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Jo VAN SON

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).

Dale McIVER

2005 — First woman to become Cap­tain of a ​“bat­tle­ship” (HMAS Defend­er) at the Hen­ley-on-Todd regat­ta in Alice Springs.

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Susan Elizabeth Anne WIJFFELS

Born 3/08/1965

First woman sci­en­tist on staff in the Com­mon­wealth Sci­en­tif­ic and Indus­tri­al Research Organ­i­sa­tion (CSIRO) Divi­sion of Oceanog­ra­phy in Hobart, Tasmania.
1986 — Cal­tex Scholarship…

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Dorothy NAPANGARDI

Born 1958, Died 1/06/2013

Dorothy began paint­ing in 1987. Her artist sis­ter Eunice Napan­gar­di intro­duced her to it.
1991 — Dorothy won the Best Paint­ing in Euro­pean Media and 8^th Tel­stra Nation­al Aboriginal…

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…

Helen Charmaine BEH

Born 31/7/1941, Died 7/2/2012

Helen Beh was the first woman to achieve fol­low­ing posi­tions in the Sci­ence Fac­ul­ty at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney: Senior Lec­tur­er in Psy­chol­o­gy (1972−1988; ); Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor; Head…

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.

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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…

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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…

Ann Jane HAYES

Born 25 June 1893

Also known as: née Doolan, Jane, Jan

Pas­toral­ist, Undoolya Sta­tion. Pio­neer of Cen­tral Australia.
Daugh­ter and step-daugh­ter of Lizzie and Sam NICK­ER. Wife of Ted HAYES, Senior (Pas­toral­ist — Undoolya Station).…

Emily DUTTON

Born 13 November 1884, Died 11 May 1962

Also known as: née Martin

1921 — First woman to dri­ve across Australia.

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Eileen McRAE

Born 13/07/1932

Also known as: née Bird

Grand­daugh­ter of Fred and Iso­belle PRICE. (Fred PRICE was Tele­graph Mas­ter at Old Tele­graph Sta­tion, Alice Springs, 1916 – 24.)Daughter of Pearl POWELL.Author of By Pack­horse and Buggie…

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Alma Rita LAWLER

Born 19 September 1900, Died 13 September 1987

Also known as: née Kennedy

Mar­ried Her­bert Thomas Lawler of ​‘Hilldyke,’ Mich­e­l­o­go. Raised her fam­i­ly and helped on the prop­er­ty when required.

Teacher, St Vin­cents Col­lege, Potts Point, New…

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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…

Alexis Jaye RHODES

Born 1/12/1984

Also known as: Alexi

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

Dorothy MORRELL

Also known as: Dot

1888 — Won the world’s first wom­en’s bicy­cle race, Auburn, New South Wales.

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.

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Sandra Faye HUMPHREY

Born 27 January 1945

First female prin­ci­pal Syd­ney Tech­ni­cal Col­lege, largest edu­ca­tion insti­tute in Australia.
First female direc­tor in tech­ni­cal and fur­ther edu­ca­tion (TAFE) in Australia.
First female…

Anna Maria BUNN

Born 1808, Died 19 September 1889

Also known as: née Murray

1838 — Author of first nov­el pub­lished in Aus­tralia, The Guardian: a Tale (by an Australian).

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Patricia Anna LOVELL

Born 1929, Died 26/1/2013

Patri­cia Lovell is regard­ed as one of Aus­trali­a’s most suc­cess­ful film pro­duc­ers. She has also had a suc­cess­ful radio and tele­vi­sion career.

She joined the Australian…

Inez HYNES

Also known as: née Hynes

South Aus­trali­a’s first airhost­ess was appoint­ed in 1938.

Debbie KILROY

Born 1961

Also known as: née Harding

Deb­bie is a prison reformer and founder and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of Sis­ters Inside Inc.

In 2007, Deb­bie was the first per­son in Aus­tralian with seri­ous con­vic­tions to be admitted…

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Helene Katharine Frieda BURNS

Also known as: née Albrecht

Daugh­ter of Her­manns­burg Mis­sion pio­neers Pas­tor Friedrich Wil­helm Albrecht and Min­na Marie Mar­garetha née Gevers.

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…

Geraldine Dorothea COX

Born 1945

1970 – 1987 — Began her career with the Aus­tralian Depart­ment of For­eign Affairs. Was sta­tioned to embassies Phnom Penh, Cam­bo­dia; Philip­pines, Thai­land, Iran, and the USA.
1987 – 1995 -…

Mary HAYES

Born 25 November 1838, Died December 1933

Also known as: née Stratford

Mary Hayes, William and their chil­dren came to Cen­tral Aus­tralia in 1884, to work as fenc­ing and dam sink­ing con­trac­tors on Mount Bur­rell and Owen Springs sta­tions. Horse and bullock…

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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.

Beryl Edith BEAUREPAIRE

Born 24/9/1923

Also known as: Dame Beryl Beaurepaire née Bedggood

A pio­neer­ing Aus­tralian fem­i­nist, Beryl knew how to push boundaries.

Beryl’s first attempts to force accep­tance of equal­i­ty was dur­ing World War Two when she joined the Women’s…

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Michelle ELLIS

Born 1991

2007 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry cadet of the year, St John Ambulance.

