National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame 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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PERKINS, Evelyn Mary
Born 1889, Died 06/1968
Also known as: née Bray
The inaugural meeting of the Alice Springs Branch of the CWA was held at the Residency in 1933. This branch was formed by Mrs J A Perkins, immediate past president of the…
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BOHNING, Esther
Born 14/7/1879, Died 2/01/1952
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 Adelaide on the… -
JACOBS, Esther
Born 6/4/1900, Died 27/1/1991
Also known as: nee Solomon
1975 - First woman deputy Lord Mayor (Adelaide City Council). 1978 - Resigned after 22 years continuous service.
First woman governor of the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Honorary… -
VINES, Dorothy Ada
Matron Vines and members of the Australian Army Nursing Service off to work in a truck nick-named 'Leaping Lena'.
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NOSKE, Myrtle Edna
Born 22/11/1926
Also known as: née Johannsen
Artist and author. As an artist, was awarded the following: 1974 - Caltex Art Award
1977 - Caltex Religious Theme & General Motors Holden Best Landscape Award
1978 - Caltex… -
LARON, Eve
1983 - Founded Constructive Women Inc, the association of women architects, landscape architects, planners and women of the building industry.
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ALLSOP, Joan Winifred
Born 10/11/1912, Died 12/10/2000
Australian adult educator. With the assistance of a grant, Allsop was able to attend Columbia University in New York, where she became the first Australian to obtain a doctor of…
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LATTY, Margaret Anne
1965 - First female police officer in Alice Springs - handled all offences concerning women and children.
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ALLPORT, Mary Morton
Born 17/5/1806, Died 10/6/1895
Also known as: Mary Morton Chapman (maiden name)
Mary Allport was Tasmania's first professional woman artist. She exhibited in local exhibitions and published lithographs. She advertised her professional services as a portrait…
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MAHONY, Kathleen Mary
Born 8/1/1908, Died 30/04/2003
Also known as: née O’Shea, Kath
Pioneer as policeman's wife at Roper River, Lake Nash, Arltunga, and Anthony's Lagoon. Managers of Larrimah Hotel, Northern Territory (owned by O'Shea family -…
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GIBBS, May
Born 17/1/1877, Died 27/11/1969
Also known as: Cecilia May, Stan Cottman and “Blob” (pseudonyms)
May Gibbs was a leading painter, illustrator, cartoonist and author. She was the author of the classic Australian children's books Gumnut Babies and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. In…
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TEUBNER, Jillian Kay
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. -
DWYER, Catherine Winifred
Born 13/6/1861, Died 3/2/1949
Also known as: née Golding, Kate
In 1921, Kate Dwyer became one of the first women Justices of the Peace in New South Wales. 1905 - 1921 she was a member of the State Labor executive, and in 1908 and 1912, a delegate…
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UNDERDOWN, Daisy Fauthrope
Born 1883, Died 24/6/1963
Also known as: née Maloney
1933 - Pioneer and builder/owner of Hotel Alice Springs. 1902 - Arrived in Alice Springs from Oodnadatta to assist her sons with their general store “Underdown Bros.”
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TAYLOR, Adelheid Elisabeth Johanne
Born 12/08/1922, Died 12/10/2011
Also known as: Heide, Mother Zonta
First migrant in South Australia to be fully recognised and registered as a medical practitioner.
1968 - Was appointed and the first female to hold the position of Director of… -
TRAILL, Jessie Constance Alicia
Born 29/7/1881, Died 15/05/1967
One of first women to practice etching in Australia During the prolonged drought in Central Australia in the 1920s many Aboriginal people died of beri-beri and scurvy. Pastor…
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WOODBURN, Bettina Mathilde
Born 6/12/1923, Died 1/1/2015
Also known as: née Bromley
Inaugural winner of Seniors Card Get Up and Go award - aged 78 years.
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DEMPSEY, Jessica
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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MILLER, Emma
Born 26 June 1839, Died 22/01/1917
Also known as: née Holmes, Grand Old Woman of Queensland Labour, Mother of the Australian Labor Party, Mother Miller
1890 - Founded a women’s union, advocating equal pay and votes for women.
The first woman and life member of the Brisbane Workers’ Political Organisation.
1894-1905 - Foundation… -
VAN PRAAGH, Margaret
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… -
BAKER-MCDONALD, Antjie Henrietta
Born 8/5/1869, Died 6/6/1924
Also known as: Ettie, née Lau
Pioneer of Western Queensland. While living at Fullarton, South Australia, for a few years, she had no female company.
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PITCHER, Julia
Also known as: Dr Julia Pitcher
Neurophysiologist. She and her team's research was named among the top 10 health and medical research projects in Australia.
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BESLEY, Florence
Also known as: née Ruthven
One of two first white women to climb Mt Gillen, Northern Territory. 1900 - Left Adelaide, for Alice Springs to become companion to Mrs South (wife of Stuart Arms Hotel owner),…
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TAYLOR, Bernadette (Cpl.)
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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ANDERSON, Charlotte Morrison
Born 12/3/1915, Died 15/4/2002
Charlotte Anderson was an Australian pioneer of paediatric gastroenterology. She developed a clinical research program at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, where she…
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COOPER, Dido
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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ABLEY, Barbara
First woman Mayor of Geelong City Council, the first in this Victoria Council’s preceding 134-year history (2002). Barbara Abley was elected in March 2001 to the Council of the City…
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KELLY, Gail
Born 25/4/1956
Also known as: nee Currer
2001 - First woman to be Chief Executive of a major bank (St George Bank).
