- Entry type: Person
- Entry ID: AWE0218
Goldstein, Vida
(1869 – 1949)- Born 13 April 1869, Portland, Victoria, Australia
- Died 15 August 1949, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
- Occupation Feminist, Suffragist
Summary
Vida Goldstein ran for the Australian Senate in 1903. Though she was not elected, she was the first woman to be nominated for the Australian Parliament.
Details
One of five children, Vida Goldstein was educated at Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Melbourne. As a young woman, she worked with her mother in the anti-sweating movement and developed an anti-capitalist perspective. Later, she became involved in the suffrage movement. She was a paid organiser for the United Council for Women’s Suffrage, and she founded the Women’s Political Association. From 1900 to 1905 she produced and edited a monthly feminist journal, Woman’s Sphere. When the International Women’s Suffrage Alliance was formed, Goldstein was elected as corresponding secretary. She helped to found the National Council of Women, and was the Delegate from Australia and New Zealand to the International Woman Suffrage Conference in Washington D.C. in 1902.
Vida Goldstein was nominated by the Women’s Federal Political Association as a candidate for the Senate in 1903. She became the subject of heated controversy, stating her policies in feminist terms. Goldstein polled 51,497 votes but was not elected. A further four attempts before 1917 were also unsuccessful. After the award of state suffrage in 1908, Goldstein launched a new journal, Woman Voter. In 1915, she founded the Women’s Peace Army alongside Cecilia John, Adela Pankhurst and Jennie Baines.
Events
-
2001
Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women
Archival resources
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National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
- Papers on various Australian women [19--] [manuscript]
- Papers of Ruby Rich, 1943-1948 [manuscript]
- Papers of Loma Rudduck, 1944-1968 [manuscript]
- Collections held by the Fawcett Library relating to Australia and New Zealand [microform] : [M2291-2314], 1858-1967
- Vida Goldstein 1869-1949 January 1966 [manuscript]
- Papers of Leslie M. Henderson, circa 1880-1961 [manuscript]
- Correspondence 1897-1919 [manuscript]
- Papers of Baron Henry Stafford Northcote, 1908 [manuscript]
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State Library of Victoria
- Letters : England, to Henry Hyde Champion and Elsie Belle Champion, Melbourne, 1908 - 1949. [manuscript].
- Letters, diaries and lectures
- Press cuttings book presented to Edith How Martyn, 1943. [manuscript].
- The Goldstein chronicle, [between 1950 and 1973]. [manuscript].
- Vida Goldstein 1869-1949: Biographical notes by her niece, Leslie M. Henderson, 1966 January [manuscript].
- National Library of Australia
- Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre
- Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection
Published resources
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Book
- That dangerous and persuasive woman: Vida Goldstein, Bomford, Janette M., 1993
- Woman Suffrage in Australia, Vida Goldstein, 1910?
- The Life and work of Miss Vida Goldstein, Women's Political Association, ca. 1913
- The Changemakers : Ten Significant Australian Women, Suzane Fabian and Morag Loh, 1983
- Nation builders : great lives and stories from St Kilda General Cemetery, Eidelson, Meyer, 2001
- A History of the Lyceum Club Melbourne, Gillison, Joan M, 1975
- Radical Melbourne : a secret history, Sparrow, Jeff and Sparrow, Jill, 2001
- Votes for women : the Australian story, Lees, Kirsten., 1995
- Woman suffrage in Australia : a gift or a struggle?, Oldfield, Audrey, 1992
- The Australian Woman's Sphere, 1900-1905
- The Goldstein Story, Henderson, Leslie M. (Leslie Moira), 1973
- Audiovisual material
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Resource
- Australian Suffragettes, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1998, http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/women/women-home-vote.htm
- Goldstein, Vida (1869-1949), The National Library of Australia's Federation Gateway, http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/federation/people/goldstein.html
- 1891 Women's Suffrage Petition, Parliament of Victoria
- Trove: Goldstein, Vida (1869-1949), http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-599050
- Edited Book
-
Book Section
- Vida Goldstein and the struggle for women's rights, c1998
- The lady politician: Vida Goldstein's first Senate campaign, Bomford, Janette, 1996
- A white woman's suffrage, Grimshaw, Patricia, 1996
- Modernity and mother-heartedness : spirituality and religious meaning in Australian women's suffrage and citizenship movements, 1890s-1920s, Smart, Judith, 2000
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Report
- Recommendations in favour of voluntary methods of dealing with venereal diseases: as agreed upon by the Women's Political Association and the Women's Convention, Vida Goldstein, 1916
- Report of the National Council of Women of New South Wales of an Informal Conference with Mrs May Wright Sewell, President of the International Council of Women, Vida Goldstein, 1902
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Resource Section
- List of Electoral Divisions Named After Women, Australian Electoral Commission, http://www.aec.gov.au/history/women/women3.htm
- Vida Goldstein of Komein Pine Grove Malvern, Public Record Office Victoria, 2008, http://wiki.prov.vic.gov.au/index.php/Goldstein%2C_Vida
- Goldstein, Vida Jane Mary (1869-1949), Brownfoot, Janice N., 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090042b.htm
- Journal Article
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Site Exhibition
- The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Smart, Judith and Swain, Shurlee (eds.), 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders
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