Elizabeth DURACK

Born 6 July 1915, Died 25 May 2000

Also known as: Eddie Burrup

1966 — Appoint­ed as an Offi­cer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
1982 — Appoint­ed to the Order of St Michael & St George — Com­man­ders (CMG).

Author and artist of…

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Ada Isabel J. TOVELL

Born 1865, Died 19 August 1932

Also known as: née Fenton

First woman to take the degree of M.A.C.D. at the Aus­tralian Col­lege of Den­tistry at Mel­bourne Den­tal Hospital.
1900 — M.A.C.D.
1903 — L.D.S.

Janet TEMPLETON

Born 1785, Died 1857

Pio­neer in the wool industry.

Sis­ter-in-law to Eliza FORLONGE.
After her husband’s death in 1829, ​“Janet Janet decid­ed to emi­grate to Aus­tralia. … She char­tered the Czar…

Margaret Mary KELMAN

Born 6/4/1909, Died 23/12/1998

Also known as: née McKillop, Peg, Peggy

Peg­gy flew barn­storm­ing flights in New South Wales in 1935. In one day’s work she achieved 29 take offs. This Aussie pilot claimed but one record: ​“The first and only…

Helen TIPPET

Born 23/03/1933, Died 11/02/2004

Also known as: née O'Donnell

1994 — Aus­trali­a’s first woman pro­fes­sor of Archi­tec­ture, Deakin Uni­ver­si­ty, Victoria.

1959 — Had Archi­tec­ture prac­tice in Alice Springs and designed Solar hous­es and…

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Sheila Margaret BLACKMORE

1971 — Received the Order of the British Empire — Mem­ber (Civ­il) (MBE©), Community.

Founder Direc­tor of the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion for Train­ing the Dis­abled in Office Work…

Rose SCOTT

Born 8 October 1847, Died 20 April 1925

First pres­i­dent of a wom­en’s com­mit­tee of the Pris­on­er’s Aid Asso­ci­a­tion in 1898.

Known as the voice of wom­en’s suf­frage in Sydney.Campaigned for the education…

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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…

Marcela BILEK

Born 1/1968

In 2000, Marcela Bilek became the first woman Pro­fes­sor of Applied Physics at Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney. She is now Head of the Applied and Plas­ma Physics Research Group at the University…

Emmeline Freda DU FAUR

Born 16 September 1882, Died 11 September 1935

Also known as: Freda

Alpine climb­ing pio­neer in New Zealand. There are fea­tures in New Zealand named after her (e.g., Du Faur Peak and Du Faur Glac­i­er in Mount Cook Nation­al Park). She was the first woman…

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Adrienne WILLING

Born 1972

First Cen­tralian woman to enter Ms Fit­ness cat­e­go­ry of Inter­na­tion­al Body Build­ing Asso­ci­a­tion Vic­to­ri­an titles in Mel­bourne (2002).

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Mary MURPHY

A hand­ful of Euro­pean women accom­pa­nied their hus­bands to the mines. Mary Mur­phy, Bet­ty O’Neil and F Suther­land signed a peti­tion to get a polling booth there.

Gail OWEN

1991 — Appoint­ed Pres­i­dent of the Law Insti­tute of Vic­to­ria — the first woman to head this over 100 year old, tra­di­tion­al­ly male-run institution.

Catherine Margaret BRANSON

Born 2/5/1948

Cather­ine Bran­son was the first woman in Aus­tralia (and prob­a­bly in the com­mon law world) to be appoint­ed Crown Solic­i­tor when appoint­ed head of South Australia’s…

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F SUTHERLAND

A hand­ful of Euro­pean women accom­pa­nied their hus­bands to the mines. Mary Mur­phy, Bet­ty O’Neil and F Suther­land signed a peti­tion to get a polling booth there.

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…

Hazel Audrey CAHILL

Born 1904, Died 1970

Also known as: née Bassett

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Australia.
Hazel and Lar­ry Cahill were new­ly­weds when in 1928 he was offered a job on the con­struc­tion of the new rail­way from Mar­ree to Alice Springs. She loved the…

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Laura THOMAS

Born 1967

Also known as: née Perucich

2001 — First woman in Aus­tralia to be ​‘Chief Whip Crack­er’ on a major car launch — Hold­en Monaro’s $60m project.

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Shirley Aldythea ANDREWS

Born 6/11/1915, Died 15/9/2001

Shirley grad­u­at­ed in Sci­ence when women were bare­ly tol­er­at­ed as stu­dents. She went on to work for six years at the Vet­eri­nary School of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne. In 1947, she…

Karyn BAILEY

Born 28/07/1986

2005 — First North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry play­er in over a decade to be in an Aus­tralian 21 and under squad. Also won a schol­ar­ship to Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Sport in Canberra.

2007 — won the…

Elizabeth ALLCHURCH

Born 1881, Died 10 June 1969

Also known as: Bessie, née Williams

Bessie, sis­ter to Annie MEY­ERS, was mar­ried to Atlanta BRAD­SHAW’s broth­er Ernest ALLCHURCH.