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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Anita TURNER
Died 29/01/2006
Awarded gold Badge and Certificate of Merit for dedicated service to Returned & Services League (RSL) (highest award to a non-RSL member).
Life Member of Alice Springs… -
Anne-Marie PRIESTLEY
1999 — Northern Territory’s first female Anglican Priest. First woman to have responsibility for a parish.
She “was ordained a priest in Alice Springs on Sunday, May 30,… -
Gladys Ruth GIBSON
Born 29 December 1901, Died 23 August 1972
Also known as: Ruth
Educator, Community Leader.
1919 — Began as a student-teacher, Goodwood.1921 — Appointed to Westbourne Park Public School.1937 — Obtained Bachelor of Arts, University of Adelaide.1940… -
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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Roma BLAIR
Born 1923, Died 5 November 2013
Also known as: née Blair, Swami Nirmalananda
First Australian Bride to be married by Proxy.
Author of six (6) books on yoga.Established Roma Blair Yoga Clubs in Sydney, New South Wales.1959 — Established television… -
Louisa Ann MEREDITH
Born 20/07/1812, Died 21/10/1895
Also known as: née Twamley
1880 — First women in Australia to design a postage stamp. She sketched the platypus on a Tasmanian Duty Stamp. Two years later these stamps were authorised for postal use.…
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Benita Kaye BITTNER
Born 9 May 1982
August 1999 — Received accreditation as a Level I tennis coach, Northern Territory’s youngest woman to gain the certificate, and one of the youngest in Australia.
Gained… -
Juliet E M STAWELL
1916 — One of the first women (along with Annie Littlejohn) to enroll in Architecture at Melbourne University — did not complete course.
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Martha Patricia PROUDLOVE
Died 13/10/1997
Also known as: Patti, Pattie
1930s — First woman to hold a bus driver’s licence in Western Australia.
Ran a public and tourist bus service with husband and family from Denmark to Albany, Western… -
June Rosalie BAKER
Born 27 June 1937
The first and only WRANS Officer to attend Royal Naval Staff College in Greenwich, England — 1976 – 1977 -
The only WRANS officer to serve an exchange posting with the RN.
The… -
Eugenta Mabel Humphris JONES
Also known as: née McPHERSON, Mabel, formerly LAMPE
MRS JONES’ STORYOriginally arriving in Stuart in 1911 as Mrs Jeffrey Lampe, Mabel and her husband took over the license of the Stuart Arms which within a few months she was running…
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Jane Eliza Boynton CURRIE
Born 11 July 1797, Died 17 May 1876
Also known as: née Wood
Jane Elizabeth Currie, the wife of Western Australia’s first postmaster, has been claimed as Australia’s first-named female artist for her watercolour Our First Hut on Garden…
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Evonne Fay CAWLEY
Born 31/07/1951
Also known as: née Goolagong
First Aboriginal Australian to win the prestigious Wimbledon tennis singles title (1971)
Tennis — Australian Open — won 4 times. French Open — won 1. Wimbledon — won 1971… -
Nellie Veir CAREY
Born 1890, Died 15/06/1973
Also known as: née Scott, Nellie Veir Scott
Only female in Victoria to become a soldier settler, in Red Cliffs, Victoria and became a successful grape grower.
1911 — Began training as a nursing sister. During the early… -
Mary David ALLCHIN
Born 17/5/1913
Pioneer of Central Australia. Arrived in Alice Springs in 1941, took her final vows with the Catholic Church in 1942 and helped establish Arltunga mission in 1942. Also worked on…
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Elizabeth Mary KELL
Born 1791, Died 22 January 1827
Pioneer of old Sydney Town and the Illawarra district. Elizabeth arrived in Sydney Cove in 1819 aboard the “Minerva” with her husband George and three children (one born on…
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Alline Dawn LAWRIE
Born 3/11/1938
Also known as: Dawn
2003 — A recipient of the Tribute to Northern Territory.
Northern Territory Independent for Nightcliff for 12 years focussing on human rights. -
Roma Flinders MITCHELL
Born 2/10/1913, Died 05/03/2000
The first woman to “take silk”, when promoted to Queen’s Counsel in 1962, she is Australia’s first female Judge when appointed to the Supreme Court of South…
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Rae COLSON
Cook, pensioner.
1957 — Began working as a cook at the Aileron pub, Northern Territory. -
Maria DUN
Born 1798, Died 27 June 1878
Also known as: née Burdett
Pioneer of the Hunter region of New South Wales.