The only CEO of an Australian bank to have given birth to triplets. Only female Chief Executive of one of the… -
DAVID, Caroline Martha
Born 26/4/1856, Died 25/12/1951
Also known as: née Mallett, Cara, Lady, Caroline Edgeworth David, Caroline Mallett
Wife of Sir Edgeworth David, Professor of Geology.President of Women's National Movement for Social Reform.Spearheaded campaign for Hotels 6 o'clock closing in New South…
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ROBERTSON, Agnes Robertson
Born 31/07/1882, Died 29/01/1968
Also known as: née Keay, Aggie
December 1949 - Elected to the Senate of the Australian Parliament.
1955 - Joined the Country and Democratic League, and became the first Country Party's female senator.
1962 -… -
BAIRD, Kath
1945 - Put her Girl Guide experience to work with British Girl Guides, Government and Red Cross to help European displaced people (mainly children) to a better life. First German Girl…
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KING, Carlene Faye
1994 - Elected as the first female District Governor of Lions in Australia, serving in that capacity 1994/1995.
First national manager in Australia for Lions Youth and Community… -
LEVAI, Amy
Born 1930, Died 29/3/2013
Also known as: née O’Donoghue
First Indigenous teacher in South Australia.
1989 - Awarded NAIDOC Aboriginal of the Year; 1998 NAIDOC Aboriginal Elder of the Year.
2010 – Received award for Outstanding Service… -
POLLOCK, Agnes Jean
Born 13/07/1909, Died 13/02/1996
Also known as: Jean
1952 - Founding Principal of 'Larnook 'Teacher Training College. Pioneered education for women.Trained in Domestic Arts (later known as Home Economics).
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NEUMANN, Hanna
Born 12/02/1914, Died 14/11/1971
Also known as: née Johanna von Caemmerer
1964 - First female Professor of Pure Mathematics at Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. 1946-63 - Hanna was a Lecturer
and Senior Lecturer in… -
KAY, Belinda
Born 1881, Died 1903
1895 - After her pioneer sheep station parents, a brother and sister were tragically drowned in a boating accident, Belinda (aged 13 1/2 years) looked after her remaining three sisters…
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UNDERWOOD, Terry
Born 1/1/1948
Also known as: née Augustus
1997 - Northern Territory Telstra Business Woman of the Year award for business owner category.
Author of In the Middle of Nowhere and Riveren - My Home, My Country. Began her career… -
TARLING, Olga
1960 - First Australian female Air Traffic Controller appointed to a position at Brisbane Airport.
Was an Air Traffic Controller for 25 years. 1981 - President of the Australian Women… -
NICHOLLS, Maude
Born 08/1902, Died 26/01/1999
Also known as: née Cooper, née Pepperill
Lived on Undoolya Station. Went to school at Ida Standley's Bungalow which was located in Parsons Street at that time.Husband was a road builder and builder of “Turkey Nest” dams…
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PALMER, Janet Gertrude
Born 18/08/1885, Died 19/10/1964
Also known as: née Higgins, Nettie
Author (with husband Vance Palmer) of Nurturer and other Australian stories. 2001 - Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.
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LEEBOLD, Nancy Lorna
Born 2/11/1915, Died 13/7/1982
Also known as: née Ellis
October 1952 - First Australian woman to fly a Lockheed Lodestar aircraft. 1959 - She flew a jet aircraft in the USA, the first Australian woman to do so.
Awarded Officer of the Order… -
PRAED, Rosa Caroline
Born 27/03/1851, Died 10 April 1935
Also known as: née Murray-Prior, Mrs Campbell Praed
First Australian-born novelist to achieve a significant international reputation. Rosa PRAED's stepmother was Nora Murray-Prior (née BARTON), Banjo PATERSON'S aunt…
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WOODRUFFE, Valerie
Also known as: née Whitehall
About 1978 she trained and completed as a dogman [An assistant to a crane operator, responsible for securing the crane's load and directing the operator.] working at Goldsworthy…
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PATTERSON, Kay Christine Lesley
Born 21/11/1944
She was elected as a Liberal Party Senator for Victoria in 1987 and went on to become Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the…
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BLACKBURN, Elizabeth
Born 1948
Elizabeth Blackburn describes her journey of discovery as starting from basic biological research on the nature of telomeres. Telomeres cap the end of chromosomes and have a very…
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JACKSON, Marjorie
Born 13/9/1931
Also known as: Lithgow Flash, Marj, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
1950 - First Australian woman to break a world record for the 100 metres; won four gold medals (100 yards; 220 yards; 440 yards Medley Relay; 660 yards Medley Relay), British Empire…
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PARNELL, Janice Eileen
Born 03/04/1939
Founding Member Alice Springs Branch and Inaugural State President of Isolated Children's Parents Association.
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EVANS, Patricia Julianne
Also known as: née Morris
Qualified as an accountant in 1948, and in 1949, at 21, became the first female accountant to be employed by Bitumen and Oil Refineries (Australia) Limited (Boral). One of the earliest…
