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Nanette ROGERS

First female Queen’s Coun­sel (QC) in Alice Springs; despite declin­ing press con­tact after her ini­tial 2006 inter­view, became known for her pub­lic expo­sure of fam­i­ly vio­lence in…

Ricky BURGES

Ricky Burges was the first woman to head the Perth Zoo, when she became the Zoo’s chief exec­u­tive offi­cer between 1995 – 1998.

In 1997, Ricky was the West­ern Australian…

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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.

Mary Ellinor Lucy ARCHER

Born 13 November 1893, Died 3 May 1979

Also known as: Ellinor Archer professionally

Mary Archer was CSIRO’s first woman sci­en­tist, and chief librar­i­an from 1923 – 1954. She is com­mem­o­rat­ed by the Library Asso­ci­a­tion of Aus­trali­a’s Elli­nor Archer award, first…

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Freda BRIGGS

Born 1 December 1930, Died 6 April 2016

Also known as: née Akeroyd

Edu­ca­tor, author, scholar.
Her appeal against manda­to­ry retire­ment paved the way for old­er Aus­tralians to retain work­ing posi­tions after retire­ment age.
Received ANZAC Fellowship…

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Christina Ellen STEAD

Born 17/07/1902, Died 31/03/1983

Also known as: née Stead, Christina Blake

Writer. Her papers are held in the Nation­al Library of Aus­tralia in Can­ber­ra (diaries and letters).Published works include: ​‘Cot­ter’s Eng­land’ (1966) and ​‘I’m…

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Esther MEANEY

Born 1914, Died 17-12-2002

Also known as: née Sargent

Inau­gur­al mem­ber of Dar­win House­wives Association.1950 — Elect­ed President.Northern Ter­ri­to­ry Pioneer.Wrote Esther: The True Life Sto­ry of an Aus­tralian Coun­try Girl.

Jennifer DAETZ

Also known as: Jenny

1997 — First female to com­mand a com­mis­sion­er R.A.N. Ves­sel ​‘HMAS Shepperton’.

She joined the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy in 1986, and has attained the rank of Captain.…

Evelyn Helena PARKER

Born 12 October 1907, Died 28 September 1993

1975 — First woman May­or in West­ern Aus­tralia (Subi­a­co Coun­cil). In 1976 she was Cit­i­zen of the Year.

She was a Jus­tice of the Peace. In 1977 she received an Offi­cer of the…

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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…

Eleanor Constance GREENHAM

Born 15 April 1874, Died 31 December 1957

Also known as: Ella

1 Feb­ru­ary 1892 — First stu­dent enrolled at Ipswich Girls Gram­mar School.

1901 — First Queens­land-born female Med­ical Prac­ti­tion­er in Queensland.

1901 — First female medical…

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Majorie COOK

World War I Veteran.

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Samantha Linette Pearl RILEY

Born 13/11/1972

Also known as: Sam

World Record hold­er and Gold Medal­list — Swim­ming — 29 Sept 20011996 — No. 1 Breas­troke Cham­pi­on in world.Won Prime Min­is­ter’s ​‘Women In Sport Award’

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Janine Ellen FEYAERTS

Born 23 September 1972

First woman moun­tain bike rid­er to be spon­sored by a major cor­po­ra­tion (Eric­s­son Australia).

Dorothy CARROLL

Born 1 February 1897, Died 18 June 1966

1957 – 1966 — First woman to be appoint­ed to the boards of the Roy­al Ade­laide and Queen Eliz­a­beth hospitals.
1955 — Appoint­ed to the Order of the British Empire — Offi­cer (Civ­il).…

Nita Bernice KIBBLE

Born 8/6/1879, Died 4/2/1962

First woman librar­i­an at the State Library of New South Wales, who prob­a­bly gained her appoint­ment by delib­er­ate­ly sign­ing her name using her ini­tials. She set up the library’s…

Pauline Lee HANSON

Born 27 May 1954

Also known as: née Seccombe, Pauline Zagorski

First Aus­tralian woman to form a polit­i­cal par­ty (One Nation). She was also head of One Nation.

