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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Nathalie Gladwyn GOREY
Died 11/11/1951
Also known as: née Lacey, Nat
1947 — Founded first free kindergarten in Alice Springs.
First President of Alice Springs Kindergarten Inc.
Author of The Alice, The Story of Alice Springs and a book of… -
Ann JAMES
Born 1839, Died 6/3/1912
Also known as: née Minogue, Granny
Just arrived from Galway, Ann married Moses Walter JAMES in 1858. In 1863, with three sons, they road packhorses to the gold diggings in Dargo and then on to Omeo. Eventually they…
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Louise GEE
2002 — First woman appointed a director of Gosford Council (New South Wales).
Was a member of the first class to graduate with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Health… -
Margaret WHYTE
1891 — One of the first two women to graduate in Medicine from Melbourne University — the other was Clara STONE.
“When the final results appeared Margaret Whyte had done… -
Ruth BANNER
Born 3/1931
Also known as: Desy
Ruth Banner was the first woman to train a Coolgardie Cup winner (2002) since this prestigious Western Australian horse race was first established in 1896 (Desy’s horse Lawmaker also…
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Margery HOBBS
Also known as: Marge
In June 1947 Marge began work at the Alice Spring Hospital, combining nursing and wardsmaid duties. The Delany brothers brought a baby eagle to her to attend to. He was called Buster…
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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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Marie Ottilie JOHANNSEN
Born 15/7/1881 or 1882, Died 26/12/1959
Also known as: née Hoffman, used the name Ottilie, Tillie/Tilly
Pioneer of Central Australia.
1909-11 & 1922 – 26 — Hermannsburg Mission.
1911 — The Johannsens acquired the rights to draw water from Deep Well, a government water facility.
Planted… -
Cathy SALVAIR
Born 17/10/1963
Cathy has flown tour groups around Australia. She has endorsements in aerobatics, formation flying, and float planes.
1987 — Won the Lady Casey Scholarship.
1979 — Her first… -
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.
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Kathryn Isobel HAY
Born 24 November 1975
2002 — First Indigenous woman elected to State and Territory Parliaments.
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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…
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Magdalene JOHNSON
Born 1/7/1905, Died 26/1/2010
Also known as: Maggie
Worked as drover, cook, teacher, carer. During World War II “she worked as a cook for hundreds of people” at the mission at Arltunga.
At time of death, 2010, Alice… -
Lilliane Olive BRADY
First female President, Western Division (local government).
1974 – 2020 — Lilliane is the Councillor/Mayor of Cobar Shire Council, New South Wales and has been a local government… -
Rosemary Mina De PIERRES
Born 28/05/1926
Also known as: née Vincent
Rosemary was a good friend of Robin Miller and often helped her with her vaccine flights. She was the state president of the Australian Women Pilots Association and then went on to be…
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Sheila CLARKE
Born 20 June 1916, Died 4 May 2006
Also known as: née O'Loughlin
1944 — First woman elected to the Committee of the Federated Clerk’s Union in the Northern Territory.
1950 — Founding Committee member of the Half-Caste Progress Association in… -
Roslyn Marjory LAMBERT
Born 2/4/1943
Believed to be the first woman in the banking industry to be granted male pay rate.
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Janet Lindsay GREIG
Born 8 August 1874, Died 18 October 1950
Also known as: Jenny
One of first two women appointed Resident Doctors at Melbourne Hospital.
First woman Anaesthetist in Victoria.
Conducted private practice in Fitzroy for many years.Consultant… -
Edith Ellen DEMPSTER
Born 31 January 1884, Died 28 May 1967
Also known as: née McLellan, E. E.
Pioneer on cattle stations in South Australia and Northern Territory.Top End pioneers and South Australian pioneers.Pioneer pastoralist on Victoria River Downs.
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Margaret Gwendoline KEATS
Born 1895, Died 6/4/1970
Australia’s first woman to qualify as a veterinarian with university training, she was also the first and only woman to graduate from Australia’s first veterinary faculty…
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Caroline Emily CLARK
Born 6 September 1825, Died 18 November 1911
In 1887 Caroline was appointed to the newly-created State Children’s Council and in the 1890’s helped to win such reforms as the establishment of the Children’s Court in…
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Anna DOIG
Born 4/05/1830, Died 11/09/1894
Also known as: née Moir
Pioneer of Beltana District, South Australia. Born in Scotland.
Founded non-denominational Sunday School (under Wesleyan Church).
Unofficial Doctor — laid out the dead.
Midwife,… -
Sandy COULSON
Also known as: Commander Coulson
First female Executive Officer of the Navy’s submarine base HMAS Platypus.
First female member of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Staff College’s directing staff.
April 2000… -
Jane Catharine TOST
Born 1817, Died 24 April 1889
Also known as: née Ward
Probably the first female taxidermist in Australia (Sydney 1860s).
