HerStory Archive

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…

Audrey Josephine CAHN

Born 17 October 1905, Died 1 April 2008

Also known as: née Osborne

1928 — First woman to com­plete the new­ly estab­lished agri­cul­ture degree at Mel­bourne University.

Cah­n’s moth­er, a med­ical prac­ti­tion­er, was inter­est­ed in nutri­tion, and…

Amy CAIL

Born 29 March 1833, Died 15 July 1914

Also known as: née Williams

Pio­neer of Bendi­go area of Victoria.

Eunice May CAIRNS

Born 16 August 1921, Died 21 January 2010

Also known as: Teddy

Served dur­ing World War II. Worked at ​‘The Truth’ news­pa­per, Radio 3AW, Chan­nel 9, Chan­nel 0, Conair Air­lines, and 8CCC FM. Known as the White Witch of Alice Springs by her…

Francesca Louise CAIRNS

Also known as: Fran

First Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, woman to be employed as a grad­er driver.

Author of Draw­ing From the Well, inspired by her work ​“as a grad­er dri­ver, a pho­tog­ra­ph­er and…

Joan CAIRNS

Born 7/1932, Died 27/6/2019

Joan Cairns was Australia’s first female anaes­thet­ic tech­ni­cian. Joan worked at the Alice Springs Hos­pi­tal and took the oppor­tu­ni­ty to study at the May­field Med­ical Cen­tre in…

Margaret Cecilia CAIRNS

Born 1905

Also known as: née Egar, Margaret Sawyer

Cen­tral Aus­tralian pio­neer when mar­ried to Con SAWYER (died 1947).Pioneer of Kurun­di Cat­tle Sta­tion with sec­ond hus­band Bill CAIRNS.

Daphne CALDER

Born 5 January 1924, Died 15 October 2013

Also known as: née Campbell, Daphne Calder

Pic­tured here at Emi­ly Gap out­side Alice Springs, she starred oppo­site Aus­tralian act­ing leg­end chips Raf­fer­ty in The Over­lan­ders, a clas­sic movie being the first to show…

Helen CALDICOTT

Born 7/8/1938

Also known as: Dr Helen Caldicott

Helen Caldicott is the founder of the Wom­en’s Action for Nuclear Dis­ar­ma­ment (1982). In 1985, Helen was nom­i­nat­ed for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was won by the organ­i­sa­tion she…

Ann CALDWELL

Born 1820, Died 1890

Also known as: née Mooney, Annie

In 1864, aged 44, wid­owed, with sev­en of her chil­dren, she trav­elled in a cov­ered wag­on for eight weeks 900 kilo­me­tres over­land from Gumer­acha (north­east of Ade­laide), South Australia…

Elizabeth CALLAGHAN

Born 1802, Died 31 Mar 1852

Also known as: Eliza, Eliza Thompson, Elizabeth Batman, Sarah Willoughby

Con­vict, who mar­ried John BAT­MAN (founder of Mel­bourne — died ¹⁸³⁹⁄₄₀). Moth­er of sev­en daugh­ters and one son by John BAT­MAN. Lat­er mar­ried John WILLOUGH­BY. Known as Sarah WILLOUGHBY…

Sarah CALLAGHAN

Human rights activist. Law and art grad­u­ate, Uni­ver­si­ty South Australia.

Ada CAMBRIDGE

Born 21 November 1844, Died 19 July 1926

Also known as: née Cambridge, Ada Cross, A.C.

1889 — News­pa­per nov­el­ist (The Age) under nom de plum ​‘A.C.’.
Author of Up The Mur­ray (1875) — seri­alised in Aus­tralian newspaper.
Author of A Wom­an’s Friend­ship (1889)…

Enid Mona CAMPBELL

Born 30 October 1932, Died 20 January 2010

Also known as: Neil Campbell and Mona

1959 — First female lec­tur­er in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Tas­ma­nia Law School, teach­ing polit­i­cal science.
1967 — The first woman to hold a Chair in Law at any uni­ver­si­ty in Aus­trala­sia, when…

Frances CAMPBELL

First woman to prac­tice med­i­cine in Australia.