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 5^th May 1920 with her fam­i­ly. Mabel’s father’s broth­er, George Wilkin­son, had a store in Alice…

Isabella Elizabeth McCOY

Born 1891, Died 1971

Also known as: née Pope, Bella, Ina

1926 – 28 — One of two nurs­ing sis­ters of the Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion appoint­ed to Ade­laide House Hos­pi­tal, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Writ­ten on the back of the…

Evonne Fay CAWLEY

Born 31/07/1951

Also known as: née Goolagong

First Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralian to win the pres­ti­gious Wim­ble­don ten­nis ladies’ sin­gles tour­na­ment title (1971).

Ten­nis — 14 Grand Slam Tour­na­ment Titles — sev­en in…

Woo Len AH TOY

Born 24 October 1917, Died 15 November 2001

Also known as: nee Wong, Lily

Lily was born and grew up in Dar­win and was known to many in the Top End for her sto­icism, gen­eros­i­ty and warm good humour. From 1936 to 1942 and con­tin­uin­ing after the war, Lily and…

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Pearl TUIT

1938 — With hus­band began a freight ser­vice to out­sta­tions in Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Lat­er pro­vid­ed a mail ser­vice between Alice Springs and Darwin.1951 — Formed Tuits Tours camp­ing trips…

Barbara ABLEY AM

Bar­bara Abley was elect­ed in March 2001 to the Coun­cil of the City of Greater Gee­long (Vic­to­ria) before becom­ing elect­ed as Deputy May­or lat­er that year.

In 2002 she became the first…

Lilian Violet COOPER

Born 11 August 1861, Died 18 August 1947

Also known as: Dr Lilian Cooper

Eng­lish born and Lon­don-trained, she emi­grat­ed in 1891 and set up prac­tice in Bris­bane, becom­ing Queens­land’s first woman doc­tor. She used a horse and sulky by day and a bicycle…

Tracey Lee WICKHAM

Born 24/11/1962

Also known as: Tiger

1978 — Wick­ham was the World Cham­pi­on for the 400 m and 800 m freestyle.
1978 — Made a Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire.
1978 and 1982 — Won gold in both events at the…

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…

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Eileen Elizabeth KILGARIFF

Born 31/12/1891

Also known as: née Minahan

Mona Mina­han came to Alice Springs in 1931 to vis­it her sis­ter, Eileen Kilgariff.

Mary READY

Born 1834, Died 06 April 1902

Also known as: née Hayes

First white woman in Mack­ay area of Queensland.

Pio­neer of the Mack­ay area, Queens­land. Wife of bul­locky James READY.

Jennifer BURGE

First female Chair­man of Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Embalmers.

Jan­u­ary 1994 — Began work­ing in the funer­al industry.

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…

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Bernadette (Cpl.) TAYLOR

2001 — One of first women in con­tin­gent of Aus­trali­a’s Fed­er­a­tion Guard to take up cer­e­mo­ni­al duties out­side Buck­ing­ham Palace, London.

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Cornelia SKINNER

Born 1867, Died 1949

Tryphena Rains mar­ried William (Bill) Ben­stead in 1881. … Bill became man­ag­er of Bar­row Creek Pas­toral Com­pa­ny, set­ting up home at Stir­ling Creek near the Bar­row Creek Telegraph…

Lottie KERR

Born 13 August 1885, Died 16 November 1957

Also known as: née Hill

Estab­lished Del­ny Sta­tion in Cen­tral Aus­tralia, with her hus­band Alexan­der Kerr.

Lot­tie Hill grew up in a fam­i­ly of 12 chil­dren and a 13^th adopt­ed child. After the death of…

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Fanny ROSS

Born 3 July 1859, Died 4 February 1930

Also known as: née Wallis, Fanny Blackmore Wallis, Fanny Cochrane Wallis

Fan­ny Ross was one of the first Eng­lish speak­ing white women at the heart of Aus­tralia. In 1885 she joined her hus­band Alexan­der, man­ag­er of Undoolya Sta­tion. She had her piano…

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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…

Alexis Jaye RHODES

Born 1/12/1984

Also known as: Alexi

2002 — First Alice Springs female cyclist to win World Junior Championship.