Maybe first woman to be employed in a professional capacity in any Australian Museum (Tasmania 1856). -
Wendy Jennifer CHAPMAN
Born 3 June 1942
She became the first woman Lord Mayor of an Australian state capital city when appointed in Adelaide in 1983 (until 1985).
1986 — Awarded a Member of the Order of Australia, at the… -
Stephanie ALEXANDER
Born 13/11/1940
Pioneering food writer, first woman to own and manage a world-class restaurant in Australia (Stephanie’s Restaurant: 1976 – 1997); initiated innovative primary school program, The…
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Jillian Kay TEUBNER
Born 19/10/1941, Died 12/11/2002
First female Woodville High School Student to gain a PhD.
First South Australian woman to gain a PhD in Organic Chemistry.
Scientist and Medical Educator. -
Susan BOYD
Born 1946
Sue Boyd was the first woman president of a students association in Australia (Guild of Undergraduates, University of Western Australia 1969). She spent 34 years in the Australian…
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Sibyl Enid Vera Munro MORRISON
Born 18 August 1895, Died 29 December 1961
Also known as: née Gibbs
New South Wales’ first woman barrister qualified in 1924 after graduating LL.B. from the University of Sydney’s law school. As the only woman students in their year, both…
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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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Mabel Montana CRICKETT
Born 1897, Died April 1983
Also known as: née Forrest, Mabs
Pioneer of Eyre Peninsular, South Australia. Charity volunteer from age 11.Taught CWA handicrafts — in Girl Guides movement, Red Cross, and Mission to Seamen.
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Elizabeth K. TURNER
Born 19/08/1914, Died 26/12/1999
Also known as: EKT
First doctor in Australia to administer Penicillin.
1951 — First doctor to perform an exchange transfusion on a newborn in Victoria.
Only female Medical Superintendent at the Royal… -
Caroline DEXTER
Born 6 January 1819, Died 19 August 1884
Also known as: née Harper, Caroline Lynch
Harriet Clisby and Caroline Dexter published just two editions of the Interpreter in 1861; said to be the first magazine published by women in Australia.
1858 — Wrote and… -
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Mayse YOUNG
Born 1913, Died 2006
Also known as: née Dowling
1963 — First woman to be elected as president of a Race Club (Pine Creek).
1994 — Medal of the Order of Australia.
2003 — A recipient of the Tribute to Northern Territory.… -
Ethel STEWART
Born 05/1907
Also known as: née Sinclair, Isa
Winner of the 1985 Australian Jack-Be-Nimble Championships (Knuckle Bone (Jacks) Champion).
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Gladys Barbara EASTICK
Born 19 August 1920, Died 20 February 2011
Also known as: née Kemp, Nancy
Youth worker from Queensland who helped post war displaced persons in Europe through the Girl Guide movement of Australia and England.1947 — Trained in Britain for Guides International…
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Dianne YERBURY
Born 25 March 1941
Also known as: Emeritus Professor Dianne Yerbury, Dr Dianne Yerbury
In 1987 Dianne Yerbury became the first female Vice-Chancellor in Australia (Macquarie University), a role she held until 2007.
She is currently the inaugural Chair of the Crescent… -
Tjunmutja Myra WATSON
Born 27/09/1927, Died 3/01/2009
Learned to read and write at United Aborigines Mission School at Ooldea, South Australia. After marriage, spent next 27 years at Gerard Mission in the Riverlands. Thirty years at…
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Jessica DEMPSEY
2000 — One of two first female research scientists to work at the South Pole in a University of New South Wales led expedition.
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Sharyn FITZGERALD
2009 — Attempted first Australian female Antarctic ice marathon.
2011 — In the North Pole Marathon, in the women’s division, she came in second with a time of 6:28:16 3. -
Margaret SOMERVILLE
Born 24 September 1912
1991 — Margaret was the first Australian woman to be presented with the Battle of Australia medallion.
1941 – 1965 — Pioneer Methodist lay missionary on Croker Island, Northern… -
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… -
Julie BOYD
Julie Boyd was the first woman Mayor of Mackay City Council, Queensland (1997−2008).
With a background in governance, Julie has since served in a variety of positions (e.g.… -
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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Amelia WILKINSON
First woman appointed General Manager of Alice Springs Masters Games (March-September 2001).
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Patricia WALTER
Born 1926, Died 23 November 2017
Also known as: Pattie
Camerawoman for ABC news 1964 – 1986. Possibly the first woman cinematographer in Australia.1993 — first woman to be given Life Membership of the Australian Cinematographers Society.In…
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Beryl Ivy BEALE
Born 1898, Died 18/03/1979
Also known as: née Laidlaw, Cloudy
Beryl Ivy Beale was known as ‘Cloudy’ because she was a heavy smoker.
‘.…..an artistic, sensitive, music-loving woman with the down-to-earth determination, fortitude and hard…