HerStory Archive

Annie Florence LACEY

Born 28/10/1893, Died 1960

Also known as: née Rampton, Nance

Opened first hos­pi­tal for peo­ple with Lep­rosy in Mel­bourne in ear­ly 1950s.

Pio­neer­ing Bush Nurse in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry and Far North Queensland.1919 — Trained as nurse, Hobart…

Mary Patricia LAHY

Born 24/5/1928, Died 11/5/2004

1979 — Became Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty’s first woman Dean of Arts.
1992 — She was appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, ser­vices to high­er education.

1963 — Graduated…

Le LAM

Elsie Regina LAMB

Born 1/2/1887, Died 1993

Dis­trict mid­wife in Wing­ham, New South Wales.During World War I pro­vid­ed vol­un­tary aid at Bullin­mim­bah Station.During World War II worked in the Depart­ment of the Air after declaring…

Roslyn Marjory LAMBERT

Born 2/4/1943

Believed to be the first woman in the bank­ing indus­try to be grant­ed male pay rate.

Jill LAMONT

Pio­neer road train dri­ver. Only female on con­struc­tion site at Yulara — deliv­er­ing freight.

Bertha Almerta LANDER

Born 21/9/1916, Died 16/5/2005

Also known as: Mertie, née Harrison

Cen­tral Aus­tralian pio​neer​.ca 1953 — While camped at Nev­er Nev­er, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, the British dropped an atom bomb at Mar­alin­ga, South Aus­tralia, and the cloud engulfed the area.

Nell Margaret LANG

Born 22/4/1913, Died 31/3/2002

Also known as: née Barrow

One of the first nurs­es to be admit­ted to the Navy, dur­ing World War II.

1944 – 1945 — Navy nurse — Served in Milne Bay, New Guinea.

Marcia Lynne LANGTON

Born 31 October 1951

1993 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, for ser­vice as an anthro­pol­o­gist and advo­cate of Abo­rig­i­nal issues.

2000 — Inau­gur­al Pro­fes­sor of Aus­tralian Indige­nous Studies,…

Eve LARON

1983 — Found­ed Con­struc­tive Women Inc, the asso­ci­a­tion of women archi­tects, land­scape archi­tects, plan­ners and women of the build­ing industry.

Patricia Elizabeth LASCELLES

Born 24/11/1926, Died 4/05/2018

Also known as: née Tuckwell, Bambi Shmith, Bambi Smith, Lady Harewood, Countess of Harewood, Dowager Countess of Harewood

Pos­si­bly first Aus­tralian to mar­ry into British royalty.

Aus­tralian musi­cian (vio­lin) and mod­el (known as Bam­bi Smith).

Margaret Anne LATTY

1965 — First female police offi­cer in Alice Springs — han­dled all offences con­cern­ing women and children.

​Edith May LAVER

Also known as: née Parker

Edith May Park­er mar­ried Jack Laver after World War I. They lat­er took up the Stu­art Arms Hotel licence, and with their son Robert (Bob), trav­elled on the train from South Australia…

Nelle Isabel LAW

Died June 1990

Also known as: née Allan, Nel Law

1960 – 61 — As the wife of the sci­en­tist and explor­er Phillip Law, she was the first Aus­tralian women to set foot in Antarc­ti­ca when she trav­elled with her hus­band to the Mawson…

Alma Rita LAWLER

Born 19 September 1900, Died 13 September 1987

Also known as: née Kennedy

Mar­ried Her­bert Thomas Lawler of ​‘Hilldyke,’ Mich­e­l­o­go. Raised her fam­i­ly and helped on the prop­er­ty when required.

Teacher, St Vin­cents Col­lege, Potts Point, New…

Carmen Mary LAWRENCE

Born 1948

1990 — First female to head a state gov­ern­ment when elect­ed Pre­mier of West­ern Aus­tralia, fol­low­ing the dis­pos­ing of the Pre­mier by the Labour Gov­ern­ment. She was defeat­ed at the next…

Marjorie Florence LAWRENCE

Born 17 February 1907, Died 13 January 1979

1946 — Received the cross of the Légion d’hon­neur, France.
1976 — Appoint­ed Com­man­der of the Most Excel­lent Order of the British Empire.

