HerStory Archive

Dorothy Jean HAILES

Born 22 June 1926, Died 27 November 1988

Also known as: Dr Jean Hailes

“Dr Jean Hailes was a pio­neer in women’s health in Aus­tralia. In 1971 she estab­lished the first clin­ic in Aus­tralia ded­i­cat­ed to the man­age­ment of menopause.” [Aleeza Zohar]
9 June…

Janine HAINES

Born 1945, Died 2004

The first Aus­tralian Demo­c­rat to be elect­ed to the Sen­ate from 1977 – 1978, she became the first woman (and what was to be the first of five women) in Aus­tralia to head a parliamentary…

Monica Augustine HAINES

Born 1897, Died 1996

Also known as: née Minahan, Mona, Mona Minahan

1932 — First bar­maid in Cen­tral Australia.
1959 – 60 — First woman to own a Hotel in Alice Springs, ​‘The River­side’ (now Todd Tavern).
Opened first dress shop in Alice Springs,…

Evelyn HALL

1968 — First Pro­ba­tion Offi­cer in South Aus­trali­a’s Pris­ons’ Department.

Irene M. HALL

Also known as: Irene Shackcloth

Pio­neer of radio writ­ing for chil­dren. Her first work was broad­cast on ABC in 1936. Her radio ser­i­al play ​“The Faka­m­a­gangees” was on the air with 3DB Jean Lawson’s children’s session…

Kathleen Audrey HALL

Born 1915, Died 2007

Pio­neer of ball­room danc­ing in Ade­laide, South Australia.

Margaret Elizabeth HALL

Born 11/06/1910, Died 01/09/1993

Also known as: née Nicker

Helped set up first School of the Air in Cen­tral Aus­tralia. Pres­i­dent of Coun­try Wom­en’s Asso­ci­a­tion (CWA). Pres­i­dent of Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tor Ser­vice Wom­en’s Auxiliary.…

Diane Patricia HAMILTON

Born 11 July 1953

First female Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Union of Postal Clerks and Telegraphists.

1986 — Branch Assis­tant Sec­re­tary, Union of Postal Clerks & Telegraphs.
1988 — General…

Ena HAMILTON

Died 14 March 1993

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Devot­ed mem­ber (dog lover).

Mary Addison HAMILTON

Born 1893

Also known as: Addie

First woman in West­ern Aus­tralia admit­ted to an account­ing pro­fes­sion­al body. Three years lat­er, The Accoun­tant (UK) acknowl­edged Miss Hamil­ton as the first woman in the empire…

Elinor Catherine HAMLIN

Born 24 January 1924, Died 18 March 2020

Also known as: née Nicholson, Catherine

“Ham­lin has been recog­nised by the Unit­ed Nations agency UNF­PA as a pio­neer in fis­tu­la surgery for her devel­op­ment of tech­niques and pro­ce­dures for obstet­ric fistula…

Julie HAMMER

Born 1955

First woman to reach rank of one-star Gen­er­al in Aus­tralian Defence Forces.
First woman to attend Roy­al Col­lege of Defence Stud­ies in London.

Award­ed Con­spic­u­ous Ser­vice Cross for…

Joan HAMMOND

Also known as: Dame Joan Hammond

First Sopra­no ever invit­ed from Britain to sing opera in Rus­sia and in Russian.

Pre­sent­ed ​‘Life­time Achieve­ment Award’ as part of annu­al pre­sen­ta­tion of Vic­to­ri­an Green…

Glenice HANCOCK

Zoe HANCOCK

1993 — Found­ed, with Marie Louise Uhr, the lob­by group Ordi­na­tion of Catholic Women, fight­ing for women to enter the tra­di­tion­al­ly male-led stronghold.

Leah HANDLEY

First Light­ing Tech­ni­cian to train in the North­ern Territory.

Pauline Lee HANSON

Born 1954

First Aus­tralian woman to form a Polit­i­cal Par­ty (One Nation). She was also Head of One Nation

Lynne HANTON

Born 7 March

Also known as: née Kerr

18 April 1984 — Start­ed Alice Springs Bal­let Com­pa­ny (since renamed Dupra­da Dance Company).

Dallis Ann HARDWICK

Born 26 June 1950, Died 5 January 2014

Also known as: née Hardwick

1977 — First female PhD Met­al­lur­gy at Uni­ver­si­ty of New South Wales, with honours.
Chair­man­ship of the Min­er­als, Met­als & Mate­ri­als Soci­ety (TMS).
Her high tem­per­a­ture alloy…

Barbara Rosemary HARDY

Born 31 March 1927

Also known as: née Begg

1981 – 82 — First female board mem­ber of South Aus­tralian Board of Advice, AMP Society.
26 Jan­u­ary 1987 — Appoint­ed Offi­cer of the Order of Aus­tralia, for ser­vice to con­ser­va­tion and the…

Margaret Gwen HARDY

Born 5 August 1926, Died 7 December 2001

Also known as: née Sutcliffe

First woman shire pres­i­dent of Lily­dale, Victoria.
First and only woman com­mis­sion­er of the then Mel­bourne Met­ro­pol­i­tan Board of Works, Victoria.

1977 — Award­ed the Queen’s…

Wendy Lloyd HARE

1963 — First women to hold Senior Com­mer­cial Licence and youngest per­son to become an A Grade Flight Instructor.

1979 — By this year she was fling jet air­craft for Stillwell…

Mary HARGRAVE

Born 27 January 1916, Died 24 January 1987

Also known as: née Minto

Writ­ten on the back of the draw­ing: Hus­band a solicitor.