Dora Elizabeth BURCHILL

Born 4 January 1904, Died 3 December 2003

Also known as: Elizabeth

“Eliz­a­beth Burchill became a triple cer­tifi­cate nurse in the 1930s. She [was] a reg­is­tered nurse in sev­en coun­tries.” After retire­ment, she com­plet­ed three degrees: Bach­e­lor and Master…

Hetty PERKINS

Born 1895, Died 8/12/1979

Also known as: Hetti

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralian pas­toral leases.
At the Gar­den sta­tion, north-west of Arl­tun­ga, she worked on the prop­er­ty and helped to man­age it.
In 1928 she went to the Jay Creek…

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Anna LICHTENBERG

Lec­tur­er in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy (IT) (now PhD and con­sul­tant at Curtin Uni­ver­si­ty. First woman involved in the IT depart­ment at the Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege in Alice Springs, Northern…

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Heather WHITTAKER

Born 1929

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia in teach­ing in remote set­tle­ments. Her first post was Papun­ya, North­ern Territory.

Una Sybella TEAGUE

Born December 1878, Died 1969

Dur­ing the pro­longed drought in Cen­tral Aus­tralia in the 1920s many Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple died of beri-beri and scurvy. Pas­tor Albrecht want­ed to pipe good water from Kapo­r­ilya Springs 7…

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Tracey MOFFATT

Born 12/11/1960

1990s — First suc­cess­ful Indige­nous Aus­tralian woman pho­tog­ra­ph­er and film mak­er. Mof­fatt is a con­tem­po­rary artist using a vari­ety of tech­niques, such as col­lage, set design, and…

Elizabeth MacARTHUR

Born 14 August 1766, Died 9 February 1850

Also known as: née Veale

Co-Founder of the Aus­tralian Wool Indus­try. With hus­band John, estab­lished ​“Eliz­a­beth Farm” at Par­ra­mat­ta, Syd­ney, New South Wales.Imported meri­no sheep from Cape o Good…

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Mary Josephine CHATTERTON

Born 4 October 1912, Died 3 April 2006

Also known as: née Bagot, Mollie, Molly

1996 — Made mem­ber of hon­our of Coun­try Women’s Asso­ci­a­tion (CWA), South Aus­tralia (SACWA).

​“Drew the design for the … his­tor­i­cal tapes­try pan­el which is housed in the SACWA premises…

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Lucy Meredith BRYCE

Born 12 June 1897, Died 30 July 1968

Estab­lished Aus­trali­a’s first blood trans­fu­sion service.

1922 – 28 — Held research posts at the Wal­ter and Eliza Hall Insti­tute of Med­ical Research, Melbourne,…

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Amy Constance BLEAKLEY

Born 30 October 1903, Died 10 April 2001

Also known as: née Day, Connie

Social work­er in West­ern Aus­tralia till 1974 then moved to Dar­win where she con­tin­ued her social work with the elder­ly. Became mem­ber of Coun­cil for the Aging (North­ern Territory).…

Mona Margaret McBURNEY

Born 29/7/1862, Died 4/12/1932

Aus­trali­a’s first music grad­u­ate, was the first woman to have her opera, The Dal­ma­t­ian, com­posed 1905, per­formed in pub­lic at the Play­house, Mel­boure, 25 – 26 June 1926.
1896 -…

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…

Mary Theodora Joyce WILCOX

Born 24/11/1873, Died 14/12/1953

Also known as: Dora; Mrs William MOORE

Poet and play­wright. Wrote such as ​‘Vers­es from Maori Land’ (1905), ​‘Rata and Mistle­toe’ (1911), ​‘Sev­en Poems’ (1924). She wrote an ode to cel­e­brate the…

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May RAGETT

Born 28/12/1955

Wife of a stock­man on Mal­la­pun­yah Springs Sta­tion, bring­ing up her fam­i­ly, send­ing them to the sta­tion school then to Char­ters Tow­ers for fur­ther education.