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Phyllis Jean BENJAMIN
Born 30 August 1907, Died 9 April 1996
Also known as: née Allsopp, Hon. Phyllis Benjamin
1968 – 1969 — First woman Leader of the Government in Legislative Council (Upper House), Tasmania. She was the first woman to hold the position in any Australian legislative council.…
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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. -
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. -
Deborah CLARKE
Artist. Teaches Fine Arts at the university level (Tafe, New South Wales and Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory). She creates using a variety of media (creative writing,…
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Margaret VAN PRAAGH
Born 1/09/1910, Died 15/01/1990
Also known as: Peggy
1962 — First Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet Company.
1966 — Appointed Order of the British Empire.
1970 — Appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
2012… -
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.…
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Rosemary YOUNG
1999 — First woman and first lay person to head the Uniting Church of Australia’s Frontier Services, formerly the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) when appointed as Director.…
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Fiona Melanie WOOD
Born 2/02/1958
Also known as: née Wood
1992 — Established Perth, Western Australia, first human skin tissue culture laboratory.
In 2003, she was awarded The Order of Australia Member of the Order (AM) and the Australian… -
Dido COOPER
Born 1897
When Adelaide House was opened in 1926, it was run by nurses … with the help of Aboriginal women like Dido Cooper.
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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… -
Sylvia WILSON
Born 30 December 1918, Died 6 February 2012
Also known as: née Roach
1942 — Lieutenant/Nurse Sylvia Roach was stationed at Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
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Shane GOULD
Only woman in swimming to hold records for every freestyle distance simultaneously — 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m.
First woman to swim 1500m in under 17 minutes
1972 -… -
Marita MUNRO
Born 1955
Marita Munro was the Baptist Church’s first woman minister when ordained in Victoria in 1978.
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Agnes DUBOIS
Born 17 August 1914, Died 9 January 2009
Also known as: née Draper, Aunty Agnes
Born at Hamilton Downs and arrived in Alice Springs when one (1) week old. Lived in the children’s home behind the Stuart Arms Hotel and Jay Creek before settling at the Old…
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Judith Mary ROBERTS
Born 17 December 1936
1978 — First Representative from South Australia to National Women’s Advisory Council.
1980s — Appointed to the National Health and Medical Research Council and later… -
Amelia Maud GILLEN
Born 26/05/1869, Died 16/11/1928
Also known as: née Besley, Minnie, Amelia Maude
Amelia “Minnie” Gillen was an accomplished singer and pianist. As a twenty-two-year-old bride, she travelled from Mount Gambier to her new home at Alice Springs in 1891.The…
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Mary Hyacinthe Petronel WHITE
Born 4 October 1900, Died 01 June 1984
Also known as: née Groom, Petronel
The first woman to represent a capital city council in Australia, she was elected alderman to the Hamilton ward of the Brisbane City Council in 1949.
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Esther BOHNING
Born 14 July 1879, Died 2 January 1952
Also known as: née Jenkins
First lady on Tennant Creek goldfields.
She, with her daughter Elsie, became known as “The Petticoat Drovers” and took the first mob of cattle between Alice Springs and… -
Marie MAHOOD
Died 03/2009
Co-founder, with husband, of property “Mongrel Downs” Northern Territory near Western Australian border in Tanami Desert.
Journalist.
Author of “Bleating Around The… -
Jill KER CONWAY
Born 9 October 1934, Died 06 June 2018
Also known as: Jill Ker Conway
1975 — First female President of Smith College (United States of America).
1975 — named as one of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year. As a writer, particularly known… -
Jessie Goldie YOUNG
Born 25/5/1911, Died 23/9/1988
Also known as: née Matheson
First arrived at Ernabella 4 August 1938. Second visit 1942 – 1944. Her husband Len accredited with finding water at Ernabella.
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Elsie ELIAS
First Honorary Secretary of the Dawson Highway Brigalow Settler’s Association.
Pioneer of central Queensland on cattle property at Moura, Queensland. -
Isobel WILLIAMS
Also known as: Dr Isobel Wiilliams, Constance Isabel Arundel
In 1967, Dr Isoblel Williams became the first woman President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP).
Few records remain of Dr… -
Sally CHIRNSIDE
First female committee member of the Victorian Racing Club (VRC). Appointed in July 1991 — retired in 2002.
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Essie STUART
Born 1904
Also known as: née Simpson
With camel driver husband, brought goods from Maree and Oodnadatta to Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
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Jill LAMONT
Pioneer road train driver. Only female on construction site at Yulara — delivering freight.
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Jean BEATSON
Born 1904, Died 1983
Also known as: Jean Robertson
1928 — Broke the Perth to Melbourne record with Kathleen GARDINER née Howell.
1932 — Motor racing — Monte Carlo Rally — placed 17th out of 150.
Councilor of the Victorian… -
Winifred Marie Narelle BULLARD
Born 1900, Died 1 May 1983
Also known as: Narelle
1937 — Began first Girl Guides Association in Tanganyika, Africa.
1953 — First Australian Deaconess to receive Imperial Honours, when appointed a Member of the British Empire (MBE)…