Mandy HARGREAVES

2008 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s Vol­un­teer of the Year, for her con­tri­bu­tion to cycling.
2014 — Received NT Sports Vol­un­teer of the Year.

2009 — Com­plet­ed Lev­el One Course,…

Shelley HARKIN

Born 1967

2004 — First Reg­is­tered Nurse trained in Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Enid HARLAND

Also known as: née Batchelor

Enid Har­land has been a tire­less work­er for over twen­ty years, work­ing with fam­i­lies of pris­on­ers in Alice Springs and help­ing pris­on­ers stay con­nect­ed to their fam­i­lies. She…

Eliza HARRIS

Also known as: née Deed

Wife of an Alice Springs Tele­graph Sta­tion tele­graph operator.

Elsie Magdalene HARRIS

Also known as: née Bohning, Magdaline, The Little Bush Maid

Esther Bohn­ing and her daugh­ters, Elsie and Edith, from Helen Springs Sta­tion north of Ten­nent Creek, were known as ​“The Pet­ti­coat Drovers.” Esther and Elsie made history…

Winsome HARRISON

One of South Aus­trali­a’s first women ​“Sur­fies.” The State’s first women sur­fies sur­faced in 1915.

HARVEY

Vol­un­teered to help Catholic nuns with 35 Bathurst Island chil­dren trav­el to Alice in Army con­voy after the bomb­ing of Darwin.

Iris HARVEY

Owner/​Operator of Arun­ta Book and Art Supplies

Edythe Ellison HARVIE

Born 1902, Died 1984

Also known as: Ellison

Seen in the pho­to at the rear draw­ing board, she was the first woman to grad­u­ate from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne’s Archi­tec­tur­al Ate­lier, after com­plet­ing the course in 1928. The…

Natalie HARWOOD

2003 — A recip­i­ent of the Trib­ute to North­ern Territory.

Vice-Pres­i­dent Bagot [Dar­win, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry] Com­mu­ni­ty Council.Established the Bagot Break­fast Pro­gram for…

Robin HASKELL

1973 — She, and Pam Bow­ers, were the Church­es of Christ first women min­is­ters, ordained in Melbourne.

Kathryn Isobel HAY

Born 24 November 1975

2002 — First Indige­nous woman elect­ed to State and Ter­ri­to­ry Parliaments.

Ann Jane HAYES

Also known as: née Doolan, Jane

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

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…

Gertrude HAYES

Born 28 August 1912, Died 28 September 2011

Also known as: nee Johannsen, Trudy

Trudy Hayes was the first woman com­mer­cial pho­tog­ra­ph­er in Alice Springs (1930s); pro­duced the town’s first post­card; devel­oped pho­tographs for anthro­pol­o­gist Ted Strehlow.…

Janet HAYES

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…

Del HAYMAN

1956 — Appoint­ed first Aus­tralian Girl Guide Inter­na­tion­al Commissioner.
1960 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for ser­vices to Guiding.


Pio­neer of…

Muriel Agnes HEAGNEY

Born 31 December 1885, Died 14 May 1974

1906 — Mem­ber of the Rich­mond branch of the Polit­i­cal Labor Coun­cil (P.L.C.).1909 — Del­e­gate to the Wom­en’s Cen­tral Orga­niz­ing Committee.1909 — Attend­ed the first Vic­to­ri­an Labor…

June HEARN

Janice Eileen HEASLIP

Born 03/04/1939

Also known as: née Parnell

Found­ing Mem­ber Alice Springs Branch and Inau­gur­al State Pres­i­dent of Iso­lat­ed Chil­dren’s Par­ents Association.

Eileen HEATH

1991 — Joint Cen­tralian of The Year (with Sue RIDE).
1968 — Award­ed MBE for ser­vices to the wel­fare of Aboriginals.

1946 — Arrived Alice Springs as Angli­can Mis­sion­ary at St…

Ruth (Sr) HEATHCOCK

First white woman to be tak­en by the abo­rig­ines into ​‘Ruined City ​‘in Arn­hem Land

1928 — First came to the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry as one of ​‘Fly­n­n’s…

Ruth HEGARTY

Born 1929

1929 — First Abo­rig­i­nal baby born at Mitchell Hos­pi­tal, Mitchell, Queensland.
Now an author, her first book, Is That You, Ruthie? (1999), was an auto­bi­og­ra­phy. Her sec­ond book is…

Freida Ruth HEIGHWAY

Born 2 June 1907, Died 30 December 1963

Also known as: née Heighway, Dr Ruth Heighway, Freda Abbie

First Aus­tralian woman mem­ber of the Roy­al Col­lege of Obste­tri­cians and Gynae­col­o­gists in Lon­don, she was admit­ted by exam­i­na­tion in 1934, lat­er becom­ing the first woman to graduate…

Hilda Florence HEINRICH

Born 1899

Also known as: née Lutzow

Hil­da Lut­zow was born at Spring­ton in the Barossa Val­ley in 1899, and as a young woman met Adolph (Dolph) Hein­rich, the teacher at Nain Luther­an School. When the South Australian…

Dorothy Jane Adele HELMRICH

Born 25 July 1889, Died 1 September 1984

Also known as: Dorothy Jane Adele Hellmrich, Jane

Late 1930s — Founder of the Arts Coun­cil of Australia.

Musi­cian and singer.Studied at the Con­ser­va­to­ri­um of Music, Syd­ney, under its first Direc­tor, Hen­ri Ver­bruggen. Studied…