First woman Chief Inspector of Schools.
March 1912 — Obtained university degree, Melbourne, Victoria.1914 — Appointed inspector of secondary schools, “at a time when… -
Marita MUNRO
Born 1955
Marita Munro was the Baptist Church’s first woman minister when ordained in Victoria in 1978.
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Maria Antonia CICCONE
Born 1891, Died 1979
Also known as: née Cotela, Antonia
Maria Antonia Ciccone arrived from Serrata, Southern Italy in 1933 and came straight to Alice Springs to join her husband Patsy. He had been here seven years already, trying to get…
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Margaret Augusta DE MESTRE
Born 16 November 1915, Died 19 February 1942
Also known as: Sister Margaret DeMestre
First Australian woman to lose her life in Australia while on active service. She was 26 years of age.
1942 — Nursing sister from Bellingen in New South Wales on hospital… -
Rosemary RYALL
Also known as: Rose
First female medical scientist of Flinders Medical Centre to be promoted to professor.
She is the granddaughter of Dame Enid LYONS. -
Beverley Louise BOLIN
Born 23 January 1923
Also known as: Beverley Carter
The first known woman architect to qualify in South Australia was Beverley Bolin, who graduated in 1948. She registered in 1950 in South Australia but moved permanently to the United…
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Clara Puella GREIG
Born 23 December 1877, Died 9 June 1957
1904 — Opened a coaching college in (The Block, Collins Street) Melbourne for university students, staffed by her women graduate friends as specialist tutors.
Sister of Grata Flos… -
Emma Constance STONE
Born 4 December 1856, Died 29 December 1902
Also known as: Constance
Born in Hobart, Tasmania, she was Australia’s first woman doctor registering with the Medical Board of Victoria in 1890, after training overseas. She practised one day a week at…
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Ann HOWE
Born 1802, Died 17 November 1842
Also known as: née Bird, Ann Bird, Ann Salmon, Ann Watt
1829 — First woman proprietor of a newspaper in Australia.
5 March 1803 — First newspaper published in Australia ‘Sydney Gazette & New South Wales Advertiser” was…