Gillian Clare CAMPBELL

Born 1967

First woman Tele­com Tech­ni­cian in South Aus­tralia and North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Qual­i­fied in 1988, aged 21.


Daugh­ter of Alice Springs artist and teacher Iain CAMPBELL.

Judy CAMPBELL

1994 — First offi­cial­ly appoint­ed female Town Crier in Australia.
1997 — First female Town Crier to win Run­ner Up World Cham­pi­on (Sid­ney, British Colum­bia, Canada).
2010 — First female…

Kate Isabel CAMPBELL

Born 1899

1930 — First per­son in Aus­tralia to be appoint­ed to Lec­ture­ship in Neo-Natal Pae­di­atrics (Uni­ver­si­ty of Melbourne)
(DBE) (Dame)

Kate Isabel CAMPBELL

Born 22 April 1899, Died 12 July 1986

Also known as: Dame Kate Campbell

1929 – — First per­son in Aus­tralia to be appoint­ed to Lec­ture­ship in neona­tal pae­di­atrics (Uni­ver­si­ty of Melbourne).
1 Jan­u­ary 1954 — Appoint­ed to the Order of the British Empire -…

Mary Ann CAMPBELL

Born 1838, Died 21/1/1916

Also known as: Mary Ann Johns

1861 — First white woman on Queens­land expe­di­tion to stock prop­er­ty near Sorghum Downs Sta­tion with sheep. 

Mary Ann lived at Sorghum Downs and oth­er sta­tions and at Charters…

Jane CAMPION

Born 30 April 1954

“She is the sec­ond of five women ever nom­i­nat­ed for the 66^th Acad­e­my Award for Best Director”.
In 1993, Writer and Direc­tor Jane Cam­pi­on became the first and only woman film­mak­er to…

Alisa Peta CAMPLIN

Born 10 November 1974

“Alisa Cam­plin is Aus­trali­a’s first female Win­ter Olympic gold medal­ist, dual Olympic medal­ist, World Cham­pi­on, World Record Hold­er and two times WC Grand Prix…

Miriam Edith CANNING

First Abo­rig­i­nal (and first woman) vet­eri­nary sur­geon in Australia.

Born and raised at Leono­ra near Kal­go­or­lie, West Aus­tralia. Qual­i­fied for her pri­vate pilot’s licence…

Sadie Miriam CANNING

Born 11 April 1930, Died 3 September 2008

Also known as: née Corner

One of the first trained Abo­rig­i­nal nurs­es and matrons in West­ern Aus­tralia, did not start qual­i­fy­ing until the 1950s.
1964 — Queens’ Birth­day Hon­ours- Award­ed a Mem­ber of the British…

Elaine CANTY

Elaine Canty is the first woman sports broad­cast­er on ABC Radio and Tele­vi­sion in Vic­to­ria. She was the only woman in the ABC team cov­er­ing the 1988 Olympics and, in 1992, was the…

Annie Florence Gillies CARDELL-OLIVER

Born 11 May 1876, Died 12 January 1965

Also known as: née Wilson, Florence, Annie Boyd, Annie Oliver, Annie Wilson, Dame Florence Cardell-Oliver

First elect­ed to the West­ern Aus­tralia Low­er House in 1936, she became the first woman in Aus­tralia to a cab­i­net or min­istry when she obtained full Cab­i­net rank as the Min­is­ter for…

Elna Joy Cardona CARDONA

Born 18/3/1956

Also known as: Joy Cardona

Joy Car­dona is the first woman in Aus­tralian Rules to offi­ci­ate a rep­re­sen­ta­tive match. This was the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry ver­sus Hawthorn in 1991, and she still has the score card! She…

Alison S CARE

2009 — Recip­i­ent of Young Inves­ti­ga­tor Award, South Australia.

