The Australian Women's Register

Margaret Davey was born not long after the outbreak of World War I, a fourth generation South Australian with ancestral and cultural links to England and Ireland. She was educated at Girton School, the University of Adelaide and the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music.

Margaret always immersed herself in community work and in particular became very involved with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Her fund-raising activities eventually led to her becoming president of the YWCA in Adelaide. Margaret was involved in the establishment of the YWCA in New Guinea and also investigated the possibility of setting up YWCA hostels in America and Canada. It was through her work with the YWCA that Margaret first became involved with the National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA).

In the early 1990s Margaret worked to establish a fund that would assist women to participate in the activities of the NCWA, and the International Council of Women (ICW), which operates in ninety-five countries around the world. ‘The Margaret Davey Fund’ was set up with an original donation of $5000 from Margaret and continues to be augmented by the donations of others. It assists members in attending major conferences, seminars and international symposiums thus lifting the profile of NCWA as an organisation representative of mainstream Australian women. Margaret was President of NCWA from 1976-1979 and was involved in setting up its headquarters in Canberra.

During her life Margaret has given generously of her time to women’s organisations like YWCA and NCWA, as well as the Methodist Church, the Good Neighbour Council and the Julia Farr Centre. Her service to women’s organisations and community work was recognised in 1963 when she was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), awarded the Queens Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1981.