For­mer singer who, after…

Alline Dawn LAWRIE

Born 3/11/1938

Also known as: Dawn

2003 — A recip­i­ent of the Trib­ute to North­ern Territory.

North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Inde­pen­dent for Night­cliff for 12 years focussing on human rights.

Louisa LAWSON

Born 17/2/1848, Died 12/8/1920

Also known as: née Albury. Louisa also wrote under the pseudonyms "Archie Lawson", "Dora Falconer" and "Mrs Appleby".

Louisa Law­son was the first to found a school at the New South Wales gold dig­ging fields. In 1887, Louisa Law­son bought the ail­ing news­pa­per, Repub­li­can, which she and her son Henry…

Margaret Doreen LAWTON

Born 18/4/1923, Died 18/5/2002

Also known as: Peg, Peggy, Peg Gooden

1998 — Award­ed Order of Aus­tralia in Aus­tralia Day Hon­ours List, com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice to the Flinders Med­ical Cen­tre Vol­un­teer Service.

22 years vol­un­teer­ing at Flinders Medical…

Sheila LAXON

First woman to train a Mel­bourne Cup winner.
2002 — Made an Offi­cer of the New Zealand Order of Mer­it, for ser­vices to racing.

Georgia LE PLASTRIER

Mem­ber (Robyn Fox, Geor­gia Le Plas­tri­er, Jen­ny McKen­zie, Jo Van Son) of the first Aus­tralian all-female canoe team to make the full descent of the Yukon Riv­er (Unit­ed States).

Jennifer Catherine LEARMONT

Head of Look­back Sec­tion, Red Cross, who dis­cov­ered the rea­son some suf­fer­ers of non-vir­u­lent strain of AIDS virus did not devel­op into full blown AIDS.


1996 — She was appointed…

Fay LEDITSCHKE

Dorothy LEE

Georgia LEE

Born 1921, Died 23/4/2010

Also known as: Aunty Dulcie Rama Pitt, Dulcie Rama Pitt

Geor­gia Lee was the first Indige­nous Aus­tralian artist to record Blues songs, a Blues album, and the first Indige­nous woman to record an album. She also is cred­it­ed as hav­ing the…

Gloria Ouida LEE

Born 14/07/1908, Died 13/04/1995

Also known as: née Hong, Siew Yoke Kwan

Glo­ria or Siew Yoke Kwan was born in the creek under a tree in Stu­art in 1908, the daugh­ter of a West­ern Arrernte woman Ran­ji­ka and Chi­nese mar­ket gar­den­er, Ah Hong. But for her…

Katrina LEE

1978 — Kat­ri­na Lee was the first on com­mer­cial television.

Mary LEE

Born 14 February 1821, Died 18 September 1909

Also known as: née Walsh

1890 — Founder of the Work­ing Wom­en’s Trade Union.

In 1895 aged 74, she was nom­i­nat­ed to stand for par­lia­ment for the Unit­ed Labour Par­ty but declined.
2001 — Inducted…

Patsy LEE

Born 1925, Died 20/6/2017

“Grand Old Dame of Fish­ing” in Glad­stone, Queens­land and pos­si­bly Aus­trali­a’s old­est and most expe­ri­enced fish­er­woman. Won Queens­land titles.

Phoebe Doreen LEE

Born 14 June 1904, Died 11 February 2000

Also known as: née Budarick

2001 — Phoebe was nom­i­nat­ed to the Cen­te­nary of Fed­er­a­tion Peo­plescape project which saw a fig­ure rep­re­sent­ing her become part of an esti­mat­ed 5000 fig­ures dis­played on the lawn of…

Suzanne LEE

1992 — First Alice Springs’ Miss Australia.

Nancy Lorna LEEBOLD

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…

Heather LEEMBRUGEN

Caroline Wilhelmina LEHMANN

Born 15/3/1873, Died 8/5/1955

Also known as: Minnie, Caroline Dux

Pio­neer of Parna­roo and Clare dis­tricts of South Australia.Charity worker.

