HerStory Archive

Antoinette GAGLIARDI

Antoinette, the first child of Maria Con­cetta ​“Con­nie” née Cic­cone and Giuseppe Gagliar­di arrived in Aus­tralia, via Argenti­na, with her moth­er in 1938.

Maria Concetta GAGLIARDI

Born 20/10/1911, Died 13/09/1998

Also known as: née Ciccone, Concetta, Connie

Con­cetta and Giuseppe GAGLIAR­DI opened the first Alice Springs ​“night spot,” a dance hall, which was part of their com­plex oppo­site Melan­ka, in which they also sold meals and…

Sue GAJDOS

First woman to rep­re­sent women Trans­port Work­ers on Inter­na­tion­al stage

Gwendoline Fay GALE

Born 1932, Died 2008

Also known as: Fay

First Hon­ours grad­u­ate of Teach­ing Geog­ra­phy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ade­laide. 1978 — First female pro­fes­sor of Geog­ra­phy at Ade­laide University
A.O.

Lec­tur­er in the Department…

Patricia GALLAGHER

Also known as: Pat

Pio­neer in Wom­en’s Net­ball Asso­ci­a­tion in Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Net­ball courts have been named in her honour.

Jean Dorothy GARDINER

Also known as: Dorothy

“The 14^th woman in Aus­tralia to hold a pri­vate license and pos­si­bly only the sec­ond to own her own plane.”

1929 — With Bob­bie TER­RY was first women in New South Wales/​Australia to…

Kathleen GARDINER

Also known as: née Howell

1920s — With close friend Jean Beat­son née ROBERT­SON, motored from Vic­to­ria to Dar­win and Back — an endurance run — first females to do so.

1927 — Came sec­ond in RACV…

Dorothy GARDNER

1916 – 1926 — First Aus­tralian stuntwoman.

Eva Mabel GARLAND

Born 30 June 1912

Also known as: née Lawrence, Mable

1990 — Received Advance Aus­tralia award.
1992 — Received Aus­tralian Day Cit­i­zen­ship award.
1995 — Recip­i­ent of Adult Learn­ers’ Award.
1999 — Received Premier’s Seniors Achievement…

Lucy GARLICK

Also known as: née Garlick, Sister Lucy Garlick, Lucy Johnstone (through marriage)

Lucy Gar­lick was the first infant wel­fare sis­ter to work with the Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Service.
1950s — She devel­oped a body chart to help doc­tors diag­nose the ill­ness­es of patients…

Beth GARRETT

First woman employed as Instruc­tor by an Aero Club in Australia
First woman pilot for the Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Service

Mary Genevieve GAUDRON

Also known as: Justice Mary Gaudron

1979 — Appoint­ed first Chair­man of the Legal Ser­vices Com­mis­sion of NSW

19887 — Appoint­ed to The High Cour­tA Queens Coun­cil­lor since 1981. Pre­vi­ous­ly Solic­i­tor-Gen­er­al of…

Florence Ann GAYLARD

Born 1888

Moth­er of Kath­leen Sned­don’s moth­er. She was artis­tic and made all man­ner of things includ­ing emus out of sea shells. She even­tu­al­ly returned to Dunedin, New Zealand to live.

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…

Emma Louise GEORGE

Born 1 November 1974

1995 – 2000 — World record pole vaulter (17 times; 12 in a row dur­ing the 1990s), which includes Com­mon­wealth Games, Com­mon­wealth Games and World Uni­ver­si­ty Games, Olympic Games, World…

Jenny GEORGE

Born 1947

1983 — First woman elect­ed to the Aus­tralian Coun­cil of Trade Unions Executive
1987 — First woman elect­ed Vice-Pres­i­dent of A.C.T.U.
1994 — First woman Pres­i­dent of A.C.T.U.

Sandra Irene GESELL

Born 6 November 1946

First female staff offi­cer, com­mis­sioned rank — Vic­to­ria Police Force.

First female detec­tive inspec­tor — Vic­to­ria Police Force.