2004 — Grad­u­at­ed Bach­e­lor of Med­ical and Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Biotech­nol­o­gy with hon­ours, Uni­ver­si­ty of South…

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…

Kate CARNELL

1995 — First woman from Lib­er­al Par­ty elect­ed as a State or Ter­ri­to­ry Chief Min­is­ter, for the ACT

Jodeen CARNEY

Born 9/12/1965

2005 — First female Leader of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Coun­try Lib­er­al Party
First Cen­tralian to be Leader of the Coun­try Lib­er­al Party.

Janet Cameron CARR

Born 15 October 1927, Died 13 August 2006

Also known as: née Davidson, Dr Janet Davidson

1950 – Grad­u­at­ed as a M.D. from Queen’s Uni­ver­si­ty, Belfast, Ireland.1958 – With her hus­band, moved to his home city of Sydney.Ran a gen­er­al prac­tice, immu­niza­tion clin­ics, and was…

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).…

Gladys CARRUTH

Born 20 May 1910, Died 23 May 1979

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Long-stand­ing mem­ber devot­ed worker.

Elsie CARTER

Born 1905, Died 1982

Pio­neer of Syd­ney’s Domes­tic Service.
Arrived in Syd­ney, before Christ­mas 1925.
House­maid for Mrs Tra­vers; Syd­ney, New South Wales. After her husband’s death, she worked for…

Sarah Anne CARTHEW

Born 1872, Died 1951

Also known as: Bessie

Dairy farmer and dress­mak­er at Black­wood SA

Jennifer CASHMORE

First woman Min­is­ter of Health in the South Aus­tralian Par­lia­ment (1979)

Judy CASSAB

Born 15 August 1920, Died 3 November 2015

Also known as: née Kaszab, Maria Koperdak, Judy Kampfner

1969 — Sec­ond woman to win the Archibald Prize, which she won twice.

1969 — Appoint­ed as a Com­man­der of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), for her ser­vice to the visu­al arts.…

Amy Eliza CASTLES

Born 25 July 1880, Died 19 November 1951

One of the great­est voic­es Aus­tralia has pro­duced. Was acclaimed world wide by audi­ences and by royalty.16 March 1899 — She made her début in Patience, Aus­tral Salon, Melbourne,…

Tricia CASWELL

First female Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Aus­tralian Con­ser­va­tion Foun­da­tion (1992−1995); first woman Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary of the Tech­ni­cal Teach­ers Union of Vic­to­ria (1979−1992); first…

Helen Ruth CATERER

Born 14 March 1914, Died 4 November 2018

1 Jan­u­ary 1964 — Appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for char­i­ta­ble ser­vices, reviv­ing the Sun­day Mail Blan­ket Appeal, par­tic­u­lar­ly to children.
2016 — Received…

Suzanne CAVANAGH

First woman Pres­i­dent of Coun­try Lib­er­al Par­ty (CLP) in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry (1994−2001)

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…

Cora Kate CHALMERS

Born 18 February 1885, Died 13 August 1958

Also known as: née Coventry

Pio­neer of Cen­tral Aus­tralia, Mac­Don­ald Downs, sheep and cat­tle station.

Muriel CHAPLIN

1998 — First woman in world to be appoint­ed Grand Mas­ter of an Inde­pen­dent Order of Odd­fel­lows Fra­ter­ni­ty Grand Lodge.

Jan CHAPMAN

Born 1950

Pro­duc­er, and pro­duced The Piano, direct­ed by Jane Campion.

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…

Yvonne Ann CHAPMAN

Born 21 January 1940

Also known as: née Yourell

31 Jan­u­ary 1986 — 1989 — Queens­land’s first female Cab­i­net Minister.

1994 – 2008 — Elect­ed May­or of the Pine Rivers Shire. She was the first (“pre­vi­ous lead­ers of the Coun­cil were…

Martha Christina CHARMAN

Born 1849, Died 1914

Also known as: née Ward

Pio­neer of Tim­bar­ra set­tle­ment, Victoria.
​“Martha Char­man emerges in Aunt Vio­lets [sic] writ­ings as the matri­arch of the set­tle­ment — attend­ing to births, sick­ness, acci­dents and the…

Irene CHATFIELD

First woman award­ed the Aus­tralian Foot­ball League’s (AFL’s) inau­gur­al Woman of the Year (1998)