Nellie LESTER

1938 — Nel­lie Lester was the first Abo­rig­ine to attend High School at Quorn, South Australia.
First Abo­rig­i­nal, triple cer­ti­fied, nurs­ing sister. 
First Matron of Abo­rig­i­nal descent,…

Constance Caroline LETCH

Born 1868, Died 29 August 1958

Also known as: née Letch, Connie, Connie Carter

Con­nie Letch was West­ern Aus­trali­a’s first ​“Lady Tele­phon­ist” appoint­ed in 1887, and con­nect­ed the first tele­phone call 1 Dececm­ber 1887.

Isabel Ramsay LETHAM

Born 23/5/1899, Died 11/3/1995

Also known as: Isabel Latham

Jan­u­ary 1915 — The first Aus­tralian to ride in Aus­tralian surf in the Hawai­ian style — the first Aus­tralian surfer, Fresh­wa­ter Beach, New South Wales.
1940s — Brought water bal­let to…

Phyllis Burgh LETT

Born 1884, Died 1/6/1962

Also known as: née Lett, Phyllis Burgh Ker, Charlie, Pat, Mick, Pete

Lived on Wyal­dra Sta­tion (Julia Creek) and Tweedsmuir (at Rich­mond, North Queensland).World famous Contralto.

Amy LEVAI

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 from…

Robin LEVETT

Born 4 October 1925, Died 14 August 2008

Also known as: née Walker

First woman elect­ed pres­i­dent of a major turf club (Kil­more).
1990s — ​“First Lady of Aus­tralian [horse] Rac­ing,” breed­ing and rac­ing thoroughbreds.

Author, horse…

Anne LEVY

1986 – 1989 — First woman to be Pres­i­dent of Leg­isla­tive Coun­cil of South Aus­trali­a’s State Parliament.
1975 — First ALP (Aus­tralian Labor Par­ty) woman elect­ed to South Australian…

Ann LEWIS

Born 1926

1948 — First woman com­mer­cial pilot in West­ern Aus­tralia. Award­ed the Coro­na­tion Medal for rep­re­sent­ing the wom­en’s fly­ing branch of the R.A.F.
First female pilot to fly for the…

Elizabeth Ann LEWIS

Eliz­a­beth is a high­ly respect­ed neu­ro­sur­geon with a spe­cial inter­est in medico-legal work, pae­di­atric neu­ro­surgery and spinal neurosurgery.

1958 — Bach­e­lor of Medicine,…

Hayley Jane LEWIS

Born 2 March 1974

1990 — Gold Medal­ist, Auck­land Com­mon­wealth Games — Swim­ming — 200m and 400m Freestyle, 200m But­ter­fly, 4 x 200m Relay.
1992 — Bronze Medal­ist, Barcelona Olympic Games — Swimming -…

Jean Margaret LEWORTHY

Born 22/7/1921, Died 15/4/2008

Also known as: née Fairbairn, Jean Piaggio

First civil­ian doc­tor to use Peni­cillin in Australia.
1954 — She was the first woman in full-time prac­tice; Bund­aberg, Queensland.
1995 — Order of Aus­tralia, ser­vices to med­i­cine and…

Anna LICHTENBERG

Lec­tur­er in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy (IT) (now PhD and con­sul­tant at Curtin Uni­ver­si­ty. First woman involved in the IT depart­ment at the Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege in Alice Springs, Northern…

Leanne LIDDLE

1988 — Became South Aus­trali­a’s first Indige­nous police woman.

Lorraine LIDDLE

Born 1956

1986 — The North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s first Abo­rig­i­nal lawyer, trav­el­ling between com­mu­ni­ties as a Bush Lawyer in Cen­tal Australia.

Johanna Maria Luise LIEBLER

Also known as: née Kuffner, Luise

Johan­na Maria Luise Liebler came to Her­manns­burg more than thir­ty years after Dorothee and Wil­helmine. She arrived on 1 May 1910 with her hus­band who was a new­ly grad­u­at­ed missionary.…