First female direct­ing staff, Police College,…

Margaret Helen GETHING

Born 20 December 1920, Died 16 July 2005

Also known as: née Gepp, Mardi

Dur­ing World War II Mar­di joined the Air Trans­port Aux­il­iary deliv­er­ing dif­fer­ent types of air­craft. The dan­gers were many. In the 1960s she returned to Aus­tralia and became the…

May GIBBS

Born 17 January 1877, Died 27 November 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…

Pearl Mary GIBBS

Born 1901, Died 28/4/1983

Also known as: Gambanyi

Pearl Gibbs was an Abo­rig­i­nal leader and fought all her life for the rights of Indige­nous Aus­tralians. Her moth­er, Mary Mar­garet Brown, was born in Bre­war­ri­na. Her moth­er was Maria,…

Gladys Ruth GIBSON

Born 29 December 1901, Died 23 August 1972

Also known as: Ruth

Edu­ca­tor, Com­mu­ni­ty Leader.
1919 — Began as a stu­dent-teacher, Goodwood.1921 — Appoint­ed to West­bourne Park Pub­lic School.1937 — Obtained Bach­e­lor of Arts, Uni­ver­si­ty of Adelaide.1940…

Leonie Judith GIBSON

Born 1924

Also known as: Leonie Kramer, Dame Leonie Gibson

1968 — First female Pro­fes­sor of Lit­er­a­ture at Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney
DBE

On Board of the ABC, Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cils, Nation­al Insti­tute of Dra­mat­ic Art and West­ern Mining1991 -…

Sue GIBSON

2009 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Para­medic of the Year.

Dorothy GILL

Born 18 November 1925

Also known as: née Adamson, Doff

First female bank clerk in Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Also worked in Com­mon­wealth Bank in 1942.

Daugh­ter of the first post­mas­ter in Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

June GILL

Julia Eileen GILLARD

Born 29 September 1961

Also known as: Dr Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard was Australia’s first female Prime Min­is­ter, sworn in as the 27^th Prime Min­is­ter of Aus­tralia on 24 June 2010 and serv­ing in that office until June 2013. Previously,…

Judith GILLATT

Born 1929

Also known as: née Tredinnick

1953 – 54 — Fly­ing den­tist, far north Queensland.

Amelia Maud GILLEN

Born 26/05/1869, Died 16/11/1928

Also known as: née Besley, Minnie, Amelia Maude

Amelia ​“Min­nie” Gillen was an accom­plished singer and pianist. As a twen­ty-two-year-old bride, she trav­elled from Mount Gam­bier to her new home at Alice Springs in 1891.The…

Mary Jean GILMORE

Born 16/08/1865, Died 3/12/1962

Also known as: née Cameron, Dame Mary Jean Cameron, Em Jaycey, Sister Jaycey, Rudione Calvert

The first woman executive/​member of the Aus­tralian Work­ers’ Union.
1928 — Founder of the Fel­low­ship of Aus­tralian Writers.
1937 — Made Dame of the British Empire for her contribution…

Rebecca GILMORE

Stephanie GILMORE

2009 — Wom­en’s World Surf­ing Cham­pi­on — 3 con­sec­u­tive years

Emma Caroline GILMOUR

Born 8 January 1852, Died 28 September 1953

Also known as: née Hill

1860s — Pos­si­bly first and youngest Post­mistress in the Hope Val­ley area & South Australia.
1898 — Peo­ple of Tea Tree Gul­ly pre­sent­ed her with a sil­ver cruet set in appre­ci­a­tion of…

Margaret GILRUTH

1939 — First Aus­tralian woman to use her Pilot’s Licence in the field of news­pa­per reporting

Peggy GLANVILLE-HICKS

Born 1912, Died 1990

1938 First Aus­tralian com­pos­er rep­re­sent­ed at an Inter­na­tion­al Soci­ety for Con­tem­po­rary Music Fes­ti­val in London

Elizabeth Huntley GLANVILLE

Born 27 April1922, Died 11 December 1996

Also known as: Betty, Huntley

1943 – 45 — Nurse and mem­ber of Wom­en’s Land Army in World War II.1948 — Man­aged Shell-Ford agency in Dar­win after work­ing for agency for some years deliv­er­ing cars to remote areas,…

Ida Jessie GLASS

Born 2/2/1888, Died 17/3/1968

Also known as: 2/2/1888

Nurse in Queens­land, Mel­bourne and Perth.

Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion Nurs­ing His­ter at Ood­na­dat­ta 1921 – 1924
Arrived on first pas­sen­ger train into Alice Springs in August 1929

Khadhraa GLEN

First South Aus­tralian Mus­lim to be award­ed a gold medal for the Duke of Edin­burgh Award.

Eleni GLOUFTSIS

First woman to umpire a foot­ball game at state lev­el. First female to umpire an A1 ama­teur game and lat­er an South Aus­tralian Nation­al Foot­ball League
(SAN­FL) reserves game.

At the…

Mary GLOWREY

Born 23 June 1887, Died 5 May 1957

Also known as: Mary Glowrey, M.D.; Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart Society of Jesus, Mary, Joseph

Alfreda GLYNN

Also known as: Freda

Award­ed the Aus­tralia Medal.

1980 — Found­ed first Abo­rig­i­nal Radio Sta­tion — Radio 8KIN-FM19898 — Found­ed Cen­tral Aus­tralian Abo­rig­i­nal Media Asso­ci­a­tion in North­ern Territory…

Erica GLYNN

Born 1964

Writer of Indige­nous sto­ries. Direc­tor of doc­u­men­taries and films. Some to men­tion are My Bed, Your Bed; Redream­ing the Dark; and Maude and Pearlie Too.
2017 — Recip­i­ent of the David…

Madeleine GLYNN

1998 — South Aus­trali­a’s first female Police Superintendent

Rona Ellen GLYNN

Born 24 September 1936, Died 4 January 1965

Also known as: Rona Schaber

1955 — First Abo­rig­i­nal teacher in Alice Springs (grade 2 — Hart­ley Street School).
1962 — First Abo­rig­i­nal charge sis­ter (mater­ni­ty ward) in Alice Springs Hospital.
1965 — First…

Melanie GOEHR

Hazel Clarence GOLDER

Born 29 March 1894, Died 1984

1930s — Ran one of the first guest hous­es in Alice Springs, named ​“The Bush­man’s Rest.” It was in an area sit­u­at­ed between Shell Todd and Mur­ray Neck­’s Video…

Annie Mackenzie GOLDING

Born 10/03/1857, Died 28/12/1934

Lob­bied for equal pay, female edu­ca­tion, removal of sex bar­ri­er in employ­ment (e.g., appoint­ment of women as JPs and police offi­cers). In 1909, wrote a paper enti­tled ​“The…

Vida Jane Mary GOLDSTEIN

Born 13/04/1869, Died 15/09/1949

The first Vic­to­ri­an female can­di­date for the Sen­ate in Aus­trali­a’s 1903 first Fed­er­al elec­tion, she was one of the first four unsuc­cess­ful women can­di­dates that year but the one…

Kay GOLDSWORTHY

Kay Goldswor­thy became the first Aus­tralian woman Bish­op (Angli­can) when she was con­se­crat­ed on 22 May 2008, in Perth, West­ern Australia.

Eileen Mary Florence GOOD

Born 1893, Died 1986

Aus­trali­a’s first female aca­d­e­m­ic in Archi­tec­ture, she was the third woman to enter the new Diplo­ma of Archi­tec­ture course at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne in 1917 and the first…

Agnes Knight GOODE

Born 31 January 1872, Died 20 February 1947

Also known as: née Fleming, Mrs A K Goode

1916 — One of the first South Aus­tralian female Jus­tices of the Peace and the first to take her seat on the bench with the Stipen­di­ary Magistrate.
1923 — The first woman pre-selected…